36 



BULLETIN 1000, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BARLEY. 



For best results barley must be sown in a well-prepared seed bed. 

 and consequently the land is generally plowed for this crop. The 

 percentages of the land plowed for barley on the farms from which 

 records for this crop are available are as follows: Minnesota, 87; 

 North Dakota, 97; Wisconsin, 86; New York, 50. Variations in 

 labor requirements are due chiefly to the different sizes of machines 

 and power units used in different sections. It will be noted (Table 

 24) that in North Dakota there are over three horse hours per man 

 hour, while in New York the ratio is about 1:1$. 



Barley stands up well and is for this reason very popular as a nurse 

 crop for grass seeding. When so used it is customary to sow less 

 seed than usual per acre. In Wisconsin, for instance, where 43 per 

 cent of the total barley acreage covered in this investigation was 

 seeded to grass, the records show that about one-fourth bushel less 

 seed than usual was sown per acre when used as a nurse crop. The 

 fact that barley is often handled in a special way for the good of the 

 grass seeding should be borne in mind when comparing its profitable- 

 ness with that of other farm crops. 



The differences in labor requirements for harvesting and thrashing 

 barley are largely due to the variations in size of machinery used. 

 The harvest labor requirement of barley is slightly lower than that 

 of oats, for the reason that the barley produces less straw, stands 

 better, and thrashes faster. In North Dakota 81 per cent of the 

 crop was thrashed by contract; that is, all or a part of the crew was 

 furnished by the thrasher. On these farms the harvest labor per 

 acre was 1.8 man-hours and 3.4 horse-hours, as compared with 4.1 

 man-hours and 6.5 horse-hours per acre on farms where the entire 

 crew was furnished by the farm operator. 



Table 24. — Barley: Labor and material requirements per acre (154 recoj-ds). 





Num- 

 ber of 

 rec- 

 ords. 



Yield 

 per 

 acre. 



Man labor. 



Horse labor. 



Seed. 







Twine. 



Per 

 cent of 



Region. 



Prior 



to 

 har- 

 vest. 



Har- 

 vest. 



Total. 



Prior 

 to 



har- 

 vest. 



Har- 

 vest. 



To'al. 



Ferti- 

 lizer. 



Fuel 

 (coal). 



opera- 

 ting ex- 

 pense 

 covered 

 by fore- 

 going.o 





61 

 37 

 9 

 47 



Bush. 

 23.8 

 27.3 

 32.4 

 20.7 



Hrs. 

 4.7 

 6.4 

 6.9 



2.8 



Hrs. 



6.0 

 10.5 

 9.6 

 2.2 



Hrs. 

 10.7 

 16.9 

 16.5 

 5.0 



Hrs. 

 17.3 

 18.6 

 14.6 

 13.1 



Hrs. 



7.8 

 8.7 

 7.8 

 4.0 



Hrs. 



25.1 

 27.3 

 22.4 

 17.1 



Bush. 

 2.0 

 1.7 

 2.1 

 1.8 



Lbs. 



Lbs. 



Lbs. 

 2.3 

 2.2 

 2.7 

 1.8 



73 



Wisconsin 



New York 



195.0 



49.7 

 77.6 



75 

 75 

 59 











a Excluding interest on land. 



