Soil survey of Hunt County, Texas Page: 10 of 60
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8 BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY AND SOILS, 1934
Farm labor generally is plentiful and comparatively cheap. Most
of the labor is performed by the farmer and his family, but usually
some extra help is hired for the picking of cotton and, to less extent,
for the chopping of this crop. In 1929, wages amounting to
$723,862 were paid on 3,140 farms, or 53 percent of the total, and
the average expenditure per farm hiring labor was-$230 for 121 workdays.
The hired laborers are mainly Negroes and transient whites.
The average size of farms, as reported by the 1935 census, is 82.7
acres. This represents an increase over the average size in 1900,
which was 77.4 acres, although it is not so large as that in 1880, which
was 122 acres. In 1935, 92.4 percent of the farms included less than
175 acres each. Only 32 farms included 500 or more acres each.
It is commonly considered that a farm family with one team can
work about 50 acres of cropland on such soils as Houston black clay
and slightly less on other soils.
In 1935, 4,129, or 70.1 percent of the farms, were operated by
tenants; 1,748, or 29.7 percent, by owners; and 14, or 0.2 percent, by
managers. Tenancy has increased steadily, from 31.4 percent in 1880.
Practically all of the farm leases call for a share of the crops as
rent, either one-third of the feed crops and one-fourth of the cotton,
with the tenant furnishing seed, work animals, and equipment; or
one-half of the crops, with the landlord furnishing everything except
labor. The same proportions hold whether the farm is of high or
of very low productivity. Accordingly, the farms of low productivity
are renting at a relatively higher price than the excellent
farms. To some extent this is offset by the larger amounts of pasture
land accompanying the poor farms. In the past, some tenants on
excellent blackland farms have paid a cash bonus in addition to the
crop-share rental. As a rule, the farms on the better soils are rented
by the more progressive tenant farmers. Prairie meadows rent for
one-half of the hay, and extensive pastures rent for amounts ranging
from very little to 75 cents an acre. The prevailing system of
1-year crop-share tenancy, with its insistence on cash crops, causes a
lack of incentive on the part of the tenant to engage in long-time
plans for farm improvement.
Most of the farmhouses are unpainted four
or five-room frame
buildings, but a few are substantial and well kept. Many of the
tenant houses have only two or three rooms. The other farm buildings
are small and unimportant, as livestock require little shelter and
only small quantities of feedstuffs are stored. Even the farm machinery
is not protected on many farms. The investment in machinery
is small. As a rule, the farm equipment includes a middlebuster,
a turning plow, a section harrow, a riding cultivator, a wagon, and
various hand tools. The farm animals ordinarily include from two
to four mules or draft horses, a cow or two, two or three hogs, and a
few chickens.
SOIL-SURVEY METHODS AND DEFINITIONS
Soil surveying consists of 'the examination, classification, and
mapping of soils in the field.
The soils are examined systematically in many locations. Test pits
are dug, borings are made, and exposures, such as those in road or
railroad cuts, are studied. Each excavation exposes a series of dis-
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Map displays soil types along with rivers, roads, bridges, railroads, towns, schools, and churches. Includes legend and symbols.
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Templin, E. H. (Edward Henry) & Marshall, R. M. (Richard Moon). Soil survey of Hunt County, Texas, book, February 1939; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth19778/m1/10/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.