18 



UNIV. OF N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION 



[Bulletin 217 



Crop acres per farm . 



Oats 



Corn 



Other grain 



Tobacco 



1.27 



1.19 



14 



06 



Hay 27.58 



Livestock per farm (number). 



Horses 1.6 



Milk cows 5.0 



Other cattle 4.1 



Sheep 1.5 



Hogs 1.1 



Poultry 60 . 



Demand for labor in the production of these crops conies ahnost entirely 

 during hay harvest, or within less than one month in the year. The 

 extreme labor demand in July is shown in Figure 2. Oats, corn and other 

 grain crops are grown on such a small acreage that most of the work must 

 be done by hand, because the cost of machinery would be very high. 

 Naturally some farms grow a larger acreage of these grain crops than is 

 shown by the average acreage per farm. In District II those farms plant- 

 ing oats had ten acres per farm, but in the other districts it varied from 



Fig. 2. 



FARM LABOR AND LABOR OFF FARM 

 BY FARM OPERATORS 

 CHESHIRE COUNTY, YEAR ENDING SEPT. 30,1924. 



OCT. NOV. DEC. JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT 



Days of labor vjbrKed off farm 

 by form operator 



Farm labor hired 

 bu the month 



Farm lotior hired 

 btj the doy 



one to five acres per farm. The most common acreage of corn on farms 

 growing this crop was three to five acres, and most of this was grown for 

 ensilage. The present cropping system with such small acreage, there- 

 fore, makes the cost of producing feeds high. 



Livestock or outside work must act as the balance wheel in smoothing 

 out farm labor demands. Some farms are doing this very well in the 

 operation of a dairy. The average number of livestock per farm, how- 

 ever, does not represent a profitable man unit. With the average labor 

 demands for crop production one man could easily handle ten cows and 

 many other livestock. Very few farms, however, have over eight cows, 

 and the average number per farm is five. 



The production of crops and livestock under such conditions is very 

 expensive. These farmers must either obtain a high price for their 



