FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 31 
the farms become larger. This indicates that as the size of farm 
increases the opportunities for increased income are greater, and also 
that the chances for loss increase. In other words, as the size of 
farm increases, the chances for both large and small incomes increase 
with the risk, showing greater average returns, however, on the larger 
farms. 
The vertical lines at the top of figure 8 represent the percentage 
returns on the investment for the same farms, respectively, as rep- 
resented at the bottom of the figure. The horizontal line (top) 
represents the average of the percentage returns for all farms, being 
C.3 per cent on the investment. It is seen that there are practically 
as many farms making small percentage returns on large farms as 
on small ones. 
The following conclusions seem justified by the foregoing data 
concerning size of farm among those studied : 
There is better utilization of capital on the large farms than on 
the small ones. Each dollar of working capital (stock, equipment, 
etc.) accomplishes more work on the large than on the small farms. 
The management is more economical, although possibly not quite 
as efficient, on the large farms as on the farms of less acreage. 
The most efficient size for two-horse farms here appears to be from 
55 to 60 acres of crops; for four-horse farms from 95 to 105 acres, 
and for six-horse farms from 140 to 155 acres. 
There is a slightly greater percentage return on the large farms 
than on the small ones, due to better utilization of labor and lower 
unit cost of operation. 
The total net receipts are greater on the large farms than on the 
small ones. 
The small farms show a greater yield of cotton per acre than the 
large farms. 
Farmers of this region have not generally made the mistake of 
operating too small an area for the efficient utilization of capital and 
labor : the smallest farm studied consists of 39 acres of crop land, and 
the largest 522 acres. 
QUALITY OF FARMING. 
The curve shown in figure 9 gives the range of yield of cotton per 
acre from year to year. The yield for 1903 and 1904 was approxi- 
mately one-half bale per acre, but for five or six years thereafter the 
yield per acre alternated from high to low, varying from more than 
300 pounds of lint per acre in 1906 to 125 pounds of lint in 1909. 
Again in 1912 the yield of lint was nearly 300 pounds. The straight 
line across the figure shows approximately the average tendency of 
