A CORN-BELT FARMING SYSTEM WHICH SAVES 

 HARVEST LABOR BY HOGGING DOWN CROPS. 



CONTENTS. 



FIG. 1. Map of the United States showing, by shadedlines, 

 the territory to which this bulletin is applicable. 



system of farming herein outlined provides productive labor 

 for practically the entire year and at the same time so distributes 

 this labor as to make it possible for one man, practically without 

 hired help, to handle a large acreage, making a net income considera- 

 bly greater than is at present commonly obtained on farms of similar 

 size in the corn-belt States 

 (fig. 1) . This system rap- 

 idly increases the produc- 

 tiveness of the land and is 

 designed to conserve soil 

 fertility to the greatest 

 possible degree. It affords 

 a solution for some urgent 

 and difficult farm problems. 



Labor in itself constitutes 

 one of the hardest problems 

 encountered on the average 

 farm. Not only is this now 

 true, but the situation seems to be growing more serious each year. 

 The cost of extra labor is becoming greater, and efficient labor on the 

 farm is more difficult to secure when needed most. Transient labor 

 for the general farm is very unsatisfactory. As a rule, also, it is not 

 convenient or profitable to keep the necessary extra labor throughout 

 the entire year, even if it were available. This condition must soon 

 result in the reorganization of a large number of farms throughout the 

 corn belt, and in other sections as well. The main features of these 

 changes must be (1) a better distribution of labor throughout the 

 entire season and (2) systems that will reduce the extra labor 

 required at certain critical seasons of the year to a minimum. 



The average corn-belt farm must be *devoted largely to the growing 

 of staple field crops, such as can be planted and cultivated by ma- 

 chinery and handled on a large scale. There is little place in that 



NOTE. This bulletin was prepared originally in the. Bureau of Plant Industry and published Nov. 

 13, 1914. 



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