HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IN WHEAT BELT. 5 
grain belt in June and July and into the northern area in August 
and September. Thus an industry which needs only a comparatively 
small amount of labor during most of the year suddenly requires an 
army of men to handle its peak load (figs. 2 and 3). 
A surprising number of transient laborers secure work of less 
than a week's duration (Table 4). It was found that on an average 
men spent 26 days in the harvest area, working 15 days and losing 
11 days (Table 4). 
Table 3. — Wheat acreage and production in the Wheat Belt, 1918-1920. 
Winter wheat (000 omitted). 
Spring wheat (000 omitted). 
Percentage pro- 
duction, 1918- 
State. 
Acreage. 
Production. 
Acreage. 
Production. 
1920. 
1920 
1918- 
1920 
(aver- 
age). 
1920 
1918-1920 
(aver- 
age). 
1920 
1918- 
1920 
(aver- 
age). 
1920 
1918-1920 
(aver- 
age. 
Winter 
1918- 
1920. 
Spring 
1918- 
1920. 
Acres. 
1,225 
2,890 
8,886 
3,335 
2,600 
431 
60 
Acres. 
1,390 
3,120 
9,034 
3,356 
3,361 
602 
65 
70 
Bushels. 
15, 925 
46, 240 
136, 844 
58, 029 
32, 500 
8,491 
1,176 
812 
Bushels. 
19, 555 
44, 393 
130, 135 
48,835 
48, 303 
11, 244 
1,131 
1,049 
Acres. 
Acres. 
Bushels. 
Bushels. 
Per 
cent. 
100.0 
100.0 
99.8 
90.3 
99.5 
57.3 
2.4 
2.7 
Per 
cent. 
17 
258 
17 
400 
2,941 
2/830 
7,600 
26 
525 
23 
615 
3,430 
3,227 
7,790 
212 
2,451 
221 
4,520 
27, 940 
25, 470 
68,400 
246 
5,228 
266 
8,392 
45, 943 
38, 490 
76, 424 
0. L! 
9. 7 
42. 7 
97.0 
South Dakota..... 
56 
97. 3 
100. 
A few of the men had fairly steady employment. Three farm 
boys from Ohio, who reached the Oklahoma fields on June 1G, ob- 
tained 12 days' work in Oklahoma, 35 in Kansas, 10 in Nebraska, 
and 4 in South Dakota, between June 16 and August 26, when they 
were looking for thrashing work at Minot, N. Dak. They worked 
61 out of 71 days. Allowing for Sundays, in order to compare this 
work with urban employment, it may be stated that these boys had 
steady work. Each had sent home about $200, and they had a fair 
chance for from two to six weeks more without going to Canada. 
Other fortunate men worked 54 out of 65, 24 out of 27, 18 out of 21, 
25 out of 30, 27 out of 36, and 33 out of 41 days. More frequently 
men worked 12 out of 23 days, 15 out of 37, and 20 out of 36, while 
those who were most unfortunate worked as little as 10 out of 33, 
18 out of 46, 11 out of 37, and J out of 11 days. These figures, how- 
ever, probably are not typical of the average experience of all extra 
help hired by farmers for the small-grain harvest. 
EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION OF ACREAGE. 
Ordinarily the harvest opens in Texas and southern Oklahoma be- 
tween June 1 and June 10 and moves northwest at an irregular rate, 
depending upon the weather, reaching the Canadian boundary about 
