FARM-MANAGEMENT SURVEY OF REPRESENTATIVE AREAS. 



27 



On farms of 40 acres and less the cost of labor is over $10 per crop 

 acre. On all farms above 120 acres the cost is less than $6 per crop 

 acre. This increased efficiency of man labor on the larger farms 

 constitutes an important factor in the cost of crop production. 



RELATION OF THE SIZE OF THE FARM TO THE EFFICIENCY OF WORK HORSES. 



With the prevailing type of agriculture as found in the corn belt, 

 both man and horse need more land to work. Farms with less than 

 100 acres in crops are not utilizing horse labor nearly as efficiently 

 as the larger places. On farms of 40 acres one horse works less than 

 10 crop acres, while on farms of 240 acres or more one horse works 

 two and one-half times as much land. One of the difficulties with 

 a farm of less than 40 acres in the corn belt is that it requires the 

 same number of horses for certain farm operations as the larger 

 place. The area in crops is so limited that only a small part of the 

 available horse labor can be utilized. 



The labor demand of such crops as com and oats is not evenly dis- 

 tributed through the growing season ; hence, horses remain idle for 

 a large part of the time. If men on the small farms were following 

 a different type of agriculture, it would be possible to utilize the 

 horses more efficiently by growing crops which require a large amount 

 of horse labor per acre. By means of diversification of crops so as 

 to better distribute their labor these men may succeed in competing 

 with those on the large places. 



The relation of the size of the farm to the number of crop acres on 

 which a horse can be utilized is shown in Table XX. 



Table XX. — Relation of the size of the farm to the number of crop acres on 

 ivhich a horse can J)e utilised on 700 farms in Indiana, Illinois, and Ioioa. 





Farms. 





Area. 



Number. 



Average 

 size (acres). 



Average 

 crop area 

 (acres). 



Average 



number of 



work 



horses. 



Crop area 



per horse 



(acres). 





45 

 114 

 120 

 130 

 93 

 75 

 35 

 37 

 30 

 12 

 5 

 J 



36.6 

 71.4 

 107.2 

 149.3 

 183.6 

 227.4 

 262.5 

 305.6 

 364.1 

 474.8 

 652.6 

 991.2 



26.4 

 56.7 

 86.0 

 122.4 

 143. 4 

 184.9 

 211.2 

 233.8 

 298.0 

 368.6 

 555.4 

 612.0 



2.8 



3.6 



4.5 



5.8 



6.6 



7.8 



8.4 



9.5 



10.8 



13.1 



19.4 



19.0 



9.4 





15.7 



81 to 120 acres 



19. 1 



121 to 160 acres 



21.1 



161 to 200 acres 



21.7 



201 to 240 acres 



23.7 



241 to 280 acres 



25.1 



281 to 320 acres 



321 to 400 acres 



24.6 

 27.6 



401 to 560 acres 



561 to 720 acres 



28.1 

 28.6 



721 to 1,250 acres 



32.2 







To judge from the data given in Table XX, there is no marked in- 

 crease in the efficiency of horse labor on the very large farms over 

 the medium-sized ones. 



