Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-03-10

JlulIuy is loo CouleHteu, ueCldIeu
James Henderson, Sr. "Hell work 16
hours a day here on the farm and
never stop to wonder why he doesn't
get more money than n Of those
slick-haired soda clerks in the drug
store. Something is wrong with
farm system. I think I know what
it is, but it'll do Jimmy more good if
he finds out for himself. I want to
teach him to think"
PerpIexed by Losses.
He was right about his farm sys-
TEN, but he was wrong about his son..
Jimmy, in his own quiet way, had real
lied long ago that a business which
required from II to 16 hours of steady
effort daily, should. pay more than he
received as his share of the farm
profits. He had INDUCED in all sorts
the mental gymnastics in an effort to
locate the trouble, but had never
reached a sound conclusion. He knew
that certain crops produced a profit,
while others probably involved a loss.
How was n to know one from the
other; the difference between poor
farm practice and good farm prac-
tice?
He found the solution in a bulletin
which came to him from the United
States Department of Agriculture. "A
Method of Analysing the Farm Bust
ness" was it's title, and Jimmy real
lied, after a glance at the pages, that
he had the secret of success S % far as
the Henderson farm was concerned.
He devoted a good many evenings to
studying the bulletin, then finally
sought the elder Henderson on the
farmhouse veranda n night and SUI
prised him by remarking that their
farm system was as full of holes as
an old boot. Once launched upon the
subject the young man displayed an
interest that caused his father to set
tie back in his chair with a sigh Of
content.
"We've never made money here be-
cause we spent too MUCH" Jimmy as
serted. "We haven't spent money ex-
actly. but we have spent things that
are equivalent to money-time, labor
and farm acreage. If we permit Jack,
the hired man, to put in Il days work
OF a job which isn't profitable. we've
spent the amount of his wage and, in
addition, the amount of profit over
and above his pay which his work
should have earned for MS. We've
wasted his labor income.
"We've spent a good deal of horse
labor income, too. That's our sore
spot, I guess. We have - horses
fine ones, I'll admit-but they're eat
ing up profits in the barn. I've made
some calculations based on the figures
contained in this bulletin. Arranging
the problem to suit our crop rotation
and the size of our farm, l find that
we've just work enough for eight of
these horses. Eight horses would pay
us a profit, but four more will elm
mate that profit in food and care"
where did you get all this Informal
ton, SOM" queried his father.
"From a farmers bulletin con-
fessed Jimmy, unabashed.
11tlllh. SlulllCu OttlllCS IclllSI-
son ST.. in no wise displeased. MAY
be the bulletin can tell US how to get
out of the hole?"
yes, sir! We've been paying Jack
good wages the year around just so
we'd be sure we had him for the sum
mer's work. We've lost most of his la
Dor income during the winter months.
Our dairy is small. If we build up a
larger dairy it will give us an oppor-
tunity not only to employ Jacks Ia
Dor at a profit in the winter season,
but it will also use up some of our ex-
cess horse labor. Similarly we can
plan crops that will require more
horse work and less man work. The
fundamental information we need has
already been obtained for us by the
Department of Agriculture, and a good
bit of it is in this bulletin.
They've studied a large number OF
farms and calculated to average sc
a farmer can tell more accurately just
the amount of labor he will need tc
plant, cultivate and harvest any par.
ticular crop. For instance, one cut.
ting of hay on the average farm re-
quires a 10-hour day for one man and
one horse for each acre. Corn for the
silo costs three days of man labor and
five and one-half of horse work. Pc
tatoes will use up eleven ten-hour days
Of la work to the acre and ter
horse days. According to these tables
vegetables require much more MAI
labor than horse work. Onions, for In
stance, need 1870 hours of work by
a man and only 100 hours by a horse
TO the acre.
Basis for Estimates.
Naturally. these figures Will NOT II
every farm--they're average estimates
--but they will furnish a basis from