2. Get the men interested in their rate of accomphshment, — 

 so many acres plowed in a day; so many trees pruned in a day. 

 This grows naturally out of the first suggestion, and is even 

 more important than the first. If Mike is pruning apple trees 

 ask him, when he comes in at noon, how many trees he finished 

 that forenoon; do the same thing at night; and then, in the 

 evening or Saturday afternoon, sit down with him and figure 

 out how much it is costing the farm per tree to get the pruning 

 done. Do the same thing with the boys who are thinning 

 apples, and go around occasionally to talk the job over with 

 them. Keep them posted as to how the cost of this week 

 compares with that of last week or last year. It is much better 

 to let the men keep their own records, even if the boss keeps 

 them also as a check, because this very thing stimulates their 

 interest in the matter. Another great advantage in interesting 

 the men and boys in what they are doing, and in the rate at 

 which they are doing it, is that it gives them something to 

 think about. Some operations are more monotonous than 

 others, and the more monotonous the operation the more im- 

 portant it is that the operator's interest should be stimulated. 

 Take the job just mentioned, — thinning fruit. Few opera- 

 tions of the orchard are more important, and yet few, indeed, 

 are more deadly monotonous. There is no change, no let-up. 

 Hour after hour, day after day, w^eek after week, just pulling 

 off those tiresome little apples and letting them fall to the 

 ground. One does not even have the satisfaction of filling up 

 baskets with them, and thus feeling that he is accomplishing 

 something. 



Moreover, we must remember that the hired man or boy 

 does not derive the same satisfaction that the owner does from 

 the thought of how much good he is doing to the crop by his 

 thinning or other operation. That one factor might be enough 

 to keep the owner in high spirits right through the job, but we 

 cannot expect it to stimulate the hired help in the same degree. 

 Personal accomplishment, even in so uninteresting an operation 

 as thinning apples, is something to take a pride in, especially if 

 the boss knows about it and expresses his interest in it. 



3. Supervise the beginning and quitting of the men each day. 

 See that they get on the job promptly in the morning and at 



