308 THE BOOK OF CORN 



ance includes repairs necessary during the life of the 

 implements. 



Labor and Its Statistical Treatment — The amount 

 and character of labor required to make a corn crop 

 necessarily varies according to the culture methods 

 followed. In the 4051 acres included in this investiga- 

 tion various culture methods were used. As an average 

 must include all methods, the total amount of labor re- 

 quired to perform a certain operation is distributed over 

 the total area, although actually the labor was per- 

 formed on only a part of the acreage. For example, it 

 was necessary to remove stalks on only 1673 acres, but 

 the labor cost of this operation is necessarily divided 

 among the whole 4051 acres. So far as possible, how- 

 ever, the labor cost of the different operations is 

 grouped into certain fundamental divisions of culture 

 according to the result aimed at by the operation in 

 question. The term "labor cost" as used in this an- 

 alysis includes wages and labor maintenance, but does 

 not include cost of team maintenance, that being in- 

 cluded later in the tabulation as a separate item. 



Removing Stalks — When corn is grown two years 

 in succession, the first work of preparation is the re- 

 moval of old stalks. Cutting up and carrying off was 

 practiced on 784 acres, requiring 91^ days of labor 

 and 76 days of team service. The actual accomplish- 

 ment was 8.6 acres per day of labor. Breaking, raking 

 and burning was practiced on 889 acres, requiring 92 

 days of labor and 79% days of team service, the aver- 

 age accomplishment being 2.4 acres per day's labor. 



Plowing — Of the 4051 acres, 3491 acres were 

 plowed, the remaining 560 acres being listed in. To 

 plow 725 acres in the fall required 293 days of labor 

 and 382 days of team service, or an accomplishment 

 of 2.47 acres per day's labor. The discrepancy be- 

 tween days of labor and days of team work is of course 



