14 
BULLETIN 1070, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
farm, but with a yield above the average, made an average labor 
income of $1,488, which is over twice as large as the average of the 
group of farms with 20.2 acres of cotton per farm but with a yield 
below the average. Table 9 shows that the maximum profits, both 
in 1912 and in 1918, were made by the farmer who had an acreage 
of cotton above the average and yielding above the average. 
The sweet potato crop occupied 2 per cent of the crop area in 1912 
and 2.5 per cent of the crop area in 1918. As shown in Table 5, 
7 per cent of the receipts were from sweet potatoes in 1912 and 10 
per cent in 1918. The amount sold per farm averaged 103 bushels 
in 1912 and 113 bushels in 1918. In 1912 the average price received 
per bushel was 60 cents and in 1918 it was $1.48. 
More farmers raised sweet potatoes in 1918 than in 1912. In 1912 
31 per cent of the farmers did not raise sweet potatoes, while only 
22 per cent did not raise them in 1918. The number of farmers 
depending upon sweet potatoes as a source of cash receipts is in- 
creasing. In 1912 169 farmers, or 57 per cent of the total, reported 
sales of sweet potatoes, and in 1918 195 farmers out of 304, or 64 
per cent, reported receipts from sweet potatoes. 
Table 10. — -Relation between yield per acre of sweet potatoes and farm income and labor 
income on farms having over 5 per cent of their crop acreage in sweet potatoes— 47 farms 
for 1912 and 59 farms for 1918, Catawba County, N. C. 
Item. 
1912 
1918 
152 bush- 
els or less 
per acre. 
Over 152 142 bush- 
bushels ids or less 
per acre, per acre. 
Over 142 
bushels 
per acre. 
Number of farms 
Average acreage in sweet potatoes 
Average yield bushels 
Farm income 
Labor income 
31 
3. 
113 
$327 
48 
16 
3.4 
204 
$488 
162 
25 
3.4 
108 
$829 
467 
34 
3.2 
177 ♦ 
$1, 166 
801 
In 1912 the farmers who secured an average yield of 113 bushels 
per acre made an average labor income of $48, while those who 
averaged 204 bushels per acre made a labor income of $162 (Table 10). 
In 1918 farmers who secured an average yield of 108 bushels per 
acre made labor incomes of $467, while those who averaged 177 
bushels per acre made an average labor income of $S01 per farm. 
Of course, not all this difference in income can be directly attributed 
to difference in yield of sweet potatoes, but certainly some of it can. 
Some important factors that are favorable for raising sweet 
potatoes in this region are a climate and soil well adapted to the crop 
so that good yields are the rule, successful cooperative marketing 
associations, and a community of farmers who are experienced in 
raising the crop. The unfavorable factors are those common to 
nearly all sweet potato growing areas, namely, plant diseases, diffi- 
