A STUDY OF FARM ORGANIZATION IN CENTRAL KANSAS 
23 
The quantity of twine used per acre for binding wheat depends 
almost entirely upon the amount of straw. The average quantities 
used in harvesting the 1920, 1921, and 1922 wheat crops were 1.8 
pounds, 2.1 pounds, and 2.2 pounds per acre, respectively. The 
average yields for these years were 12.5 bushels, 16.7 bushels, and 
19 bushels per acre, respectively. The smallest quantity used was 
1.1 pounds for a crop yielding 8.3 bushels per acre; the largest, 4.1 
pounds for a crop yielding 29 bushels. The most common quantity 
used for a yield of 12 to 15 bushels is from 1% to 2 pounds. 
Wheat threshing rates varied from 8 to 12 cents per bushel in 1922, 
depending largely upon the size of the crew furnished with the 
machine. The most common rates were 10 cents a bushel for wheat 
threshed from the shock and 10 cents to 12 cents for wheat threshed 
from the stack. Three of the farms included in this study had their 
own threshing machines and others were interested in maohines 
owned and operated cooperatively by a number of farmers. 
DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR ON WHEAT 
The dates between which the different wheat operations are com- 
monly performed are shown below. These dates should not be con- 
fused with the extreme ranges of dates for any operation. In plan- 
ning the farm labor program the usual dates for performing opera- 
tions must be kept in mind by the farmer. The optimum time for 
such operations as seeding and cutting wheat is affected greatly by 
seasonal fluctuations in weather conditions, but the general sequence 
of operations remains the same. 
Usual dates for performing the 
different 
operations in production 
of wheat 
Operation 
Dates 
Days 
ordinarily 
avail- 
able for 
field 
work 
Plowing or listing for wheat... - . - - . 
July 15 to Aug. 31 
36 
Sept. 10 to Oct. 5 . 
17 
Drilling 2 
Sept. 25to Oct. 15 
14 
June20to July 8. ... 
12 
Stacking . ..- .. 
July 5 to July 20. 
10 
July 10 to July 31 
15 
2 Attention is called to the fact that October 5 and 6 are the dates after which there is no danger of 
Hessian fly infestation. Much wheat is seeded before this date, provided moisture conditions are suitable. 
The work days ordinarily available for performing the different 
operations during the usual period of their performance are also 
given. These are estimated by subtracting the number of Sundays 
and the probable number of days that rain or other unfavorable 
weather conditions will interfere with the operations from the num- 
ber of days in the usual period of performing the operations. The 
estimates are based upon the precipitation data for the area over a 
period of 10 years and some records of actual interference, as ob- 
served on the farms studied for the three years. 
The daily distribution of the man labor in the seed-bed prepara- 
tion, seeding, and harvesting of 212 acres of wheat yieldmg 13.8 
bushels is shown in Figures 16 and 17. Of this acreage 152 acres 
were plowed and 60 acres listed. The listed land was disked after 
