1922.] 



Farm Labour Organization. 



time. On the other hand, operations such as ploughing can 

 be spread over longer periods, but that this is not always so 

 will be apparent in the busy period which follows harvest in 

 the preparation of the land for winter corn. Operations of this 

 class must not, however, be delayed so as to crowd the work 

 into too short a period, and thus bring them into the class 

 demanding immediate attention. If, for example, the ploughing 

 of the land for barley be put off until the spring, then the work 

 must be completed within a very limited period, with a corre- 

 sponding strain on men, horses, and equipment. 



On wet days, or where, owing to previous rain, the land is 

 too wet to be worked, the horsemen and other workers in the 

 fields will be affected. The farmer should therefore aim at 

 having a programme of work in readiness in order that no delay 

 should occur in its execution when the time arrives. Many tasks 

 can be performed at these times. Barn-work, repairs to imple- 

 ments and harness, and other tasks are familiar examples of wet 

 day work, and the carting of com, and of coals for threshing, 

 and also various forms of establishment work out of doors can be 

 performed when the land is too wet to be worked. 



The class of work grouped under the head of establishment — 

 the indirectly productive work — should never have preference 

 over productive work. If it can be shown that, owing to weather 

 conditions, a farmer executed some establishment work in July 

 of a given year, when at the same time the self-binder which he 

 expected to use in a few weeks' time was out of repair, it can be 

 readily seen that valuable time will be lost when the grain is 

 readv for cutting. 



In this country establishment work is mainly carried out 

 during the winter months, when, as shown in the graph (Fig. 1), 

 it plays an important part in the equal distribution of labour. 

 The large quantity of this work which was carried out in March, 

 April and May, on this farm is quite remarkable. The Btate 

 of the weather may have been partly responsible, but without 

 an accurate knowledge of the weather conditions at this period 

 it cannot be stated whether this was so. Another possibility is 

 that the farmer was anticipating his needs for additional labour 

 in June and July on the root crops, and was possibly carrying a 

 little more labour than he could employ on directly productive 

 work at this time. In the whole year establishment work 

 accounted for a little over 5 per cent, of the men's time. 



A striking feature is the little work required for pasture land, 

 which is another way of saying that it is not the pasture but the 



