FARM-MANAGEMENT SURVEY OF REPRESENTATIVE AREAS. 27 
On farms of 40 acres and less the cost of labor 1s over $10 per crop 
acre. On all farms above 120 acres the cost is less than $6 per crop 
acre. This increased efficiency of man labor on the larger farms 
constitutes an important factor in the cost of crop production. 
RELATION OF THE SIZE OF THE FARM TO THE EFFICIENCY OF WORK HORSES. 
With the prevailing type of agriculture as found in the corn belt, 
both man and horse need more land to work. Farms with less than 
100 acres in crops are not utilizing horse labor nearly as efficiently 
as the larger places. On farms of 40 acres one horse works less than 
10 crop acres, while on farms of 240 acres or more one horse works 
two and one-half times as much land. One of the difficulties with 
a farm of less than 40 acres in the corn belt is that it requires the 
same number of horses for certain farm operations as the larger 
place. The area in crops is so limited that only a small part of the 
available horse labor can be utilized. 
The labor demand of such crops as corn and oats is not evenly dis- 
tributed through the growing season; hence, horses remain idle for 
a large part of the time. If men on the small farms were following 
a different type of agriculture, it would be possible to utilize the 
horses more efficiently by growing crops which require a large amount 
of horse labor per acre. By means of diversification of crops so as 
to better distribute their labor these men may succeed in competing 
with those on the large places. 
The relation of the size of the farm to the number of crop acres on 
which a horse can be utilized is shown in Table XX. 
TABLE XX.—Relation of the size of the furm to the number of crop acres on 
which a horse can be utilized on 700 farms in Indiana, Illinois, and Towa. 
Farms. 
Crop area 
Area. Average per horse 
Average 2 
+ Average ‘ number of (acres), 
Number. size (acres). ag nat a work 
BETES horses. 
AQlacnesvanGdulessmias. 42 84 Je j= 2s o-s -s eee te 45 36.6 26.4 2.8 9.4 
ANE OKSORACKCS Bee ert ors is sd eee 114 71.4 56. 7 3.6 15.7 
SIBCOPLZ OVACTES ese eel een bn See Se ee Se | 120 107.2 86. 0 4.5 19.1 
le GOpIGOVACTES ese tam ig fo eel oe De | 130 149.3 122.4 5.8 ile 
NGIGCOPZ OO ACKCSAE errs es Se eek | 93 183.6 143. 4 6.6 21.7 
ZOIRCOM4OACKES Aes se aNe ee 8 od ne ee 75 227.4 184.9 7.8 DRS iff 
ZAIECO 280A CKESE ets. ao he hs 35. 262.5 211.2 8.4 25 
ZSIECOPS2OCTCS Eee etme pS AE a 37 305. 6 233. 8 9.5 24.6 
SAME OKADOIACKES Herne Meal a TE oe 30 364.1 298. 0 10.8 27.6 
4OICORS GOA CKES See avis ee Se S i. 2s ee eens. 12 474.8 368. 6 vy, al 28.1 
HOMME OMe OPACTES rere sane tae SS 5 652. 6 555. 4 19.4 28.6 
ZAeCOMPZ5OACKES SS Bae OM ee 4 991.2 612. 0 19.0 32.2 
To judge from the data given in Table XX, there is no marked in- 
crease in the efficiency of horse labor on the very large farms over 
the medium-sized ones. 
