STANDARD DAY S WORK IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 



21 



To go over tlio ground Avitli both an ond-gatc seeder casting 35 feet, 

 and a 20-foot spike-tooth harrow drawn by four horses (see Table 

 IX) requires about two-thirds as much man Labor and half as much 

 horse labor as is recjuired for the 4-horse, 8-foot drill. To go over 

 the ground with the seeder and with an 8-foot disk drawn by four 

 horses (see Table VII) takes 15 to 20 per cent more man labor and 

 just about the same amount of horse labor as is required for the drill. 

 As far as quality of tillage, aside from the seeding, is concerned, the 

 work done by a disk drill should be somewhat better than that done 

 by a spike-tooth harrow, but not so good as that done by a disk 

 harrow. 



HARVESTING GRAIN. 



THE GRAIN BINDER. 



Table XXI shows an average day's woi-k for binders of different 

 sizes in grain that is standing well. Oats sometimes lodge badly, 

 especially in wet seasons, and when this condition exists a great deal 

 of time is lost by the binder, the ground covered often being re- 

 duced by as much as 50 per cent. The actual time lost in particular 

 cases, or the average condition of the oat crop in this respect at 

 harvest time, is difficidt to estimate, and the farmers were asked to 

 give their experience only in grain that was standing well. 



Table XXI. — Grain hinder. 



Width. 



Number of 

 horses. 



Number of 

 reports. 



Acres per day. 



Average. 



Acreage most often 

 reported. 



Feet. 

 6 



7 

 7 



8 



3 

 3 



i 



i 



19 

 17 

 30 



■171 



13.3 

 11.0 

 15.2 



17.9 



Scattering. 



Do. 



15 {15 reports). 



15 {87 reports). 



hS (107 reports). 



l20 {178 reports). 



The table shows that a large majority of the men use 8-foot binders 

 drawn by four horses. The averages indicate that the 7-foot machine 

 drawn by three horses is the most efficient unit with respect to horse 

 labor, 4.7 acres per day per horse being covered with this outfit, as 

 compared with 4.5 acres for the 8-foot binder drawn by four horses 

 and 4.4 acres for the 6- foot machine with three horses. While the 

 fact that two-thirds of the men who have 7-foot binders use 4-horse 

 teams with them indicates that this machine is a heavy load for 

 three horses, a 7-foot binder and four horses is the least efficient 

 combination shown in the table, each horse accomplishing nearly 15 

 per cent less than those on either the 6 or 8 foot machines. 



