42 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



Is better left until that time of night when there 

 is no further possibility of interruption. 



My hired man comes twice a day four days a 

 week to milk and feed. The other three days he 

 works eight hours. Deducting the six morning and 

 evening chore hours from these days it will be seen 

 his total time for all other work is a net eighteen 

 hours a week most weeks. For there are times 

 when legal holidays cut his working week to two 

 days. On my part, these holidays would augment 

 my total working time. It should be easy to find 

 eighteen hours a week over and above chore time 

 in evenings, week-ends, and holidays, not over- 

 looking the fact that if I were working for some- 

 one else instead of myself the chances are it would 

 be a job that carried two weeks annual vacation: 

 in those two weeks I should be able to do work 

 that now takes my man four. 



Nor does my hypothesis overlook the fact it 

 might not be convenient to put in eighteen hours 

 a week every week. Farm work does not go that 

 way. In the course of years I have clocked my man's 

 time, if not with the nicety of my whilom neigh- 

 bor, the late "Speedy" Taylor, at least closely 

 enough to make practical allocations possible. 

 Reckoning that the occasional overtime he con- 

 tributeswhen for instance the hay must be got 

 in cancels the time lost through holidays or other 

 causes, I would divide his thirty-two hours a week, 

 fifty-two weeks a year, about as follows: 



