2 ^AKMEKS BULLETIN 614. 



region for crops that yield a big income per acre, such as truck crops 

 and small fruits, except in a few localities close to cities, where good 

 markets are available. The tendency in most sections is for the 

 labor of the farm to be done by one man or by one man and his family. 

 Occasionally it is done by the owner or tenant and a hired man. 

 In this case it is rare that the hired man can be depended upon to 

 stay the entire year, unless he has a family and is furnished a place to 

 live. In any event, it is growing more imperative that the efficiency 

 of the one man be increased as much as possible in such operations as 

 plowing, planting, and cultivating the farm crops, and that all the 

 labor possible be eliminated in the harvesting of these crops, in 

 order to cover a greater acreage effectively and at the same time to 

 use the greatest economy in the employment of outside labor, inas- 

 much as it is so difficult to secure. 



Already this has given rise to certain well-formed and definite 

 systems which include these elements as prominent features in the 

 management of the farm. In several widely separated places prac- 

 tically the same system has been worked out. In all of these in- 

 stances 3 and 4 horse machinery is being rapidly substituted for 

 that of the 2-horse type, in order to double the efficiency of each man 

 employed. Crops are being grown that do not compete for labor. 

 Live stock is being used in every way possible in the harvesting of 

 the crops produced, thus eliminating to a very great extent the 

 necessity of hiring extra labor. By this process, also, the soil is 

 being brought to a higher stage of productiveness. 



THE CROPPING SYSTEM. 



A system which meets the requirements of the average conditions 

 in the corn belt has been found in actual operation on a number of 

 widely separated farms. It is one of the most definite and clearly 

 defined systems that have been encountered during several years of 

 farm-management studies throughout the region. It has been de- 

 vised by the farmers themselves, as they have been forced gradually 

 to meet present conditions. 



The system in itself is very simple. Only three different crops are 

 grown, and these follow in a 4 or 5 year rotation that is easily man- 

 aged. The crops are corn, rye, and a mixture of clover and timothy, 

 or clover alone, as is thought best. The rotation in its 4-year form 

 is corn, corn, rye, and timothy and clover. The 5-year rotation is 

 the same, with the exception that the clover and timothy are allowed 

 to stand two years instead of one. 



The ease with which the labor of such a rotation is taken care of is 

 very evident. Corn is the first and only crop to receive attention 

 during the spring and early summer until time to lay it by, at which 

 time hay harvest begins. Since the rye is harvested later by the 



