\ 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1000 



■^4* v3E2»?^*fcV' Contribution from the Office of Farm Management and Farm "Vii. 



W tisr^ytMtfP Economics. »%| 



J&$"'iFZru G. W. FORSTER, Acting Chief. J^^^JT. 



Washington, D. C. 



December 30, 1921 



LABOR AND MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS OF FIELD 



CROPS. 



By L. A. Moorhouse, Associate Farm Economist, and O. A. Juve, Junior Farm 



Economist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Method of presentation 4 



Corn 5 



Corn silage 8 



Cotton 11 



Potatoes 15 



Sugar beets 19 



Tobacco 22 



Beans 25 



Grain sorghums 28 



Wheat, spring and winter 29 



Oats 33 



Barley 36 



Rye 38 



Hay 40 



Grass seed crops 45 



Apples 46 



Miscellaneous crops 49 



Method of using foregoing data 51 



Value of plow lands 53 



Labor distribution among farm enterprises. . 54 



INTRODUCTION. 



There is a growing demand for information relating to the quantities 

 of labor and materials required for agricultural production, especially 

 with reference to the staple farm crops and the leading classes of 

 live stock. In the cost of production studies which have been con- 

 ducted by the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, particular emphasis has 

 been laid on the quantity requirements of labor and materials — 

 hours of man labor, hours of horse labor, hours of tractor labor, 

 pounds or bushels of seed, loads of manure, pounds of fertilizer, and 

 quantities of other materials that are utilized in producing crops or 

 live stock. When these items are known, it is easy to compute costs 

 at any given time by applying the prevailing rate for each item. 

 . This method makes it possible to determine approximate costs for 

 any period, irrespective of changes in material and labor rates. As 

 a rule, field practice does not change greatly from year to year, and 

 the hours of man labor and the quantities of material necessary in 

 the production of a given crop or a given class of live stock provide a 



60765°— 21— Bull. 1000 1 



