ORGANIZATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE 351 



classes of crops in an efficient rotation, and thus improving the 

 productivity of the soil, often reduces the expense of labor (as the 

 plowing), better distributes the labor throughout the year and, by 

 growing more crops to be fed out in winter, increases the value of 

 products sold, returns fertility to the soil, and enlarges the profits 

 on all parts of the farm. 



The maps in Fig. 9 illustrate how a five-year rotation actually 

 applies to a Minnesota farm. This farm contains 160 acres, all of 

 which is tillable but is poorly organized. The average distance from 

 the farmstead to the fields is seventy rods, and the total amount of 

 inside fencing required to fence all of the fields is 892 rods. The map b 

 is the same farm reorganized for a five-year rotation. With this 

 arrangement the average distance of fields from the farmstead is but 

 twenty-four rods. The amount of inside fencing required is only 

 640 rods. The crops are each year to be changed by rotation so that 

 each field will produce each crop once in five years. 



112. EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKING FORCE 1 

 BY W. J. SPILLMAN 



In studying farm organization, our interest in the crop relates to 

 the amount and kinds of labor required in the management of the crop 

 and the equipment necessary in performing that labor. In order to 

 formulate a cropping system that will give an equitable distribution 

 of labor during the season, we must know the following facts concern- 

 ing each crop to be used in the system: 



1. The kind and number of operations required by the crop from the 

 beginning of the seed-bed preparation to the marketing of the product. 



2. The crews (men, horses, and machinery) that mayor should be used 

 in performing these operations. 



3. The dates between which each operation mayor must be performed. 



4. The amount of work each crew should perform in a day. This in- 

 volves standards of farm labor for all possible kinds of farm work. 



5. The proportion of time at all seasons of the year that can be devoted 

 to the kind of work to be done. This requires a knowledge of the average 

 amount of time lost because of unfavorable weather, holidays, unavoidable 

 delays, etc. 



These five classes of data concerning a farm enterprise constitute 

 the fundamental farm-management data concerning that enterprise. 



1 Adapted from Bulletin 259, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



