322 



Farm Labour Organization. 



[July, 



made into butter, the separated milk being available for the 

 young stock and the pigs. All young stock are yarded in winter 

 for the purpose of consuming the roots and straw, and to tread 

 the remainder of the latter into manure for the land. The 

 ewes run with their lambs on the pastures and grazing seeds 

 during the summer, and are folded on roots during the winter, 

 the tegs being fattened off and a sufficient number of ewe lambs 

 retained to maintain the flock. As the table shows, a consider- 

 able number of pigs are kept. The open air system is not 

 practised, the pigs being maintained wholly indoors and fed for 

 the production of bacon. 



The labour supply was regular, except at certain times, casual 

 hands and gangs being employed during busy seasons on carrots 

 and potatoes, but an average of nineteen men, four to five 

 women, and four boys were regularly employed. 



Manual Labour. — Fig. 1 showing the distribution of the 

 manual labour on this farm for the year 1918-19, illustrates 

 the nature of the demand for labour on the farm. If the work 

 had been capable of being performed by full-time labour the 

 height of the column in each month would have been alike, but 

 bearing in mind the climatic conditions with which agriculture 

 has to contend, and also the fact that during the War efficient 

 labour w T as difficult to obtain, the results secured must be 

 regarded as bearing witness to the high degree of skill on the 

 part of the farmer. The maximum variation of employment 

 month by month is 17 per cent., and omitting the busy periods 

 of May, June, October and November, it is less than 10 per cent. 



The graph has been split up for the purpose of illustration 

 and discussion into the departments making demands for labour, 

 viz.: (1) Arable: (2) Sheep; (3) Other Stock: (4) Pasture, and 

 (5) Establishment. 



(1) Arable. — The portion relating to the arable has been sub- 

 divided by a dotted line. The upper part shows the time spent 

 in threshing, dressing, and the delivery of the various grain and 

 pulse crops. The lower part combines all the labour on the 

 field operations of ploughing, cultivating, manuring, sowing, 

 harvesting, etc., of all the crops on the farm during the year. 



(2) Sheep.— This includes the time of a fully-employed 

 shepherd throughout the year, and also of additional assistance 

 required by him when the sheep were being folded on roots, at 

 lambing, and also at shearing and dipping times. 



