48 



BULLETIN 564, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



OTHER CONSIDERATIONS CONNECTED WITH LABOR. 



It is estimated that a further reduction of 10 per cent in the avail- I 

 able labor must be made, to allow for the "pensioners" on the plan- I 

 tation, for those suffering from diseases other than malaria, for the li 

 care of infants and the cooking on the part of the women, and for I 

 absences from the field on account of funerals and other interruptions. l a 

 This is equivalent to the time of 15.32 adults. The actual total adult 

 time available, then, is only 81.12 instead of 153.25 adults. In 

 Table 38 this available time has been reduced to adult time in the I 

 various groups arranged by age and sex. 



Based on averages of 50 plantations in northern Louisiana, the ii 

 Office of Farm Management of this department estimates that there 

 are 19.1 days in June when field work is possible on a plantation. 8 

 Taking this as a basis the various age groups shown in Table 38 have I 

 been reduced to available labor for the entire month of June. This j 

 is shown in Table 39. 



Table 39. — Total man days available of different types of labor on Hecla plantation I 



during June, 1914. 





Male. 



Female. 



Total. 





8 to 12 



13 to 18 



19 up. 



8 to 12 



13 to 18 



19 up. 







Theoretical labor days available . 

 Actual labor days available 



85.95 

 45.45 



276. 95 

 146.68 



1, 566. 2 

 828.94 



42.97 

 22.72 



124.15 

 65.70 



830.85 

 439. 87 



2,927.07 

 1,549.36 



Taking the figures shown in Table 39, it is possible to determine just 

 what classes of labor could be used in this weevil-picking work on the 

 basis of three pickings requiring 1,095 labor days during June. 

 Taking the actual labor days available in the different classes, it is 

 seen that there are 22.72 in the group of females from 8 to 12 years of 

 age, 65.7 females from 13 to 18, and 439.87 females of 19 or older. 

 Consequently, the total man days of labor available of the female 

 sex on Hecla plantation during June is 528.29. It is obvious that it 

 would be necessary to take some male labor as well for the picking 

 operation. There are 45.45 labor days of boys from 8 to 12 years of 

 age. Adding this to the female labor makes only 573.74 labor days. 

 There are 146.68 labor days of males from 13 to 18. Adding this to 

 the preceding total gives 720.42 labor days, which is still 374 days 

 short of the number required for the weevil-picking work. In other 

 words, if all the female labor and all of the male labor under 19 years 

 of age were devoted to weevil picking there would still be a shortage 

 of 374 labor days for the picking operation. As the only labor left 

 available is the males of 19 years or older, some of these must be 

 utilized on the picking work. There are approximately 829 labor 



