The progress-itemizer., 1921-02-18

n
prepared by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture)
Jimmy is too contented," declared
James Henderson, Sr. Hell WORK 10
hours day here on the farm anu
never stop to wonder why he doesn't
get more money than one OF those
slick haired soda clerks In the 0rug
store. Something is wrong with OUT
farm system. l think l know whaII
it is, but it'll do Jimmy more good u
he finds out for himself. l want ~
teach him to think"
Perplexed by Losses.
He was right about his farm sys-i
TEN, but he was wrong about his son.
Jimmy, in his own quiet way, had real
lied long ago that business wnlcn
required from IA to 16 hours OF steady
effort daily, should pay more than ne
received as his share of the farIl
profits. He had INDUCED in all sorts
the mental gymnastics in an effort TO
locate the trouble, but had never
reached sound conclusion. He knew
that certain crops produced pronq
while others probably involved a loss
How was one to know one from the
other; the difference between poor
farm practice and good Alarm prad
! tice?
He found the solution in bulletin
which came to him from the United
States Department Of Agriculture.
Method of Analysing the Farm Bust
ness" was its title, and Jimmy real
lied, after a glance at the pages, that
he had the secret of success SO far ~
the Henderson farm was concerned
He devoted a good many evenings y
studying the bulletin, then finally
| sought the elder Henderapn on the
farmhouse veranda one night and sur.
prised him by remarking that their
farm system. was as full OF holes
| nm tAd A;Uvs bf3nce soancned III
subject thesyoung man displayed a
| interest that caused his father to set
tie back in his chair with a sigh df
content.
"We've never made money here be-
cause we spent too much," Jimmy as
serted. 1--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 days work
on 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 US. We've
wasted his labor income.
"We've spent a good deal Of horse
labor income, too. That's our sore
spot, / guess. We have IL 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, ind that
we've just work enough for eight of
these horses. Eight horses wGuld pay
us profit. but four more will elm
mate that croft in food anu care
"Where did you get all this informa-
tion, son?' queried his father.
"From D farmers bulletin con-
fessed Jimmy, unabashed.
"Humph!" grunted James Hender-
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
larger dairy it will give US an oppor-
tunity not only to employ Jacks la
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 good
bit of it is in this bulletin.
They've studied large number of
farms and calculated to average so
a farmer can tell more accurately just
the amount of labor he will need to
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. Po-
tatoes will use up eleven ten-hour days
10
horse days. According to these tables
vegetables require much more man
labor than horse work. Onions, for in
stance, need 1.49O hours of work by
a man and only 100 hours by horse
to the acre.
Basis> for Estimates.
Naturally, these figures will not fit
every farm-they're average estimates
but they will furnish basis from