44 



BULLETIN" 648, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The operator's labor was the largest item in the total labor cost, 

 equaling 38 per cent of the latter, followed in order by the cash- 

 paid labor, the unpaid family labor, and the cropper labor. On the 

 average, there were 926 days of productive labor expended per 

 farm, of which 570 days were devoted to the wages crops and 356 





„. 





i 





re 





LABOR 



0-Z 



o "- 



ENTIRE FARM 



1 £ 



in < 

 "- 

 u 



WAGE SYSTEM 



"-£ 



h- I 



m < 



o "- 

 a 



CROPPER SYSTEM 



*\00 200 300 *MTC> 



* 100 200 *300 



* 100 ZOO * 300 



OPERATOR 

 CASH- PAID 



*4I2 

 328 





*326 

 312 





*86 



16 



1 





FAMILY 



111 



■^M 



100 





71 





CROPPER 



172 









172 





TOTAL 



1083 





738 





3*5 





Fig. 15. — Cost of man labor per farm, for the farm as a whole, and for the wage and 

 cropper systems separately. 



days to the cropper crops. The average cost per day of the pro- 

 ductive labor was $1.20. 1 



The man-labor charge was by far the largest item in the cost of 

 producing crops, amounting to 40.4 per cent of the latter. 



WORK-STOCK LABOR. 



The second largest item in the cost of crop production is work- 

 stock labor, which accounted for 19.2 per cent of the total cost. In 

 calculating the cost of work-stock labor the items considered were 

 feed, depreciation, interest on present value, shoeing, veterinary 

 charges, and losses from injuries. It was assumed that the value of 

 the manure produced was offset by the cost of water, taxes on the 

 work stock, and interest, taxes, and insurance upon the feed. The 

 labor of caring for work stock was considered as nonproductive; 

 hence, by this system of cost determination, the cost of such labor is 

 automatically distributed among all the productive enterprises on the 

 farm. The stable charge is assumed to be covered by the rent of the 

 crop land. 



These farms maintained an average of 4.4 head of productive work 

 stock, three-fourths of which consisted of mules. The average values 

 at the beginning of the year were $152 per mule and $145 per horse, 

 or an average of $150 per head of work stock. The average cost of 

 keeping a horse or mule for the year amounted to $115.46, the items 

 of which are shown in figure 16. Three-fourths of this cost consisted 

 of feeds, and 59 per cent of the feed cost consisted of corn. Hay 

 made up about 20 per cent of the feed cost, corn fodder 8 per cent, 

 oats nearly 12 per cent, and all other feed 1.5 per cent. The latter 

 consisted of green feed, mostly sorghum and pasture. Most of the 

 oats were fed in the sheaf. 



1 Unweighted average. 



