344 FARM MANAGEMENT 



the case on farms owned by city business men. If he 

 directs three men, the expense of supervision is about 

 as much as the wages paid the men. If the farm raises 

 only 150 acres of crops, the cost of supervision will be 

 over $6 per acre, or more than the rent on $100 land. 



The Taft ranch in Texas is an example of a well-organ- 

 ized large business. Here a foreman has charge of 1200 

 to 1800 acres of crops. He directs 25 to 35 men and 

 about 60 mules. They raise 50 acres of crops per man 

 and 25 acres per mule. Cotton is the chief crop. Other 

 help is, of course, required to pick the crop. The cost 

 of the foreman here is about 50 cents for an acre of crops. 

 The supervision of the entire ranch may add 25 cents to 

 this. 



Many farmers in the South are losing by having too 

 great an expense of supervision. Before the War, one 

 manager directed many slaves. To-day there are many 

 cases where one man directs only a very few workers and 

 yet does no work himself. This makes the cost of super- 

 vision too great. Either the number of workers directed 

 should be increased, or the manager should go to work. 

 The only other alternative is that the workers and manager 

 all remain poor, because they are following such a bad 

 system. 



HORSE LABOR 



219. Cost of horse labor. The economical use of 

 horse labor is as important as man labor. In Minnesota, 

 in 1907, the cost of an hour's work of a team in different 

 counties varied from 15 to 22 cents per hour. (Table 71.) 

 In the same region, the cost of man labor averaged about 

 12 cents. The time of the team is, therefore, worth much 

 more than the time of the driver. Where feed is worth 



