FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA 
17 
ing will not be shown, because it does not occur during the year 
that the crop is grown. In order that its place in the seasonal labor 
program may be known, distribution of fall plowing labor by days 
for an individual farm is shown in Figure 6. 
Distribution of Man Labor on 40 Acres of Fall Plowing 
1 
W 1 jJIMC 
20 
to Hst 
10 20 10 20 10 20 10 ZO 10 20 10 20 10 U 10 20 10 20 
JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. 
10 20 10 20 10 20 
OCT. NOV. DEC. 
Fig. 6.— A large part of the land is fall plowed for spring crops. Much of this is done after the 
completion of small grain harvest in August and before corn husking begins in October 
Fall plowing is spread over a considerable period of time. It 
may begin the latter part of July as soon as small grain is stacked or 
threshed, and last until the ground freezes in November. However, 
on these farms most of it is usually performed during two distinct 
periods. One is during the latter part of August after stacking and 
shock threshing is completed and before silo filling begins. The 
other is during the latter part of September and the early part of 
October after silo filling is finished and before corn husking begins. 
CORN 
All land for corn is plowed. Practically all the small-grain land 
and grassland is fall plowed for corn. Forty per cent of the corn 
acreage is spring plowed, but this land was mostly in corn the previous 
year and not husked in time for fall plowing. Fall plowing is much 
preferred and is practiced as far as time permits, because it relieves 
some of the rush of cornland preparation in the spring and makes 
possible earlier planting. All but about 17 per cent of the corn- 
land, whether spring plowed or fall plowed, is disked in the spring. 
The fall plowing is usually disked twice and the spring plowing once. 
Some land is disked three times, but one and one-half times repre- 
sent the average or usual custom. 
All cornland is harrowed before planting. Half of it is harrowed 
only once, and the balance is covered two, three, or even four times. 
The average number of harrowings before planting is one and three- 
quarters. Eighty-five to ninety per cent of all corn is checked in 
as hill corn. The remaining acreage is drilled in. This is usually 
planted more thickly than the checked corn and is used largely for 
silage or planted late and cut for fodder. Four-fifths of the total 
acreage is harrowed at least once after planting. About 40 per cent 
of this is harrowed twice. On one-third of the farms blind cultivat- 
ing is practiced. This practice is usually applied only to the earlier 
plantings and only 18 per cent of the total acreage is blind cultivated. 
The most common number of cultivations after the corn is above 
ground is three. About one-quarter is cultivated four times and a 
small amount five and six times. A small acreage of the later planted 
drilled corn is cultivated only twice. Most farmers in this area plan 
94680°— 24f 2 
