2 BULLETIN 1181, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
crops raised in Arkansas, distributed by months and by operations. 
All charts and tables are made on the basis of 10 acres except those 
for a few fruit and vegetable crops and for rice, which are made on 
the basis of 1 acre and 100 acres, respectively. For the most impor- 
tant crops more than one chart is given, to show the variations in 
quantity of labor and seasonal distribution of labor in various parts 
of the State. The data are for average seasons and average condi- 
tions, but suggestions are made for estimating departures from the 
average. Instruction is given for using the labor data in calculating 
the cost of production of various crops and also for calculating crop 
systems from the standpoint of the seasonal distribution of labor. 
HOW THESE DATA MAY BE USED. 
On presenting some of these data to farmers, it is found that the 
first impulse is to calculate costs. To illustrate: A farmer-banker to 
whom the data on the crop of cannery tomatoes in northwest Ark- 
ansas w T ere shown looked at the total of 131 days of man labor and 
82 days of horse labor on 10 acres of that crop and immediately 
began to calculate what the cost of that amount of labor would be 
and how it would compare with the probable returns from 10 acres 
of that crop. 
CALCULATION OF PRODUCTION COSTS. 
For the purpose of calculating cost of production, this bulletin 
should be exceedingly helpful, even though it is not primarily a 
cost study. Farmers and business men who use it for this purpose 
will apply current rates of wages to the quantity of man labor and 
current charges for the time of horses to the quantity of horse labor. 
The trouble with the rough-and-ready methods of even the best 
farmers and business men in calculating cost of production is that 
the result is good only for the year for which the calculation is made. 
As time goes on and wages rise or fall, or other costs rise or fall, a new 
calculation must be made. The quantity of labor required to pro- 
duce a crop, however, and the quantity of seed and manure used, 
are less subject to variation than prices and wages. The same labor 
data can be used year after year and new rates for man labor and 
horse labor can be applied to them. For this reason all the data in 
this bulletin are given in days of man labor and horse labor instead 
of in dollars. The cost in dollars changes from year to year, but 
the time in hours of labor remains substantially the same. 
SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR. 
Fully as important as production cost is the planning of the crop 
system and all the enterprises of the farm, so that the work may be 
distributed throughout the year to the end that the time of both 
men and teams shall be well employed. Although farmers are not 
primarily interested in keeping bus}', it is generally true that they 
are anxious to find ways of increasing the spread between their farm 
costs and incomes. And herein lies their interest in labor distribu- 
tion studies, for upon close investigation it will be often found that 
incomes may be increased without a corresponding increase in costs 
by reorganizing the farm for more efficient use of labor and power. 
