802 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



items of cost are the labor of men and teams. The more intensive the 

 character of farming, the larger becomes the relative importance of these 

 items. In the grazing of animals, the crop is harvested by the animals 

 with very little expense on the part of the farmer. In the production of 

 some of the more extensive crops, such as oats and wheat, on land of high 

 value, land rental becomes almost as large as that of labor. Since labor is 

 so important, it becomes essential to utilize labor as fully as possible. This 

 means that there should be diversity of enterprises in order to afford contin- 

 uous employment. It means that each enterprise should be sufficiently 

 large so that time will not be wasted in numerous changes from one piece of 

 work to another, and so that fields will be sufficiently large to avoid waste 



of land and waste of 

 time in the turning of 

 teams and implements 

 in the process of til- 

 lage. 



The efficiency of 

 man labor in field oper- 

 ations, as previously 

 indicated, is greatly 

 increased by driving 

 large teams and using 

 large machines. A 

 man plowing with a 

 two-horse plow does 

 work valued at about 

 $4 per day. With a four-horse team and a gang plow he may accomplish 

 work valued at just twice as much. 



Equipment. — The completeness of the farm equipment affects the 

 cost of production in two ways. Machines of various kinds increase the 

 work that may be accomplished by the unit of labor, and in many cases 

 do the work more uniformly than it can be done by hand. The manure 

 spreader spreads more perfectly than can the man spreading with a fork. 

 Corn planters drop with much accuracy and seeding machinery seeds more 

 uniformly than seeding can be done by hand. 



The cost of machinery and the extent of its utilization determine 

 its effect upon cost of production. Much of the farm machinery is used 

 for a veiy short period of time. The self-binder costing $125 is frequently 

 used only two or three days in the year. The interest on the investment 

 and the depreciation, therefore, make the cost of harvesting even with a 

 binder rather expensive. The same will be true of many other machines 

 on the farm. The farmer can better afford to cut fifteen acres of corn 

 by hand than he can to own a corn harvester for cutting so small an area. 

 Where the acreage is large, there can be much saving on the cost of the 



1 Courtesy of Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, Richmond, Va. From V.-C. Crop Books. 



An Efficient Team. 1 



