40 BULLETIN 475, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



difficulty is experienced in getting around, the crew, in order to be 

 worked successfully as a unit, should be small ; but in open, rather 

 gently rolling country, much larger forces may be worked and still 

 be given the supervision necessary. 



If possible, local men should be employed in the work. As a rule, 

 they are not only more industrious than the transient laborers but 

 more efficient, and they take an interest in the success of the opera- 

 tion. If the same men can be secured year after 3 T ear, it will be 

 found that they will become more rapid and efficient and more and 

 more interested in the success of each year's operations. Men con- 

 tinuously indifferent or careless, who evince no disposition to improve, 

 should be dismissed from the crew. 



The wages will necessarily have to follow pretty closely those 

 offered for other classes of work in the region. A graduated scale 

 will sometimes prove effective in holding men for a longer period 

 than they would otherwise stay. Thus they may be paid at the rate 

 of $2 per day if they work for from one to two weeks, $2.25 if they 

 stay for from two to four weeks, and $2.50 if they remain until the 

 work is finished. If it can be avoided, wages should not be at the 

 rate of so much per day and board, or at least the board should be 

 deducted for days or portions of days that the men do not work. If 

 this precaution is not taken, there will be found men in nearly any 

 camp who will lay off from work at the slightest provocation as 

 long as they obtain free meals. 



Assignment of Crew. 



In seed spotting, where a portion of the crew prepares the spots 

 and the other portion sow the seed, it is almost always true that one 

 man sowing can keep pace with two or more men preparing spots. 

 On the Arapaho National Forest, the ideal crew .is considered to be 

 2 seeders to 10 men with hoes. One of the seeders is in charge of the 

 crew and keeps the men moving. They are worked in just as long 

 rows as can be laid out across the seeding areas in order as much as 

 possible to avoid the delay which occurs each time that a crew 

 reaches the end of a row. Following this system, a crew of 12 men 

 average from 2,200 to 2,300 spots each per day. On the Black Hills 

 National Forest it has been found that if each man prepares seed 

 spots and sows the seed also, about one-fourth more ground can be 

 covered per day than with any other scheme tried there. 



In planting, crews are worked in a number of different ways. 

 "When the field-trencher method of planting is followed, two men 

 handle the team and plow and pay attention to getting the rows 

 spaced properly and parallel to each other. They are followed 

 closely by the teamster with the trencher, who takes care that the 



