OFFICE OF FARM MANAGEMENT. 493 



The results achieved along this line are especially helpful toward 

 providing the harvest labor needed in a constantly enlarging agri- 

 cultural program. Too much emphasis can not be placed upon the 

 phase of the labor work that has to do with bringing into close co- 

 operation and alignment all the forces which have more or less to do 

 with the labor problem and framing a program that will eliminate 

 as far as possible the loss due to having an over supply of labor at 

 certain places and shortage at others, and that will make possible 

 the use of all the local labor to the fullest extent and thus save 

 transportation of workers from distant areas and necessary loss of 

 time occasioned in such travel. 



CROP ECONOMICS. 



The problems of crop economics vary widely according to the 

 region and the crops involved. The activities of the Office of Farm 

 Management along this line for the past year have had to do with 

 the study of farm practice in the production of sugar beets, corn and 

 silage, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, rice, fruits, cotton, soy 

 beans, hay, and legumes, such as clovers and alfalfa. Attention 

 has also been given to pastures, their importance, and the methods of 

 making them a more effective part of the farm business. 



Very extensive investigations have been made on the production 

 of sugar beets. In the irrigated districts in the Mountain and 

 Pacific States, also in Michigan and Ohio, farm-practice studies on 

 this crop have been collected on over 1,500 farms. These include 

 data on the number and extent of the operations, the equipment used, 

 the effect of these operations upon the yields obtained, and the rela- 

 tionship that the sugar-beet enterprise bears to the rest of the farm 

 business. 



In the study on the production of silage, information has been 

 obtained on the best practices and methods followed by growers in 

 various districts, esj)ecially in the northern dairy regions; the effect 

 of the degree of maturity on yields, the shrinkage and wastage in 

 storage, and the feed requirements as determined through the experi- 

 ence of the best live-stock growers. 



The investigations in the production of wheat and other small 

 grains have had to do primarily with the place that these grains 

 should occupy in the rotation ; with farm practices with reference to 

 weed control ; with the conservation of moisture, the reduction of the 

 amount of labor necessary in the various operations, and the elimina- 

 tion of waste and damage by weather and other agencies. 



Studies of fruits have been confined primarily to the apple-growing 

 districts, with a view of determining the extent of area that the 

 orchard should occupy on a general farm, the relationship that it 

 bears to the rest of the farm business, and the practices which make 

 it a profitable part of the business. Data have been collected on all 

 the operations incident to the growing of apples in each region. 



The investigations of cotton have been associated with studies of 

 the soy bean and the velvet bean with a view of working out rotations 

 which will maintain a high level of yield in all these crops, with a 

 minimum of labor. Soy beans and velvet beans are comparatively 

 new crops in many parts of the South, and there has been urgent need 

 of more information on these crops. 



