REQUIREMENTS OF FIELD CROPS. 5 
visualize the demand for labor in the production of the more impor- 
tant staple crops. Records for typical regions have been selected in 
each instance. The la,bor distribution is given by 10-day periods, 
except in the graph for sugar beets, which was prepared from enter- 
prise cost records. In the latter case the distribution is shown by 
months. 
In order to permit direct comparisons the graphs have all been 
drawn to the same scale, with the exception of those for tobacco, 
sugar beets, and apples. In these three cases it was found desirable 
to make the scales from two to two and one-half times the standard 
employed for other crops. 
The length of the bars in each graph represents the total hours 
spent per acre during 10-day periods, and since with the exceptions 
noted the same scale is used throughout, the black bars not only 
show the distribution of labor for the various crops, but in com- 
parison show also variations in the amount of labor required by 
different crops. 
By referring to figure 12, which gives the labor distribution for 
hay, it will be observed that the major portion of the work on this 
particular crop occurs during the first 20 days in July. Apart from 
harvest labor, hay makes very little demand for labor. With spring 
wheat, on the other hand, the demand for labor is concentrated at 
two distinct points. One of these occurs during the seeding period 
in April and May. The other comes at the harvest season in August 
and September. The cotton graph shows that man labor on the 
cotton crop is distributed throughout a period of 1 1 months. 
In using graphs of this type it is desirable to compare seasonable 
labor demands on a percentage basis. To permit comparisons of 
this character, monthly percentage figures are presented both for 
man labor and for horse labor. 
CORN. 
The figures which are shown in Table 1 are based upon 253 enter- 
prise records representing the requirements (exclusive of marketing) 
of 14,510 acres of corn distributed as follows: Kansas and Nebraska, 
2,385; Iowa, 3,748; Illinois, 4,336; Indiana and Ohio, 1,489; Vir- 
ginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, 2,552.* 
The hours of labor required to produce an acre of corn naturally 
depend upon cultural practices and methods of harvesting. In the 
central part of the Corn Belt the usual method of harvesting is to 
husk the corn from the standing stalk and then pasture the fields. 
The average requirements for these areas were found to be about 19 
man hours and 46 horse hours per acre. In eastern districts, where 
1 These data were obtained from an unpublished report which was prepared by M. R. Cooper and 
H. G. Strait, of the Office, of Farm Management and Farm Economics. 
