FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 
41 
shown in Table XVII, would seem to indicate that the acreage of 
cotton which produces the greatest immediate returns is found at 
about 80 to 90 per cent of the total crop area. 
Table XVII. 
-Relation of percentage acreage in cotton to percentage returns 
{IIS farms, Ellis County, Tex.). 
Acreage in cotton. 
Number 
of farms. 
Per cent 
of total 
acerage 
in cotton. 
Crop 
area. 
Diversity 
index. 
Per cent 
return on 
invest- 
ment. 
25 to 63 acres 
22 
21 
26 
23 
21 
113 
50.9 
68.1 
73.9 
79.0 
87.5 
71.9 
Acres. 
105.3 
125.5 
107.1 
138.9 
114.6 
117.5 
1.97 
1.51 
1.44 
1.32 
1.19 
1.47 
5.8 
5.9 
72 to 76 acres 
6.1 
6.8 
82 to 99 acres 
6.9 
Al ] farms , 
6.3 
It is to be borne in mind that this observation is merely a record 
of the farming operations under survey. It is not intended to be 
advice to increase the percentage of cotton acreage, because for rea- 
sons already indicated cotton raising in this area is depleting the 
soil and the apparent profit on the farms under review is at the ex- 
pense of soil fertility, well-balanced agriculture, and a wholesome 
rural development. The records show that if these important consid- 
erations are to be ignored, if the soil is to be " mined," and if social 
and family welfare are to be despised, the immediate profit upon the 
year's operation in a period of good prices will be greater with a 
cotton acreage of 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the total area than 
with less acreage in cotton. The average for all the farms in the 
survey is 71.9 per cent. 
Right here we have the crux of the difficulty with Ellis County 
farming. The system that gives the best immediate returns is one 
that is gradually wearing out the soil, 1 and that sterns to be headed 
straight toward its own destruction. Unless some change in practice 
is made soon, the average yield of cotton will become so low that the 
system will be unprofitable. Fortunate the region where the most 
profitable type of farming is one that maintains the fertility of 
the soil. 
There are other disadvantages of this most profitable system here. 
It utilizes only a small part of the horse power on the farm. The 
man power is idle or poorly employed much of the time. The profit- 
ableness of cotton leads to the neglect of other essential features of 
good farming. * The small provision made for producing food for 
1 This term is somewhat misleading. The soil does not actually wear out ; its yielding 
power is reduced. But by suitable methods this power can be restored. The most essen- 
tial factor in such restoration is the incorporation into the soil of plenty of decaying 
vegetable matter. 
