CHAPTER VII 



MISCELLANEOUS WORK CORRELATED WITH CROP AND 

 LIVE STOCK ENTERPRISES 



THERE are many odd jobs on every farm which are here classed 

 as miscellaneous work because they are not connected directly 

 with any of the important crop or live stock enterprises. For 

 example, the repairing of old fences, the building of new fences, 

 the cutting of weeds along fences and ditches, the filling of 

 washes, the repair of buildings, making concrete walks, trim- 

 ming trees about the house, making posts, cutting stove wood, 

 improving roads about the farm, etc., may be classed as mis- 

 cellaneous work. 



This class of work has sometimes been called unproductive. 

 This characterization arises out of the fact that even though all 

 this work be done perfectly, the farm will yield no income 

 without the crop or live stock enterprises. Yet the crop and 

 live stock enterprises cannot long be carried on if all this mis- 

 cellaneous work is neglected. It is better, therefore, to call this 

 labor indirectly productive rather than unproductive. 



One of the most important problems in farm management is 

 to keep the indirectly productive labor out of the way of the 

 directly productive labor and yet get it done. Just to the 

 extent that crop work must be stopped in order to make or 

 repair a fence, the possibilities of profits are reduced. The 

 purpose of this chapter is to make some suggestions which may 

 be helpful in organizing the farm work in a manner that will 

 tend to keep the proportion of time on directly productive 

 labor at a maximum and arrange to get the miscellaneous work 

 done when no directly productive labor can be carried on. 



The experienced farmer usually anticipates his need for fuel 

 during seasons when crop work demands his attention, by pro- 



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