1921.] 



Cost of Harvesting Potatoes. 



433 



The " working unit " was constituted as follows : — 



Plougliing- ... 1 man. 2 liorses. 

 llano wing' ... 1 ..2 ,, 

 Carting ... ... 2 men, 2 ,, 



Pickers ... ... 10 woinen behind the jjlough and 2 women clearing 



behind the harrows. 

 At Chimp ... 2 men. 



The soil was of the medium loam type and the crop lifted was 

 approximately 10 tons per acre. This unit was able to clear 

 2 acres {i.e., 20 tons) per day. The actual cost per day of 

 keeping the unit at work was as follows : — 



£ s. d. 



1 man with 2 horses for Plougli 110 



2 men with 2 horses for Carts ... ... ... ... 2 



1 man with 2 horses for Harrows 1 10 



12 women (pickers) at 8d. per hour ... ... ... 3 4 



2 men at Clamp at 8s. Id. per day ... ... ... IG 2 



£9 2 



From these figures it will be seen that the cost of harvesting 

 the crop was only 9s. per ton. It should be borne in mind, how- 

 ever, that the figures relate to a particular case, in which the 

 working costs are probably less than the average and the weight 

 of the crop considerably above the average. The charge for 

 horse labour alone is considerably lower than that obtained 

 (IBs. 6d. per day) by taking the average of all the returns. 



Lifting by the Digger. — 1. The Composition of a " Worlxing 

 Unit.'' — From the returns received it appears that an aveinge 

 " working unit " required to keep a potato digger at work, and 

 to pit the potatoes as lifted, is 1 digger, 1 piir of harrows, 3 carts, 

 6 horses, 1 foreman, 4 horsemen, and 21 labourers and gatherers. 

 As might be expected the number of labourers and gatherers 

 required is greater in the case of the lighter and medium classes 

 of land and less for the heavier classes of land. 



2. Results. — On the lighter classes of land, such as the sands 

 and the light loams, about 2.8 acres could be cleared by one 

 unit in a day, whilst on the heavy loams and the clays, where 

 the digger meets greater resistance from the soil, and transport 

 problems are more difficult, the acreage cleared by the same unit 

 was no more than a little over 1.8 acres, or 1 acre a day less 

 than on Hght soils. When it is remembered that the larger crops 

 of potatoes are also produced on the medium classes of land such 

 as Hght loams, the full importance of this will be appre- 

 ciated. From the lighter soils a " working unit " on the 



D 



