Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 



473 



When your child needs the service of a doctor, why not write 

 to Chicago or Kansas City, describing the case, and ask what to 

 do? No, you would rather have the opinion and services of a 

 doctor on the ground, even though you know he is not as well 

 qualified as the high-priced city specialist. The farm adviser is 

 the man on the ground, not to help all Missouri farmers but to help 

 you with your problems. 



HANDLING THE HIRED MAN. 



(Don G. Magruder, Special Agent, United States Department of Agriculture.) 



The material for this discussion was gathered by studying the 



methods used on farms where hands are 

 handled successfully. 



No doubt farming is done most satis- 

 factorily where the necessary force is sup- 

 plied by the family. One farmer who had 

 a very good hand, on being asked whether 

 the boy was hired by the month or by the 

 ^» . year and what wages he was paid, replied, 



^^^^' ^^^ "I don't know. You see we are counting 

 ^^^K I ^^^B on his becoming a member of the family 

 ^^^B A ^^^^k later on and I am intending to give him the 

 wKKKLWmll^^^Km ^SiVm. on which he is working." That is 



one way of getting satisfactory hands. 

 Every farm should have at least two 

 men on it. The one-man farm is uneconomical because in much of 

 the work one man is at a disadvantage and because, while it is 

 often advisable for you to be away from the farm, some one 

 should be on the farm at all times. 



Investigations made in a township in New York by Cornell 

 University show that the average farm which is large enough for 

 only one man does not pay the farmer hired-hand wages and he 

 can make more by working as a hired hand. If your family does 

 not provide the crew necessary to do the work on your farm, you 

 should hire the crew if you are able to lead them. If you are 

 incapable of doing a hand's work you had better not hire hands 

 unless you are unusually capable in managing men, because, as 

 a rule, a hand to be profitable must be led. If you cannot lead the 

 hands the land should be rented out on the shares, for the reason 

 that usually renters are more capable than hired men, and work- 



Don. G. Magruder. 



