COST OF PRODUCING WINTER WHEAT IN GREAT PLAINS. 5 
LABOR AND POWER REQUIREMENTS. 
AVERAGE HOURS OF MAN AND HORSE POWER. 
The average labor and power requirements shown in Table 3 are 
for those farms that were operated exclusively with horses. 
The average man and horse hour requirements for land preparation 
and seeding showed considerable variation from county to county. 
They SS eihiahent in the two Missouri counties, where a relatively 
larger percentage of the acreage was covered with smaller tillage 
implements than those used in other counties. The requirements 
for harvesting and marketing represent the prevailing practice in 
cutting the grain and in providing labor for threshing. 
A division of the labor as to land preparation and seeding, and 
harvesting and marketing, indicates that the man hours for the latter 
were slightly greater than for the former, while the horse hours for 
land preparation and seeding exceeded those required for harvesting 
and marketing in all cases except for volunteer wheat in Thomas 
County, Kans. 
The average total hours of man labor per acre varied from 6.5 in 
Thomas County, Kans., to 16.6 in Carroll County, Mo. The average 
hours of horse labor in these two counties were 16.4 and 39.1. In 
Thomas County the hours for volunteer wheat were 5.3 and 11.5, 
respectively, for man and horse labor. 
TABLE 3.—Average man-labor and horse-power requirements per acre, winter wheat, 1920.' 
peeiee Harvesting and marketing. 
ease Se eee Total hours 
per acre. 
Hours per Hours per 
Prevailing practice. 
State and county. © acre: acre. 
Part of 
Cut Threshed| threshing crew 
Man. | Horse. with— | from— | furnished by Man.| Horse.} Man. | Horse. 
farmer. 
Missouri: 
Pike County....-.... 7.4 | 24.6] Binder..| Shock IAs Sex Fee See Coal 9.6 | 14.5 34. 2 
Carroll County....... Ube) Po NS seClOsds sllaecClses Ssdene docecese 9.3/1) 21320) |G11636 39.1 
Nebraska: 
Gage County......... a4 2188. 152200 eC Kaye eset ea ee DOE oe eee ac SLO ale), sib} ct Bey 
Clay County.......... 4.3 | 18.3 ]}...do TOKO eS an Pee One Ono 9.5 | 9.8 27.8 
Cheyenne County....| 3.4] 14.0 |...do ..do. Field pitchers.| ~ 5.2 9.8] 8.6 23.8 
Kansas: 
Thomas County— 
peeded se sen 1.9 8.1 | Header..| Stack None ses. 838 4.6 S23) (675 16.4 
Volunteer...-.... al ie i e aoe Sere 4.6 Soi | Ges} 5 
4.5 8.5 inder..| Shock...| Bundlehaulers| 4.0 Uae) |) 56) 26. 0 
McPherson County... { AueilUsisana MeN oMUen Estacion el UNonoe as RO) Gill Gell ORE 
Pawnee County...... 2.2) 10.6 | Header..|... Gotee si eeane dog aes 4,4 1622 |G 17.8 
Oklahoma: 
Garfield County...... 4.9 | 20.1 | Binder..} Shock...|..... GOs ioe 4.3 6.9 | 9.2 27.0 
Woodward County...| 3.8] 14.4 | Header..| Stack. ..|..... Gorete ee: 4,2 Shan te) 22.7 
1 The hours of labor do not include that part of the threshing crew furnished by the thresherman. 
VARIATION IN MAN LABOR REQUIREMENTS. 
Variation in the hours of man labor required to produce an acre of 
wheat was from less than 4 to over 20 per acre. Much of this varia- 
tion was due to differences in regional methods of land preparation 
and harvesting and marketing. On one of the two farms with a 
