MISCELLANEOUS WORK 63 



viding a large pile of wood, ready for the cook stove, before the 

 frost is out of the ground in the spring. He likewise anticipates 

 his need for fences and utilizes the time after the frost is out of 

 the ground until work can commence in the field, building and 

 repairing fences. Not only is this time relatively free from 

 conflicting enterprises, but there is no other time of year when 

 a post can be set with so little labor as in the loose, moist soil 

 as it is found just after the frost is out of the ground. The 

 shiftless farmer who neglects this opportunity and comes to 

 the date when the cattle should be turned into the pasture 

 without having the fences in repair may have to take a man 

 and team out of the cornfield a day at a time when labor on 

 corn is worth 75 cents an hour, to do work which might have 

 been done when alternative opportunities would pay no more 

 than 10 cents an hour. 



Instances might be multiplied without end showing how the 

 neglect of miscellaneous work when time is available results in 

 great loss to the farmer. To facilitate getting work done at the 

 most opportune time the following classifications of work have 

 been made : 



(A) (1) Work which must be done at a definite time. 



(2) Work which may be done any time within a wide latitude. 



(3) Work which is often postponed indefinitely. 



(B) (1) Work that can be done when it is raining. 



(2) Work which cannot be done while rain is falling, but can 



be done while the ground is wet. 



(3) Work requiring dry weather and land dry enough to work 



or drive over (hauling manure, lime, etc.). 



(C) (1) Work which cannot be done while ground is frozen. 



(2) Work which can be done while ground is frozen. 



(3) Work which can be done when ground is covered with 



snow. 



A. (1) Feeding and milking dairy cows, sowing oats, plant- 

 ing corn, the cultivation of corn, and the harvesting of the oats, 

 are examples of work which will suffer if not done at the right 

 time. The farmer who neglects his cows will soon have no 

 milking to do. The farmer who delays sowing oats until the 



