HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IX WHEAT BELT. 11 
Kansas come into the Nebraska harvest about (he same time, that Stale 
ordinarily has a large supply of men willing to accept wages lower 
than those paid in Kansas. Another lot of laborers go directly limn 
Kansas to South Dakota, where they are at an advantage in the 
scramble for harvest work. As a rule, a larger number than can 
find employment go into South Dakota, soon to be reinforced by 
thousands from Nebraska, Iowa, and various other States. Some 
of the Kansas harvesters go into the cities to spend their earnings 
and later reappear in the northern harvest; others go directly to 
North Dakota to pick up the early work there. Many leave the har- 
vest entirely. 
The total labor contribution of the southern area to the northern 
harvest can not be computed, but it apparently constitutes a minor 
fraction of the total harvest labor supply of North Dakota. 
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 
Climatic conditions are the second main factor in the fluctuation 
of the demand for harvest labor from week to week throughout the 
season. For instance, in 1920 rain delayed the southern Oklahoma 
harvest for almost a week. Laborers began to come into the State 
in late May and early June, until by June 15 a large supply of 
harvest labor was present. Many men waited so long that their 
funds became exhausted, while others, growing discouraged, went 
home before the harvest. On June 29 hot weather called the men to 
the fields, where the heat soon forced the ripening of the grain as 
effectively as the wet weather had retarded it. From stagnation 
the harvest leaped suddenly into extreme activity, so that areas 
which normally are harvested in succession were ready for cutting 
at the same time. A dry, clear July enabled the farmers to push 
the harvest steadily forward, with comparatively little hindrance 
from the weather, until the middle of August. 
In the northern area especially the time of harvest is influenced 
by the spring weather, which affects sowing and early growing 
conditions. An early spring in the Dakotas tends to bring the North 
Dakota and Kansas harvests closer together, a late spring to widen 
the gap between them. 
Oklahoma owes a peculiar labor problem to the climate. The win- 
( > ter- wheat harvest in western Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas 
(fig. 1) is some two weeks later than that of central Oklahoma and 
eastern Kansas because of the high altitude and aridity of the west- 
ern section of these States. Consequently, when the wheat harvest of 
central and north central Oklahoma is completed the harvesters move 
north into Kansas, 2 making it necessary for the Woodward district 
2 Topographic maps illustrating this fact are included in U. S. Dept. Agr. yearbook, 
' 1918, Separate 771, "Arable Lands in the United States," by O. E. Baker and 11. M. 
Strong (Plates II and III). . 
