456 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



• 



it is no easy matter to plan farm work to distribute labor equally 

 throughout the year, as any farmer knows who has corn to 

 "lay by," alfalfa, oats and winter wheat to cut, all at the same 

 time. 



Fortunate is the man who has sons of his own to carry on 

 the labor of his farm or can borrow the sons of his neighbors. 

 If he must depend upon the man who is here today and there 

 tomorrow, his grievances are indeed many. It behooves the 

 farmer, therefore, to so manage his farm that having found an 

 efTicient man he can keep him the year around. The fact of 

 the matter is that the efTicient man is not one who is here today 

 and there tomorrow. Such a life is to him neither pleasant 

 nor profitable. The short time work is then left largely to the 

 man who is not so capable. 



As to wages, the efficient man rarely receives all he is 

 worth, whereas the inefficient man always receives more than 

 he is worth. Both receive the wages customary in that com- 

 munity, which may vary from $1 to $3.50 per day or from $25 

 to $45 per month. In one community a man may receive $35 

 per month, have his horse or his horses fed and shed room pro- 

 vided for his buggy. In another community he may receive 

 $30 per month and not be permitted to have a horse of his own 

 nor the use of one of his employer's horses. 



Some farmers have found it to their advantage to build 

 comfortable cottages for the use of the married man and his 

 family, and have given a garden spot, milk and eggs for family 

 use. In many instances this arrangement has proved satis- 

 factory both to the farmer and to his man. In other instances 

 it has not proved satisfactory, as is shown by the empty cottages 

 that are to be seen as one drives along the country roads. 



Some of you may have read the interesting and amusing 

 discussion that was carried on in the Breeders' Gazette during 

 the past year in regard to the proper housing and treatment 

 of the hired man. The discussion was opened by a woman 

 whose description of the table manners of the hired men she 

 had known equaled some of the descriptions of farm life as 

 they appear in Hamlin Garland's "Main Traveled Roads." 

 The discussion was closed with the remark that the only thing 

 necessary to do in any case is to observe the Golden Rule, "Do 

 unto others as you would have them do unto you." It is safe 

 to say that where this rule is observed by all parties concerned 

 there is no great problem of farm labor. 



