368 Transactions of the American Institute. 



their wheat crops average twenty-six bushels per acre one year with 

 another. In the neigliborhood where Mr. Geddes" lives this is the 

 average crop. 



Can Fakmers Recognize the Ten Hour Rule ? 



Mr. George F. Powell, Ghent, Columbia county, New York, 

 writes : " There is one question which I desire to present to the 

 Farmers' Club for its consideration. The ten\hoiir system of labor. 

 Can farmers employ that system in carrying on their operations suc- 

 cessfully ? Day laborers upon the farniTare now working upon that 

 system, and expect to do so through the harvest season. Can the 

 immense harvests of the country be securedjworking only ten hours 

 a day, while with all of tlie machinery we have at present for expe- 

 diting business we can hardly get large crops of hay and grain 

 gathered before they are injured from long standing? Can the 

 myriads of weeds that beset all cultivated crops from early spring 

 until autumn be successfully subdued upon ten hours a day ? If that 

 is to become the universal system, or, as the [government has estab- 

 lished eight hours, can farmers afford to pay in addition to the pres- 

 ent high wages, for the extra hours of labor] which must be per- 

 formed ? Many laborers are leaving the farm and going upon the 

 railroad, into the trades, &c., and farmers are combining not to hire 

 any laborers upon that system. Much difficulty is likely to arise 

 from this cause, and the interests of agriculture to be seriously affected 

 until some basis can be amicably agreed upon. I desire to see tlie 

 laboring man given all the privileges that are calculated to advance 

 his interest, that he may rise rather than be crushed down by oppres- 

 sion. At the request of many intelligent farmers I submit this labor 

 question to the club, and ask that it ma}^ receive its candid considera- 

 tion, and that its conclusion may be put in print as early as possi- 

 ble." 



Mr. A. S. Fuller thought that the whole thing would regulate 

 itself. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble said that the farmer was very differently 

 situated from the mechanic. Many mechanics work under cover and 

 they can work a certain number of hours, but a good deal of time is 

 lost on the farm on account of the weather, and ^especially so in har- 

 vest. I should feel very indignant if the men working for me in 

 harvest-time should stop work at the conclusion of the eight hours, 

 for instance, when I was preparing a crop of hay to take in and 



