Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1921-05-05
TRACTORS ARE Time SAVERS
First Impulse Of Purchaser Should Be
to Obtain Fullest Information Re.
Qarding Machine.

bSNSA pNop ~ 49, ''s
get more money than II of thos'
s%lick-haired soda clerks In the dru'
store. Something is wrong with Oh
farm system. l think l know wha
it Is, but it'll do Jimmy more good |
lie finds out for himself. l want It
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 whicl
required from IA to 10 hours of stead!
effort daily, should pay more than hi
received as his share Of the farm
profits. He had INDUCED In all sort:
the mental gymnastics In an effort tC
locate the trouble, but had never
reached n 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 pool
farm practice and good farm prac
tice?
He found the solution in Il bulletin
which came to him from the United
States Department Of Agriculture. "a
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 rs
the Henderson farm was concerned
He devoted n good many evenings to
studying the bulletin, then finally
sought the elder Henderson on the
farmhouse veranda one night and sur
prised him by remarking that their
farm system was as full of holes ms
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 he
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
wv am 't'l'iGS. IL wv l"IlIlIt JUN,
the hired man. to put In II days work
on n 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 n good deal of horse
labor income, too. That's our sore
spot, I 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, 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.
%inate-that profit in food and care"
"Where did you get all this informa-
ton, SOM" querled his father.
From a farmers bulletin" con-
fessed Jimmy, unabashed.
"Humph" grunted James Hender-
son, ST., In no wise displeased. "Muy-
be the bulletin Gun tell us how to get
out Of the hOle?"
ayes, sirl 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 1t 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 1t Is in this bulletin.
"They've studied q large number of
farms and calculated to average so
q 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 q 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 mar work to the acre and ten
horse days. According to these tables
require much more man
labor than horse work. Onions, for In
need 1880 hours Of work by
n man and only 100 hours by q horse
10 the acre.
Basis for Estimates.
Naturally, these figures will not fit
every farm-they're average estimates
hut they will furnish n basis from
which any farmer can make his own
calculations. The specialists say that
handling OF the labor Item Is
one Of the principal influences In re-
farm profits. lie pnused.
There's M thing I'd like to know
Why the department Of Agriculture
sent me this bulletin. l didn't ask for
t-dIdn't even know they had It."
The wise Old man In the chdr
up Mt his son with u CLEAN OF
In his eyes.
s a.