8 14 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



increases the productiveness of the land and is designed to conserve 

 soil fertility to the greatest possible degree. 



The system in itself is very simple. Only three different crops 

 are grown, and these follow in a 4- or 5-year rotation that is easily 

 managed. The crops are corn, rye, and a mixture of clover and timo- 

 thy, or clover alone, as is thought best. The ease with which the 

 labor of such a rotation is taken care of is very evident. Corn is the 

 first and only crop to receive attention during the spring and early 

 summer until time to lay it by, at which time hay harvest begins. 

 Since the rye is harvested later by the hogs, there is nothing to corre- 

 spond to the wheat harvest, which always comes at about the time 

 the corn crop should be given its last cultivation. Haying, then, is 

 the only job to look after from the time the corn is laid by until it is 

 necessary to cut corn or sow the fall grain, which in this case is rye. 

 Thus the program is not crowded, and each crop can have its due 

 attention without rushing or slighting any part of the work. This 

 makes it possible for a given crew to handle the maximum acreage 

 with the least possible expense for outside help, thus increasing the 

 labor income. 



259. THE LABOR DEMANDS OF INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE 1 

 BY H. A. MILLIS 



The need of California farmers for an abundant supply of unskilled, 

 cheap laborers results from the intensive character of the agricultural 

 crops grown, the large scale on which these intensive crops are pro- 

 duced, and the conditions under which they are marketed. The 

 agricultural products of the state, in the growing of which there is 

 much specialization, are practically all of them crops which at some 

 stage in their production require a great deal of hand labor. They 

 require either intensive cultivation and much care while growing or 

 involve a great deal of hand labor in the harvest. This intensive 

 agriculture is well illustrated in the cultivation of sugar beets. As 

 soon as the beets develop two leaves they must be thinned by workers 

 who cut out the surplus plants with a short-handled hoe and loosen 

 the earth around each remaining beet. Later in the summer laborers 

 are employed on* two separate occasions to hoe the weeds from the 

 growing beets, and in the harvest many hand workers are required 

 for pulling, topping, and loading the beets upon wagons. The gather- 

 ing of the grapes of the vineyards involves much labor, and after the 



1 Adapted from Reports of the Immigration Commission, XXIV, 6-8. 



