10 



BULLETIN" 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Another illustration of the use of farm help is shown when one 

 man and four horses are needed to prepare land for wheat during the 

 month of March and very little work has to be done on wheat in 

 April or May, while for potatoes there is very little work in March 

 or April, but approximately twice as much man and team labor 

 on an acre of potatoes in May as there is on an acre of wheat 

 in March. At the same time the sugar-beet crop requires more labor 



in April than either 

 the potato or the 



MAN HOURS 



HORSE. HOURS 



1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 



200 400 600 800 1000 i200 1400 



6 :< --' i Contract Labor 



Fig. 10.— Seasonal distribution of labor required to produce 36.25 acres 

 of alfalfa, 4.66 acres of oats, 6.89 acres of beans, 30.25 acres of potatoes, 

 10.49 acres of beets, 14.06 acres of barley, and 3.39 acres of wheat in 

 the Greeley district of Colorado. 



wheat crop, and the 

 alfalfa crop requires 

 very little labor dur- 

 ing March, April, 

 or May. 



Other diagrams 

 show the average 

 saasonal distribution 

 of crop labor for 

 farms having speci- 

 fied acreages of dif- 

 ferent crops. These show the season when the farmer must work 

 the most hours each day and hire the most labor. 



By intelligent use of these diagrams the amount of labor required 

 by a crop and the months when the labor is expended may be approxi- 

 mated closely, and many items of economic and agronomic impor- 

 tance to the region may be studied. 



Figures 3 to 8 show 

 the labor distribu- 

 tion by months on 

 the farm crops pro- 

 duced in three sugar- 

 beet districts of 

 Colorado. 



The application of 

 the data on the dis- 

 tribution of labor for 

 each crop is made in 

 planning the crop- 

 ping system. The 



average acreage per farm devoted to the principal crops in the 

 Greeley district was worked out. Using these acreages and the 

 distribution of labor presented in figures 3 to 8, a diagram was 

 constructed showing the monthly distribution of all the labor used 

 in growing crops on the farm. (Fig. 9.) 



Fig. 11.— Seasonal distribution of labor required to produce 36. 41 acres 

 of alfalfa, 9.55 acres of barley, 35.93 o f beets, 5.27 acres of oats, and 

 3.11 acres of wheat in the Fort Morgan district of Colorado. 



