AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CANNING CROPS 35 



4. Use of labor-saving attachments. There are two types of attach- 

 ments that are put on an ordinary mowing machine in order that peas 

 may be harvested more efficiently: " lifters," or long guards put on in 

 place of the regular guards at intervals of one foot, which raise the peas 

 so that they can be more easily cut; and " windrowers," or " swathers," 

 which are curved metal bands fastened to the cutter bar to roll the peas 

 back after they are cut. It is usually necessary to have men follow the 

 machine to roll the peas back as they are being cut, so that they are not 

 run over by the machine the next time around. The windrowers aid in 

 this operation and shorten the time required to harvest peas (table 29). 



TABLE 29. TYPE OF MACHINE USED IN HARVESTING PEAS, AND HOURS PER ACRE 

 SPENT IN HARVESTING, ON ORLEANS, GENESEE, AND STEUBEN FARMS IN 1920 



A number of farmers used an old mowing machine to cut peas. This 

 operation is hard on a mowing machine. On 48 farms out of 228 on which 

 this information was obtained, a mowing machine was used for no other 

 purpose, while on 180 farms the same machine was used that was used in 

 haying. 



FACTORS AFFECTING THE COST OF PRODUCTION OF PEAS 



Yield per acre 



The cost per ton of peas is very closely related to the yield per acre. 

 The effect of the yield on returns is shown in table 30. The costs in detail 

 of producing peas on farms with different yields per acre are given in 

 table 31. 



TABLE 30. RELATION BETWEEN YIELD PER ACRE AND COST OF PRODUCTION OF PEAS 



262 FARMS, 1920* 



* The correlation coefficient between the yield per acre and the cost per ton was extremely high, being 

 -0.724 0.02. 



