FARM LABOR 



353 



Work units are not a measure of how hard men work 

 but of what is accomplished. They are a measure of the 

 amount of productive work done on the farm. Much 

 unproductive work must always be done. Well-organized 

 farms are able to do 300 productive work units per man 

 and yet get good crops. On some farms the men aver- 

 age as high as 400 work units. Horses may do as high as 

 150 work units, but 75 to 100 is more common. 



By comparing the productive work or work units on 

 different farms we may get an approximate measure of 

 what is being accomplished. For instance, the farmer re- 

 ported on page 537 had the crops and animals shown in 

 Table 73:- 



TABLE 73. PRODUCTIVE WORK UNITS 



The farmer kept 2 men by the year and hired about 

 12 months of extra labor. The average work units done 

 per man were 234. Four horses were kept. The work 

 units per horse averaged 122. 



2A 



