STANDARDS OF LABOR. 5 
hindrance in plowing and cultivating. Where stumps are numerous 
it is impossible to do a normal day's work. Small fields interfere 
very much with all kinds of mule work, because such fields usually 
have short rows which entail a great deal of turning and consequent 
loss of time. Terraces and ditches also interfere with field work 
because they often necessitate short rows. Heavy clay soils retard 
certain operations, particularly that of breaking. On the other hand, 
where the opposite of these conditions obtains, work will proceed 
more rapidly than on the average. 
The extremes of such conditions on certain farms result in wide 
variations from the normal, but the influence of all such factors is 
neutralized to a large extent when a large number of records are 
considered for a given crop or operation. It is believed that the 
number of estimates here presented is large enough on most opera- 
tions to give a reliable average. It will be noted in the tables show- 
ing crew duty that the acreages most frequently reported for any one 
operation, and the number of farmers so reporting, is given. Thus 
the average acreage may be compared with the acreage most fre- 
quently reported. When the number of estimates is not large enough, 
the statements made regarding the figures involved are qualified. 
In the study of tables showing crew duty, it should be borne in 
mind that all the tables show, incidentally, the duty of machinery 
and implements as well as the duty of crews. 
Labor requirements per acre. — The amount of labor required per 
acre to perform a given operation depends, of course, upon the crew 
duty for that operation. Therefore, knowing the duty of crews, it 
is easy to determine the labor requirement per acre (expressed in 
days or fractions of days) for each operation which may be performed, 
and also the average total amount of labor per acre actually spent 
on the principal operations. It is especially important to know the 
latter figure in order better to estimate the amount of labor (number 
of laborers) necessary to handle the crops which it is desired to grow; 
or, on the other hand, to adjust acreages so that labor requirements 
for all crops grown will not be beyond the capacity of the available 
labor on the farm. 
SOIL PREPARATION. 
Crew duty at preparing land for various crops may be considered 
without regard to the crop to be grown, because preparation work, 
in so far as crew duty is concerned, is similar for all crops. There- 
fore, since preparation work easily lends itself to a separate discus- 
sion, crew duty at such work will be dealt with before taking up the 
discussion of crew duty at such operations as planting, cultivating, 
and harvesting on each crop. Treating preparation separately makes 
available a larger number of estimates than if preparation weru con- 
