NORMAL DAYS WORK FOR VARIOUS FARM OPERATIONS. D 
*• - • * 
available in the respective operating seasons. The farmers reporting 
used figures of their own choice in expressing their judgment, and the 
percentages were computed separately from these and averaged. 
The uniform increase in available working time from Indiana west- 
ward is so in harmony with the weather conditions recorded by the 
Weather Bureau that any deviation from the true seasonal factors 
for these States must be common to all of the figures in the table. 
While Table I is presented here only for purposes of illustration and 
definition, it also suggests a rapid method for arriving at general 
seasonal factors for farm work in any locality. 
DAILY OPERATING FACTORS. 
Methods of Investigation. 
Two methods have been followed in obtaining the data presented 
in this bulletin. The first, which contemplated extreme accuracy 
and a long period of study of the subject, was based on personal obser- 
vations in theiield by agents of the Department working hi limited 
areas having uniform conditions. These field observations extended 
over periods varying in length from 30 minutes to one or more hours. 
During part of each period the speed in motion was observed under 
the watch, the length of the speed observation being more or less 
according to the circumstances which determined convenient dis- 
tances to be fixed as starting and stopping points. At the same time 
the agent recorded the entire length of his observation in each case, 
measured off the acres covered by the workman, and noted the work- 
ing size of the implement, depth worked, width of rows, distance 
between turns, kind and condition of soil, amount of power, size of 
horses, bulk of product handled, and all other factors tending to affect 
the amount of work performed, so that all data could be compared 
and variations accounted for. While, in theory, the method of per- 
sonal and detailed observations should give absolutely accurate and 
dependable results, because no vital condition is overlooked and the 
observations are personally and scientifically made, it was found that 
the variation in observed speed in motion and in surveyed acres per 
hour in the same area and under identical conditions was quite as 
wide as the variation in the estimates for a fair day's work by practical 
farmers reporting for every condition in the United States. It was 
also apparent from experience with personal observations that these 
should cover not less than a day and that a very great many of them 
would be necessary before an average of value could be obtained. 
The very great cost of the more exact method rendered it available 
only as a means for furnishing limited data with which to check up 
results secured by more general and inexpensive methods. 
Many of the activities of the Office of Farm Management are pred- 
icated on prior experience, from which it has been found that facts 
