19-2-2.] 



Farm Labour Organization. 



323 



(3) Other Stock. — This portion of the graph similarly includes 

 all manual labour in feeding and milking, root carting, and 

 other incidental work directly connected with all the stock on 

 the farm, exclusive of the sheep. Owing to the interchangeable 

 nature of the labour on the stock it was found impossible to 

 divide this labour on any accurate basis between the dairy herd, 

 other cattle, and the pigs. 



(4) Pasture. — Manual labour in harrowing and rolling the 

 pastures, any manurial operations, and the work involved at 

 hay-making are the only items shown under this head. 



(5) Establishment . — This portion covers all manual labour 

 which cannot be directly charged to any of the productive depart- 

 ments of the farm. In cost accounting such terms as " overhead 

 charges," " general expenses," signify payments for this class 

 of work. 



There are many operations on a farm which come under 

 this head. Hedging, fencing, ditching, road repairs, and sundry 

 other items, are examples of this class of work performed by the 

 labour staff of the farm. An allocation of this work to the 

 productive departments is possible, but as it plays an important 

 part in labour organization, it was considered advisable to show 

 it separately. 



A misconception of the nature of establishment work is often 

 observed in the minds of farmers and writers on agricultural 

 topics. It is a commonplace to hear it spoken of as entirely un- 

 productive work. It is possible to imagine a state of super- 

 farming, where work of this category is accomplished to keep the 

 farm in a " spick and span " condition without in any sense 

 being productive, or where through lack of organization this 

 work is done in conflict with productive work with the result that 

 the men are idle at less busy periods, or again where, through 

 indifferent work, it has to be done a second time. In this last 

 case the first work was entirely unproductive. A familiar example 

 is gap stopping. Improperly done in the first instance sheep 

 or cattle break out again at the same place, and apart from the 

 waste of time in getting the stock back the gap has again to be 

 repaired, and the time spent in the first instance was of no avail. 



But on the whole where the work is well executed establish- 

 ment operations are conducive to the well-being of the crops and 

 stock of the farm, and if they were left undone for any length 

 of time the farm would suffer severely. The writer lias a ( 

 in mind where, owing to the failure to clean out a water-course*, 

 the outfall of the drainage system was blocked up, with disastrous 



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