1 8 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



Does the type of farming affect the availability of either of these 

 methods of organizing labor ? Do they offer valuable suggestions for 

 peace times? 



28. Does hired labor or "unpaid labor" (i.e., members of the 

 farmer's family) make up the larger part of the labor force which the 

 average American farmer employs ? Does this vary in different sec- 

 tions and with different types of farming? What effect does this 

 have on the quantity and quality of the labor which the farmer uses 

 in various operations ? 



PROBLEMS 



1. "In the period following the war progress in agriculture and 

 appliances was at a standstill owing to the capacity of the labor. The 

 watchword was 'cut down, wear out, and move on to more productive 

 fields/ only to keep in perpetual motion the same destructive theory." 

 Is it true that the capacity of the laborer acts as a limiting factor and 

 determines the type of agriculture which may be followed? Give 

 some illustrations from the present, if possible from your own com- 

 munity. 



2. "The labor thus employed [share system of the South] only 

 works about seven months in the year. The rest of the time is 

 devoted to loafing, fishing, hunting, and having a general good time. 

 A school term of five months is provided and paid for by the State. 

 This covers all the time that can be taken from the farms during each 

 year." Do you see any cause-and-result connection here? Is such 

 a labor situation hopeless? Where should you begin if trying to 

 effect an improvement ? What would be the condition of agriculture 

 as long as this condition continued ? 



3. " The Hollanders along the western shore of Lake Michigan take 

 possession of the low lands that others do not regard as valuable and 

 are making the best kind of farms." Has immigration brought us 

 types of labor ability which we should not have had otherwise ? 



4. "In the' more intelligent scheme of the new country life, the 

 economic position of woman is likely to be one of high importance. 

 In the development of higher (more intensive) farming she is better 

 fitted than the more muscular but less patient animal, man, to carry 

 on with care that work of milk records, egg records, etc., which under- 

 lies the selection on scientific lines of the more productive strains of 

 cattle and poultry." Does this seem to indicate a new but important 

 possibility ? Is it analogous to the field which women have come to 

 occupy in industrial life ? Is there any reason why the two cases are 

 not parallel ? 



5. "A large supply of very cheap labor is sometimes a means of 

 getting a large product per acre, and this is just what certain mis- 



