328 



Farm Labour Organization. 



[Jul?, 



On this farm the pasture, as in the case of manual labour, 

 makes little demand for horse labour, and that only at hay time. 

 There seems to be no reason why harrowing and rolling should 

 not have been carried out in March, 1919, when both manual 

 and horse labour graphs show a relatively slack period. 



Establishment work requires very little horse labour, as would 

 be expected. The proportion of horse time spent on this class 

 of work was less than 1 per cent, as compared with 5 per 

 cent, for that of manual labour. 



One would expect a much higher percentage of days to be 

 worked in June and July, in the height of summer, than is 

 shown. The demand made by turnips for horse labour in these 

 months was remarkable, and the whole of the root crops together 

 required by far the greatest proportion of both manual and horse 

 labour requirements in these two months. Root crops are 

 expensive to grow it will be admitted, but when considered from 

 the standpoint of the use of labour — both men and horses — when 

 it would not be otherwise required, and also having regard to 

 the fact that they are cleaning crops, the expenditure may be 

 an extremely economical one. The substitution of forage crops 

 for silage in place of roots must always be considered in relation 

 to labour utilization, a point which many advocates of silage 

 crops often fail to substantiate. 



To account for the small number of horse days worked on the 

 farm in June and July it may be argued that there is very 

 little hay land. Meadow hay accounted for 22 acres 

 only, but there were also 55 acres of mowing seeds, 

 and together these make a considerable amount of horse 

 work. The fact remains that apart from the turnips 

 and the hay no other crop on the farm can be effec- 

 tively dealt with by horses at this time of the year, 

 or if horses are able to work on them, the ratio of horses to men 

 is not an economical one. Only hand weeding can be carried out 

 on the grain crops ; the carrot crop of six acres required only 

 manual labour for weeding and thinning; and the work 

 on the mangolds mainly consists of hand and horse- 

 hoeing, in the last of which the relation of horses to men is 1 to 

 1, not 2 or 3 to 1 as in the case of ploughing, cultivating, etc. 

 That manual labour is relatively more important at this time of 

 year is borne out from a comparison of the manual and horse 

 labour graphs for these months. 



The introduction of root thinners or bunchers, and other 

 labour-saving devices on root crops would provide for a more 



