128 THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



they are always ready to do odd jobs about the store; 

 rake my yard, mow my lawn, and bring a few fresh 

 eggs and a little milk to my house before breakfast 

 every morning." 



Another gross misapprehension being made, more 

 far reaching and injurious in its effects, by the so- 

 called " Farm Labor Agencies," is this : That it is 

 only at harvest time that there is a serious shortage of 

 farm labor. Nothing could be further wrong. 



Except in a few restricted localities, where wheat is 

 grown to the exclusion of other crops these should 

 not exist, as they result in financial vicissitude for the 

 community, greater market fluctuation and soil im- 

 poverishment, than mixed farming I say, that ex- 

 cept in these very limited sections, the farm having 

 adequate labor during the rest of the year needs no 

 additional help at harvest time. This is obvious to 

 any one at all versed in practical farming and familiar 

 with the history of the development and improvement 

 of farm machinery. 



Forty years ago, with the best implements then in 

 use, a harvesting crew required from eight to ten men 

 as follows: 



One man to drive the reaper. 



One man to rake off, leaving the grain in gavels 

 loose bunches to be raked together and bound into 

 bundles by hand. 



It required four extra good usually five men 

 to bind the grain as fast as cut. 



It required one man to carry the bundles together, 

 and still another to put them into shock ; thus necessi- 



