2 BULLETIN 641, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It was found that the amount of man labor required to produce a 

 ton of hay averaged 4.2 hours for the 52 farms studied in the New 

 York and 5.23 hours for the 37 farms in the Pennsylvania area. The 

 number of hours of horse labor is almost the same as the number of 

 man hours, 4.22 per ton for New York and 5 for Pennsylvania. 



About 36 per cent of all hay produced on the New York farms was 

 sold, while but 17 per cent from the Pennsylvania area reached the 

 market. - 



The average life of hay meadows was 3.66 years for the New York 

 farms and 4.10 years for the Pennsylvania farms. 



The average farm value of hay on December 1 for a period of 10 

 years (1906-1915) was $14.62 per ton for the New York farms and 

 $15.14 for the Pennsylvania farms. With a yield of about one and a 

 half tons per acre, there is an excess over cost of production of S9.62 

 per ton for the New York farms and S9.04 per ton for the Pennsyl- 

 vania farms in the farm value of No. 1 hay, which indicates that under 

 average conditions hay growing is a profitable farm enterprise in these 



areas. 



DESCRIPTION OF AREAS STUDIED. 



Steuben County, N. Y., is one of the more important hay-producing 

 comities in the State. It ranks among the first 10 in total produc- 

 tion, both of timothy alone and timothy and clover mixed hay. 



In general the surface in this county is very uneven, being broken 

 by a series of long, rather steep hills and moderately broad valleys. 

 The important towns in most cases are connected by good pike roads. 

 winch are a great asset in marketing farm crops. 



In Washington County, Pa., the hills are of slightly less elevation 

 than those in the New York area, though the slopes are steeper. In 

 the main, however, the topography is the same with reference to 

 facility for making hay. 



SIZE OF FARMS. 



The average size of the farms studied in Pennsylvania was 171 

 acres; of the New York farms, 202 acres. (See Table II.) The 

 tillable area per farm is about the same in each State, approximately 

 156 acres. On the New York farms 35 per cent of the tillable area is 

 in hay, as compared to 26 per cent on the Pennsylvania farms. There 

 is no apparent reason for this large difference in hay area. Wash- 

 ington County is close to the Pittsburgh market, where there is a con- 

 stant demand for hay. while the hay from Steuben County must be 

 shipped much farther to market — to Buffalo or New York City. 



Table I, compiled from census figures (1910 report), gives statistics 

 on the per cent of land in hay for both counties. The per cent of 

 tillable area in hay for each county as a whole is lower than that for 

 the farms where the records were taken. (Compare with Table II. > 





