10 
BULLETIN 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Fig. 10.— Seasonal distribution of labor required to produce 36.25 acres 
of alfalfa, 4.66 acres of oats, 6.89 acres of beans, 30.25 acres of potatoes, 
10.49 acres of beets, 14.06 acres of barley, and 3.39 acres of wheat in 
the Greeley district of Colorado. 
Another illustration of the use of farm help is shown when one 
man and four horses are needed to prepare land for wheat during the 
month of March and very little work has to be done on wheat in 
April or May, while for potatoes there is very little work in March 
or April, but approximately twice as much man and team labor 
on an acre of potatoes in May as there is on an acre of wheat 
in March. At the same time the sugar-beet crop requires more labor 
in April than either 
ImonthI HORSE HOURS ,1 j_ , ,T 
the potato or the 
wheat crop, and the 
alfalfa crop requires 
very little labor dur- 
ing March, April, 
or May. 
Other diagrams 
show the average 
seasonal distribution 
of crop labor for 
farms having speci- 
fied acreages of dif- 
ferent crops. These show the season when the farmer must work 
the most hours each day and hire the most labor. 
By intelligent use of these diagrams the amount of labor required 
by a crop and the months when the labor is expended may be approxi- 
mated closely, and many items of economic and agronomic impor- 
tance to the region may be studied. 
Figures 3 to 8 show 
the labor distribu- 
tion by months on 
the farm crops pro- 
duced in three sugar- 
beet districts of 
Colorado. 
The application of 
the data on the dis- 
tribution of labor for 
each crop is made in 
planning the crop- 
ping system. The 
average acreage per farm devoted to the principal crops in the 
Greeley district was worked out. Using these acreages and the 
distribution of labor presented in figures 3 to 8, a diagram was 
constructed showing the monthly distribution of all the labor used 
in growing crops on the farm. (Fig. 9.) 
Fig. 11.— Seasonal distribution of labor required to produce 36.41 acres 
of alfalfa, 9.55 acres of barley, 35.93 o 1 beets, 5.27 acres of oats, and 
3.11 acres of wheat in the Fort Morgan district of Colorado. 
