FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 
37 
The data from these farms indicate that the point has not yet been 
reached where the cost increases with the yield (law of diminishing 
return), but the curve would seem to indicate that this point for this 
region, and with methods now used, is not far above 50 bushels per 
acre. 
Table XVI. — Relation of yield to cost of com (119 crops, lllf farms, Kills 
County, Tex.). 
Yield per acre. 
Number 
ofrecords. 
Average 
yield 
pe'r acre. 
Cost per 
bushel. 
37 
62 
20 
119 
Bushels. 
15.8 
27.5 
37.4 
25.6 
$0.94 
21 to 30 bushels 
.53 
.45 
.58 
From these data concerning yields of the two principal crops, cot- 
ton and corn, it is apparent that considerable attention should be 
given to the matter of maintaining and even increasing the yields 
per acre. These relations may be expected to be affected by the use 
of manure, rotten straw, corn and cotton stalks, etc. In this section 
little effort is made to utilize these common fertilizers, manure being 
dumped in roads, stream channels, etc., while straw rots in the stack 
or is burned to make room for the planting of more cotton. The 
stalks of cotton and corn are frequently raked and burned, although 
the introduction of various types of stalk cutters (see figs. 17 and 18) 
makes it possible to get these humus-forming products into the soil 
again. Fortunately, the value of these various materials is becoming 
better known and more attention is being given to their utilization. 
The size of the enterprise has some bearing on the yield of cotton. 
This is true on small farms as well as on the larger ones. A tabula- 
tion made on the basis of the proportion of crop land in cotton on 
each farm shows that where less than 60 per cent of the crop area is 
in cotton, average yields of 272 pounds of lint per acre are made. 
As the proportion of land in cotton increases to 86.2 per cent, the 
yield decreases to 230 pounds of lint per acre. On the farms where 
considerable areas of crops other than cotton are grown there is some 
change of crop on the same field from year to year. This of itself 
tends to increase yields. 
Several varieties of cotton were found on the farms studied. 
One variety, known as Mebane's Triumph (see fig. 12), was pre- 
dominant, 96 of the 115 farms producing this cotton. On 11 farms 
a number of Aarieties were found, among them being Row den and 
Webb. On 9 farms the variety reported was " just cotton." Tabula- 
tions of yields of different varieties do not show material differences 
