The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-12-10

three months WORK Is not SIMPLY
what 1t would cost to hire horse
and maintain him during these three
the horse for year on the fam,
including feed, interest, depreciation,
taxes, barn rent, etc. Suppose that
on another farm We had the same
number Of horses, but that on the
average we get six full months wc;v
out of each. The cost of the six
months work Is approximately tho
same as the cost of three months
work on the other farm. On the
farm where the horse does only
three months work, the cost of horse
labor per unit OF product is approx.
mately twice as great as il is on the
other.
The main point of farm organiza-
ton is to so distribute the labor Of
man and horse throughout the work.
ing season as to secure approx
mately a uniform amount of work at
all times. Where this is done, the
number OF horses and the correspon-
ding implements required to farm a
given area is very much reduced.
Thus on my own farm, which | am
farming in partnership with my
brother, who lives on the farm, sew
eral years ago we planned a system
90 Inn, ~
hogs. The system worked well from
the standpoint of the number of
hogs produced, and 1t built up the
land in very satisfactory manner
We got considerably larger crops
than our neighbors, and our hogs
always sold for excellent prices, yet
the cost of operation was so great
that for several years there was no
| profit. In two out OF six years We
had a very nice profit, because we
were able to sell our hogs at an I'M
usually high price. Finally 1t dawn
| ed upon us that the trouble was we
had a system which required too
much work in March, April and May,
and too little work at other seasons
of the year. We then went to work
and changed our rotation somewhat,
| introducing some crops that gave
work in July, August and September.
| This greatly reduced the amount Of
| blowing to be done in the early
spring and reduced the number Of
horses required on the farm in the
same proportion. In fact, before we
| made the change, eight horses were
not sufficient to do the work ade-
quately during the first part of the
season. With, the system We now
have, four horses suffice, and we
have been able to take in twenty
acres more land than we were farm
ing before, simply because We now
have a system that distributes the
work well during the season.
"One other point that is important
especially on large farms, and one of
which We have been able to take
advantage on our farm, is that the
labor cost is greatly reduced II when
man is sent to the field to work
he is permitted to use as much pow
er as is practicable for a man to use.
Thus when a man is following two
horses and a twelve or fourteen-inch
plow, he is doing work which on
most farms will return the owner Of
the farm, say, 81 day. 1t may be
more or less than this, but the
amount is immaterial. But If this
same man is following four horses
and using a two-bottom twelve-inch
gang pillow, he is earning twice as
much for the owner of the farm as
before. On the prairie lands of the
West, and in many parts Of the tim
bered country, 1t is entirely practic-
able to use four horse implements In
most Of the field operations. This
is more important in the case of
blowing than in any other operation,
because this operation takes so much
time. 1t is less important in plant
ing because the operation is quickly
done. In narrowing, r is well
worth while to use four horses, pro-
vided, of course, the farm is large
enough to Justify the keeping of four
horses. Cultvating corn is anoth,
er operation in which on land that IS
fairly level and not rocky or stump,
1t is practicable to do most of the
cultivating with two-row cultivators,
and when man is running such a
cultivator, his work Is worth twice
as much a day as when he is run
ming a one-row cultivator.
Il have touched only very briefly
| ON Soma of tho main nniI,tr ~ H.