GROWING FIELD CROPS IN SUGAR-BEET DISTRICTS. 



9 



MAN HOURS 



HORSE HOURS 



I Contract Labor 



JAN. 

 FEB. 

 MAR. 

 APR. 

 MAY 

 JUNE 

 JULY 

 AUG. 

 SEPT. 

 OCT. 

 NOV. 

 DEC. 



Fig. 8. — Labor distribution by months in growing cucumbers in the 

 Rocky Ford district of Colorado. 



each crop on a given farm with, a given amount of labor so as to 

 make the most economical use of that labor. From another view- 

 point, after the selection of a certain acreage for a definite crop as 

 the one best suited to his soil, the market conditions, and other fac- 

 tors that arise in its selection, the grower should be able to determine 

 with a reasonable 

 degree of accuracy 

 the amount of labor 

 he will need to hire 

 for each month of 

 the year and the 

 number of work ani- 

 mals that will be 

 necessary for the 

 operation of the 

 farm. It is shown 

 that sugar beets 

 require a large 

 amount of contract labor distributed from April to November, with 

 concentration for periods in May, June, September, and October. 

 There are slack period s in which an interchange of labor may take 

 place in connection with other crops on adjacent farms. In fact, 

 this is customary in a region where competing crops are grown. 

 To insure getting labor when needed one should keep the laborer 

 employed on the same farm. 



It is also shown by the diagrams that extra man labor is needed 

 for the grain crops at harvest time. These laborers may be used to 



do the contract work 

 on sugar beets and be 

 employed through- 

 out the growing sea- 

 son, while if the beets 

 were not grown and 

 all the acreage was 

 planted to grain and 

 hay there would be a 

 greater demand for 



Fig. 9.— Seasonal distribution oflabor required to produce 6.16 acres rnen of rrrnin and hflv 

 ofbeans, 20.82 acres of beets, 7.45 acres of cucumbers, 27.28 acres of ° J 



alfalfa, 2.8 acres of oats, 7.85 acres of cantaloupes, and 2.05 acres of harvest time. With 

 wheat in the Rocky Ford district of Colorado. liTmfWl TllimW of 



helpers in the vicinity, these crops could not be handled so economi- 

 cally as under present conditions, because extra labor is brought in 

 to care for sugar beets primarily, and incidentally these men are 

 employed to help with hay and grain. 



11311°— 21— Bull. 917 2 



