38 



BULLETIN 9#7, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



On most of the farms the cultivation of corn required more horse 

 labor than any other single operation in the limited amount of time 

 available for the work. Of the 143 men who used all of their work- 

 stock for some one operation 73 per cent used them for the cultiva- 

 tion of corn. 



Two men cultivated their corn entirely with their tractors, 14 

 used their tractors for part of the work, and 270 used horse-drawn 

 cultivators only. The acreage in corn on these 270 farms and the 

 number of horses used on each for cultivating were as shown in 

 Table 27. 



Table 27. — Number of horses used for cultivating corn on farms of different sizes using 



horse-drawn cultivators only. 



Acres in corn. 



o 

 u 



g-2 



M 



CO o 



ps£ 

 o 



g<N 



U 



c3 



fcJ3 



o 



Geo 

 s- 

 c3 

 ft 



ttf> 



co a, 



pi t-l 



o 



1=1 



M 

 CO © 



a £ 

 o 



go 



to 



CO <B 



PS 



O 



«.« 



go 



J-. 



03 



&0 

 PI 



CO <D 

 ^ O 



CO & 



03 

 1*1 



CO a) 



O 

 co,c 



goo 



03 



bo 

 Pi 



CO 0) 



3 £ 

 o 



COfl 



PI en 



t* 



c3 



be 



co <o 

 co.S 



S2 



03 



bo 

 PI 



co o 



»§ 

 co* 



Pj-< 



C3 



MS 



c£ 



co.G 



O 



gS 



C3 O 



^2 



Less than 35 



20 

 42 

 51 

 49 

 43 

 20 

 24 

 21 



17 

 7 



1 

 11 

 2 



2 

 18 

 32 

 21 



14 



















4 



8 

 15 



7 

 1 

 1 



2 

 8 

 12 

 16 

 16 

 13 

 4 















55 to 74 



1 



2 

 1 

 3 

 3 







1 





75 to 94 



1 



4 

 2 

 5 

 3 









95 to 114 











115 to 134 











135 to 154 







1 



3 





1 











3 



1 



4 













Apparently some of these men used more horses than necessary for 

 their corn cultivation. Two horses should be ample for cultivating 

 35 acres or less, but three men used more than two horses. Three or 

 four horses, drawing one 2-row or two 1-row cultivators, should be 

 sufficient for 35 to 54 acres of corn, and a majority of the men with 

 55 to 74 acres used only 4 horses for cultivating, yet 23 of the 93 

 men with 35 to 74 acres in corn used more than 4 horses for cultivat- 

 ing. Similarly, the cultivating could evidently have been done with 

 fewer horses on some of the farms with greater acreages in corn. 



If 2-row cultivators had been used exclusively on the farms where 

 two 1-row outfits were used, only three horses and one man would 

 have been required for the work. A more extended use of 2-row 

 machines on the farms with larger acreages in corn would have often 

 made it possible to do the cultivating with fewer horses, and fewer 

 men as well. 



On some of these farms more horses were needed for some other 

 operation than for corn-cultivating. If machines and men are 

 available for cultivation on such farms, it might be profitable to use 

 the horses which would otherwise be idle. This practice is responsible 

 for the large number of horses used for cultivating on some of the 

 farms. 



