DEMAND FOR HARVEST LABOR IN THE WHEAT BELT. 11 
er 100 acres of small grain harvested; Thomas County, but 0.77 man. 
oreover, Redwillow and Hitchcock Counties, Nebr., which are 
contiguous to Thomas County, reported approximately the same 
amounts of labor per 100 acres harvested as was reported for Thomas. 
These three counties, in all of which the header was used by most 
farmers for harvesting (Table 1) reported total harvest labor forces 
only half as large as those in the other 11 “‘header counties.” 
The farms visited in Thomas County averaged larger in size than 
in 9 of the 11 counties mentioned. The farms in the 2 Nebraska 
counties averaged as large as 9 out of the 11 counties. (See Table I 
of appendix.) The percentage of farms using combines in the three 
counties was no larger than the percentage of farms throughout 
Kansas. (See Table III of appendix.) Obviously the difference in 
the amount of labor used can not be accounted for by farms of 
smaller size or by difference in types of machinery used. And it 
was not due to spreading the harvest over a longer period. On the 
average, the Redwillow farms were cut in 12.2 days, the Thomas 
County farms in 12.8 days, and the Hitchcock County farms in 15.4 
days. The average duration of the harvest work on the farms visited 
in the other header counties ranged from 11.1 days in Comanche 
County to 16 days in Sheridan County. 
Thomas County was the only one of the three counties in which 
the average number of acres harvested per day was especially high. 
The average accomplishment in the header counties of Kansas and 
Nebraska ranged from 14.4 acres to 27.5 acres per day in the different 
header counties, except Thomas County, which harvested 35 acres. 
Thomas was the only one of the three counties using small amounts 
of labor that exceeded an average of 21 acres harvested per day. 
TaBLE 3.—Length of the 1921 harvest period by size of farms. 
| Average Percentage of farms on which— 
| ee of | : A EE Re ane = 
| ays | Sear . Time from beginning to com- 
harvest. Harvesting required— pletion of harvest was— 
e la Ws ae <a ai Bay 2 
Acres wheat per farm. | {Le | | = 
B [| A ee ea tee Wee | Bsc | eae 
Paar} o wn mwi)n)} on | na oO n mn);n|) on n g. 
oa Si besa eal ca bs selec de 
iiss cilaelsicsislSilai/slsisisiaic 
cial BGS. Sisiolaijelo|/Si/wlolaleleis 
2 z jm us > } Le | poe (Eel ty N oD Ye oe, ms IN LELN | O 
Bela ch ss teow (Otto 10 Lo 1.0 | mio | o | Oo | 'o |"o 1B 
a) ° | 2 = R = = = > > a > RE SS | aE ie > 
hi Piet te telescope tate fo Pia Tate] 
=. _| = — z } = 
SS | 104} 8.1) 2. 0/10. 1167. 3/28. 9] 3.8]..../.... _. 153. 8126. 9| 7.7| 8.7| 2.9]....|.... 
NAD 3 sc ee ka | 96) 9.0) 1.6/10. 6/55. 2/36. 5] 5.2) 2.1)... .] 1.043. 8/38. 5/10. 4| 7.3)....|....|.... 
LL Lee eo aie eee | 238/11. 3) 2. 3/13. 6/34. 5)45. 8/12. 6) 6.7)....| 0. 4/26. 1/34. 5)14. 7)14. 7) 8.0) 1.2) 0.8 
ELS RZ EE a ace pa 227/13.3 2. 5/15, §20. 7/51. 614. 1)11.0 2. 6]... .|12. 3/40. 5/23. 4)16.3) 4.4) 3.1).... 
LG GG ea ae 139/13. 6} 2. 8/16. 4/10. 1/45. 3}23. 0)17.3) 4.3}... .| 5. 0/36. 0/21. 6/27. 3) 7.2) 2.9).... 
SPetBH SOU so es rk 71/15. 6| 2. 3/17. 9) 4, 2/40, 9128, 2.23. 9 2. &). -| 1, 4/28, 2/22. 5/32. 4)14.1)....| 1.4 
CLEC EC 26)14. 2) 2. 4/16. 6) 3. 8)57. 7/30. 8). ._ - 7.7)....|---- 26. 9)53. 9 Littl isoleeeolece 
Mepty LOU: oes ck 33/13. 8} 2. 6/16. 4:60. 6/21. 2) Gite Ba oi te 24, 3/30. 3)30. 3 12.1) OaUreee 
eee bee OOG2-- 2) Se belek | 1215.8) 4.0)19. 5)... .|25. 0/50. 0/16. 7 8.3}...:| 8.3}16. 7/50. 0)16. 7)_. .- 8.3 
2,001 and over.............-- | 9/15. 7} 1, 3/17. 0,55. 6/11, 1/222... yi | Pe Ce See 33. 3/33. 4/22. 2)... .\11.1 As 
oS are een Saas ld bo ea 8/14. 8] 9.4) 1.8 0.320. 534. 3119.0)17.7 6.4 1.7| 0.4 
: } } RD Sta 
1 Days of labor lost because of weather conditons, machine breakdowns, and other causes. 
Thomas County accomplished its harvest with a realtively smal! 
labor force by working longer hours and increasing the average cut 
per day. Absence of rain and a very limited fall of dew during the 
nights enabled the farmers to get into their fields early in the morning 
a 
¥Y 
as 
=x 
