Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-01
Reports From Corn Belt
Farms Show Merits of Va
rious Implements and
Methods

The relative efficiency of plows of
different sizes, the value of the
tractor compared with horses, the
saving effected by corn binders, hay
leaders and numerous other imple-
ments, and other facts bearing on
farm management are discussed by
specialists of the office of farm man
agement, United States department
of agriculture, in bulletin recently
issued. The publication discusses in
detail the standard days work in
central Illinois; that is, the amount
of work that the 600 farmers in
cluded in the investigation ordinarily
do in that part of the work day de-
voted to a given farm operation, such
as the number of acres plowed with
a given equipment. In some instances
the rate of work is given in the
bulletin in number of minutes per
load, as in loading and unloading
hay, or hauling and spreading ma
nure.
From the figures published one
may get a good idea of the. rate at
done in the parts of the corn belt
in question. For example, it is
shown that one man does from 70
to 20 per cent more with the twenty
e1ght-1nch horse-drawn gang pillow
than with the one-bottom sixteen
inch pillow.
Figures are given for spring and
ran blowing, narrowing, planting,
cultivating, harvesting, husking,
seeding, unloading ear corn, unload
and hauling and Spreading ma msn ,rrns
The bulletin is entitled 1.-The Standard
Days Work in Central Illinois,,
Copies may be had by addressing. the
United States department of agri-
culture, Washington, D. C.
The farms represented by this
inquiry are fairly typical of those
throughout the middle western
states, since the average crop area
IS 1914 acres and an average. of AL
acres Is never planted to crops Corn
is the principal product, at least
one-half of the crop area being de-
voted to it, and the oat crop is second
IN Importance. The ground cultiva-
Ton IN most instances is level, and
lions than rolling or rugged cour1-
try. N'on-
The average time spent in the field
exclusive of the time used in going.
10 ana returning from the field, at
morning; noon and night, is report
60 py these men as ten hours and
Ten minutes per day devoted to spring
neld work and corn cultivation: nine
hours ana hfty-fiVe minutes for hay-
ING ana grain harvesting; nine hours
and thirty minutes for fall pIowine
ana preparing ground, and nine hours
ana twenty minutes for corn har-
vest n"i-
among the significant facts brought
out py this inquiry may be man
toned the following: 'i'0ii-
Qnder conditions where the use of
LWo-roW cultivator is practicable,
this machine enables one 49, oa n.
these farms to cover nearIv twina ot n
nluch ground per day as with a one.
row cultlVator. Three horses ~.
m n,f1st commonly used on the two-row
SulCIydIor, ana the addition of q
fourth horse apDarentIIy i,.o,,
but little the amount of ne grnlS
covered per day. eooiio
THESE farmers find that the nsa
or corn binder increases The e ef7
tic1ency of man labor so per cent ova,.
that; achieved when cutting oed
shocking by hand. anu
Eighty bushels was an AVERAGE
man w MUah G 1nst these FAR farms for one
standing stalk by hand, INC
d,, Inc use OF portable elevator re-
t aucss .tns time required to unload
e cent INTO the bin by about Is per
The use of a hay-loader reduces INV
ABOUT 20 per cent the time re0miregg
70 put on load of hay. The amni rTf
VI ~ aoor required for unloading into
half NOV. as rs only a little, more than
hand. 10 uoile by
The men in this territory who nse
SpISduSrS maui and Snpaod
given amount of manure in 1occ
man nalf the time required bv man
hand anu spread by
A large majority of the men re-
using endgate seeders attached f.
lHe poX OF an ordinary wagon. On1v
aoout 20 per cent of the farmers re-
porting own grain drills.
me bulletin analyses each field
man:labor requirements, horse Ia bor
requlrements, size of machine. etc
ne manner in which the data. on
P,oWlng nave been summarized is
sy,bi OF the way in which several
supJecLS are treated. About so rer
cent or the farmers reported the nse
- s9lky plows about 80 per cent
Stated that they use horse-dr9un
eSne pIoWs' ana IA per cent reported
.ue use OF tractors for blowing
16-1nch sulky Flows Popular
"A large majority of the farmers
use Io-lnch Sulky plows. nearly ALI Of
1neE1 with three horses in the spring
fo mres acres is an average days work
ior TINS outtt. For the co.nnara tive-
~ Few farmers using 14-incn suIkv
ysgows with three horses in snrinS
ploW1ng about acres is an aversee
Jays work. While Theoretically
Inc Io-lncn ploW should cover about
10 per cent more ground in the Same
length of time, this apparently has
not been found true IN practice
Four-Horse Teams Preferred
Ihe greater number of four-horse
teams and even some five-horse
Teams on 14-inch sulky plows for
fall blowing is accounted for by the
TACT that piowing in the fall is usu-.
ally. about one inch deeper than in the
spring: and also by the fact that the
ground is generally dry and hard
TO turn. On An average, outfits of
the same size cover about a b.If
acre less per day in the fall than
in the spring, due not only t. the
more difficult conditions mentioned
above, but also to the fact that the