14 BXXLETIX 726, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
will only be necessary to calculate on the basis of actual time required 
to do the work. 
The rates for horse labor were established in precisely the same 
manner as for the regular labor. It often happens that the operator 
is obliged to hire an extra team for rush work. The price which is 
paid is based usually upon the prevailing rate in the district. This 
furnished a very reliable guide for our calculations. 
Contract labor takes care of such items as blocking and thinning, 
first and second hoeing, pulling weeds, and topping. On a few of 
these farms this work was done by the operator and his family. 
For the remaining farms, hands (often entire families) were engaged 
for the season. Fairly uniform acre rates have been established, 
though some variation may be found in comparing one district with 
another. In sections where a flat rate prevailed, the blocking and 
thinning rate was usually S6 per acre. The first hoeing cost S2 per 
acre, second hoeing SI per acre, and the pulling and topping, together, 
amounted to S9 per acre, making a total charge of S18 per acre for 
the contract work or hand labor. 
FARM PRACTICE. 
REMOVING TRASH. 
Some preliminary work is occasionally necessary, particularly on 
fields where vine crops have been grown or where potatoes with 
luxuriant tops have been produced. It may not be possible to 
incorporate the residue with the soil; consequently this material may 
either be placed in a composite heap to decay, or burned. There 
were only two records reporting work of this character. On one 
farm, at Greeley, removing a very small amount of residue cost but 
12 cents per acre. On another, at Rocky Ford, where there was a 
heavy growth of vines to be removed, the cost was considerably 
greater than this. The true average labor requirement for this 
operation could not be determined with the limited number of records 
available. 
SCRAPING THE LAND. 
TVhen new fields are brought under cultivation, some work is usually 
done with a scraper for the purpose of creating a level surface, thereby 
facilitating irrigation. Indeed, some scraping may be done occa- 
sionally on old fields in order to reduce knolls and perhaps to fill in 
low places. In this study scraping is considered as improvement 
work. Two records on scraping were obtained, in Weld County. 
The operation was performed on one of these farms by one man and 
two horses, at a cost of 81.03 per acre, and on the other by one man 
and four horses, at SI. 26 per acre. 
