804 



Labour on the Farm. 



[Dec, 



• While the average figures only, as found by us, have been 

 quoted, yet from farm to farm, and even from year to year, the 

 amount of manual labour employed on any particular crop has 

 been found to vary considerably with the season, the type of 

 soil and the capability of the farmer as a manager. It is, how- 

 ever, quite evident that on an arable farm the man who concen- 

 trates on potatoes, carrots and possibly peas, will have a higher 

 labour bill than one who concentrates on cereals ; and the man 

 who attempts to supply succulent food to his stock in the form 

 of forage crops should have an advantage as far as labour bills 

 are concerned over one who supplies it in the form of roots. 

 On farm E.T.T., consisting of B04 acres of light land, 89 per 

 cent, of which is arable, and on which 41 acres of potatoes, 

 10 acres of carrots and 15 acres of peas -were grown last year, 

 the labour bill amounted to £5 8s. 7d. per acre, as compared 

 with £2 17s. 7d. on farm A.T.J. . a farm with approximately 

 the same proportion of arable land Hie texture of which rendered 

 it typically wheat land. 



On farms which may be looked upon as " grass land farms," 

 the labour bill per acre is bound to vary according to the kind of 

 stock that the grass land is carrying. 



Thus on farm P.O.H. the wages bill amounted last year to- 

 £6 18s. per acre. Here 90 per cent, of the land is grass, but- 

 milk production on the intensive svstem is carried on. 



On farm E.P.M., engaged in the breeding, rearing and fatten- 

 ing of cattle, the labour bill amounted to £2 9s. 9d. per acre, 

 and on W.S.S.. a similar farm, to £2 19s. 5d. 



On farm W.J.C., a Dales farm of 321 acres, 76 per cent, of 

 which is grass, though not altogether a sheep farm, yet one on 

 which the farmer specialises in sheep, the labour bill amounted 

 only to £1 10s. 9d. per acre. 



Justification of Labour Bill. — If one were asked, ''what 

 labour bill per acre is a farmer justified in having at the present 

 time? " no definite answer could be given. The labour bill 

 on every farm must be justified by results. 



The labour bill during the year 1921-1922 on 26 Yorkshire 

 farms of 5,285 acres has been examined, and was found to vary 

 from about ^£1 8s. to ^918, with an average of about £S 12s. 6d. 

 per acre. 



If we judge by " labour bill " alone, it would appear that 

 certainly the figures regarding the first 7, and probably those of 

 the first 12 farms were too high, and that the last 5 and possibly 

 the last 11 farms were not paying sufficiently high wages. 



