: /, I; 1^ ( .; 

 4 BULLETIN" 385; U. S. DEPAETMEtRT OF AGKICULTUEE. 



school year of 36 weeks, would amount to 144 hours as a minimum. 

 The total assigned value of the different projects allowed for one 

 year should be not less than 144 hours if the work counts for 2 hours 

 of class work or two-fifths of a fuU course. It would not be wise to 

 encourage the pupil to carry much more than this unless it is evident 

 that his other school work will not suffer from neglect because of 

 this. 



On the bas.s of 144 hours required, an acre of com would require 

 about half of this time in sections where the average labor records 

 are above 60 hours per acre. Instead of allowing the pupil to grow 

 2 acres of com, in which case the educational value is not increased, 

 it is better to fill the other half of the required 144 hours with some 

 animal project, as poultry keeping. The major part of the work 

 with poultry is not done during the season when com is grown, and 

 there is a further advantage in applying the lessons on both plant 

 and animal hf e. If the teacher has a competent advisory committee, 

 it would be feasible to modify the requirements to meet local and 

 individual conditions as in the following study adapted from records 

 in the Office of Farm Management of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. 



On a farm in Or.eans County, N. Y., where approximately 20 acres 

 of potatoes are raised as a main crop and approved methods are 

 employed, the following variations are found in three successive 

 years: ^ 



Variation of hours of labor required to raise an acre of potatoes during different years. 



Yield per acre (bushels) 



Total man-hours (per acre) 



Variations for difEerent operations: 



Plowing 



Cultivating 



Hoeing 



Spraying 



Picking up 



1911 



1912 



207. 79 



208. 50 



89.13 



69.70 



7.54 



4.98 



7.85 



9.82 



9.38 



1.00 



7.21 



5.06 



22.00 



14.30 



173. 21 

 72.09 



7.05 

 8.12 

 4.48 

 2.51 

 14.46 



Such evidence as this tends to prove that it is not possible to 

 assign a definite number of hours to the raising of a potato crop even 

 with uniform methods, and where the credits granted are in terms 

 of hours of work performed, it would be desirable to use the boy's 

 time record within certain stated Mmits. In view of the records 

 given above it might be decided that a boy on this farm should 

 put in work equivalent to not less than 70 man-hours in raising an 

 acre of potatoes and that his record for work would be accepted 

 (under inspection) not to exceed 90 man-hours of necessary work. 

 In view of the comparative difficulty of some of this labor for a boy 



Part of a record in the Oflace of Tarm Management. 



