10 



BULLKTIN 482, l\ S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the organization of these enterprises must take into account economy 

 in the distribution of labor. Even though an enterprise like tobacco, 

 for instance, may yield a very large profit per acre, the amount 

 that can be handled profitably on a given farm is limited not only 

 by the amount of good tobacco soil, but by such a relation of the 

 tobacco crop to other established enterprises as will bring about the 

 most advantageous distribution of available labor as well as other 

 advantages of diversity. Figures 7 and 8 show the seasonal distribu- 

 tion of operations required by the crops grown here, and illus- 

 trate how the operations are limited as to seasons and are distributed 

 through the year. These diagrams are based on the practice of 

 about 75 farmers for each crop. The black lines indicate the limits 

 of the average of the estimates given and the dotted lines show the 

 limits of the range of these estimates. 



LIVE STOCK. 



In a manner somewhat similar to crops, live-stock enterprises re- 

 quire special attention at limited seasons of the year, so that in any 

 system of general farming the operations required by them have an 

 important influence in the organization of the farm. In figures 

 9 and 10 there are shown the principal operations and events occurring 

 in the life of animals on the farm. 



Table III. 



-I Alitor units and power units required by various enterprises (based 

 on average of about 75 records for each enterprise) . 



Enterprise. 



Labor 

 units. 1 



Power 

 units. 2 



Enterprise. 



Labor 

 units. 1 



Power 

 units. 2 





Per 

 acre. 

 38.8 



4.6 

 2.4 

 1.2 



1.3 

 .9 



.2 



1.2 

 1.2 



Per 

 acre. 

 7.7 



4.4 

 3.5 

 1.6 



2.0 

 1.3 

 .6 



1.4 

 2.0 





Per 

 acre. 

 1.1 

 1.8 



Per 



animal 

 unit. 

 12.3 



18.3 



1.0 

 2.3 

 1.1 



Per 

 acre. 



0.7 







3.0 





Ordinary milch cows on farm 

 Dairy cows, including marketing 



Per 



Wheat 





Rye: 



Thrashed 



unit. 

 1.5 









0.2 



Oats: 



Thrashed 



Beef cattle or general stock cattle . . 



.05 







.02 









1 Labor unit: A man-day's work of 10 hours. 



2 Power unit: One day's work by a mule, horse, or the equivalent of this work done by an engine. 



LABOR AND POWER UNITS REQUIRED. 



The average number of labor units and power units required for 

 each crop and stock enterprise is shown in Table III. These are based 

 on about 25 records obtained in each of the counties studied as pre- 

 viously explained. The farmers' practice relative to the amount of 

 work put upon the crops and live stock is quite uniform throughout 

 the region. The variations that occur are due mainly to weather con- 



