1909.] Expenses of Corn Harvesting. 



739 



ing, or in all five men and one horse, will be able to deal 

 with from ten to eleven loads without difficuty in an hour, for 

 it is seen in Table VIII. that the average time one man took 

 to unload a cart on to the elevator was 4*2 minutes, so that 

 granting that he does 1 1 loads per hour, he will still have a 

 margin of nearly a quarter of an hour, or over one minute for 

 each load, to change carts, &c. In stack building itself four 

 men will not find this amount of material passing over the 

 elevator more than they can deal with. Hence such a team in 

 the rickyard will keep three pairs of men employed loading 

 in the field, so that they may receive 10 loads for each of the 

 10 hours' work which constitutes a full harvest day. 



The Number of Horses required for Carting. — The figures I 

 have bearing on the question of how many horses are wanted 

 to carry from field to rickyard show that five horses can cart 

 10 loads per hour. This is the average of some half-dozen 

 different operations, and is for distances varying from one- 

 third to one-half a mile. It includes, as unfortunately is often 

 the case, a great deal of waste, due largely to the vagaries 

 of boys ; on two occasions this waste was timed and was 

 found to represent some 15 per cent, of their whole working 

 time. For on the farms in question, as is so often the case, once 

 the carts were loaded, they were handed over to the care of 

 boys who led them to the rickyard. The employment of 

 these youthful enthusiasts seemed to be of doubtful economy. 

 On some farms the man who loads in the field goes straight 

 on with the cart, unloads at the stack, and returns with the 

 same vehicle to the field. When one realises the number of 

 people who may be kept waiting doing nothing if a boy while 

 in charge of a horse takes it into his head to play about, it 

 may, notwithstanding the extra cost in wages, be cheaper in 

 the long run to employ the man. There is also the fact that 

 the man who is on the cart under this system gets off and on 

 less frequently than he does when the boy labour intervenes. 

 We have said nothing about the many extra chances of acci- 

 dents arising through the carelessness of boys, but all who 

 have had to superintend a harvest will realise that this is often 

 no small matter. 



Stooking or Shocking. — Unfortunately I was unable tc 

 get any data worth recording concerning this operation. 



