22 



BULLETIN 061, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LABOR REQUIREMENTS OF SWEET POTATOES. 



The sweet-potato crop requires more labor than cotton. The 

 number of operations is large, and some of them, such as breaking 

 and bedding, may be done two, three, or even four times before the 

 plants are set out. This accounts for the large labor requirements for 

 these operations as shown in Table XXXV. Planting, hoeing, and 

 harvesting each requires a considerable amount of hand labor. The 

 crop is usually hoed once. 



Table XXXV. — Labor requirements per acre on sireet potatoes, by operations. 



Operation. 



Break 



Bed 



Rebed 



Drag beds 



Center furrow 



Fertilize 



Drop plants- . 



Set plants 



Bar off 



Hours per acre. 









Num- 







ber of 







Man. 



Mule. 



reports. 



14.4 



10.0 



40 



7.5 



8.0 



51 



6.0 



6.5 



14 



2.5 



1.2 



38 



1.7 



1.7 



14 



3.2 



2.4 



22 



9.2 





53 



10.4 





53 



3.2 



3.2 



25 



Operation. 



Cultivate (average, 1 



times) 



Cultivate middles 



Hoe 



Cut vines 



Drag vines 



Plow up 



Pick up 



Haul 



Hours per acre. 



Man. 



Mule. 



8.1 



8.3 



2.8 



2.8 



19.7 





12.4 





3.6 



4.5 



4.7 



6.9 



26.4 





21.0 



15.6 



Num- 

 ber of 

 reports. 



SUGAR CANE. 



With a limited number of records on sugar cane and the different- 

 sized crews (2 men and 2 mules to 6 men and 2 mules), it was not 

 possible to obtain enough estimates to give a reliable average on the 

 planting operation. 



Also in the harvesting operation, because of the variety of methods 

 employed, there were not enough records obtained on any one to 

 give reliable averages. 



Table XXXVI presents the average crew duty at cultivating 

 sugar cane. 



Table XXXVI. — Cultivating sugar cane. 



Method. 



Width 

 of row. 



Number 

 of re- 

 ports. 



Average 

 acreage 

 per day. 



Acreage reported 

 most frequently. 



Cultivator (1 man, 1 mule, 2 furrows) 



5 feet 



...do 



10 

 10 



4.75 

 .65 



5 (4 reports). 





0.5 (5 reports). 









The crew duty at making sirup is shown in Table XXXVII. The 

 crew duty as shown in this table includes all of the crew necessary 

 for grinding the cane and evaporating the sirup. 



