LAB OK REQUIREMENTS OF ARKANSAS CROPS. 3 
This bulletin furnishes the data whereby crop systems can be 
improved so they will properly distribute the labor in season, increase 
the efficiency of men and teams and add to the income by enabling 
a larger business to be handled with little, if any, increase in the 
cost of man and horse labor. 
SCOPE OF STUDY. 
In this bulletin the man labor and horse labor required for all 
the important crops of the State have been put in graphic form. 
For the most important crops, such as cotton and corn, several 
charts for different parts of the State are shown, because labor require- 
ments on a single crop vary according to soil, latitude, and other 
conditions. For muskmelons, watermelons, and sweet potatoes there 
are two charts each for different conditions. For strawberries and 
blackberries there are charts for the year of planting and other 
charts for the bearing crops. For oats there are charts for spring- 
planted and fall-planted oats. For wheat there is a chart for wheat 
planted on oat stubble and one for wheat planted after a crop of 
cowpeas. For cowpea hay there is a chart for an early-planted crop 
and another for a late-planted or second crop after small grain. 
It is believed that enough data are presented to help almost any 
farmer in improving his crop system. Perfect crop systems are 
impossible, but improvements of existing systems are practicable 
and necessary and the data and charts in this bulletin can be of 
assistance in establishing them. 
* METHOD OF GATHERING DATA. 
In gathering these data the survey method was used. Farmers 
were personally interviewed and estimates of labor requirements 
were recorded on a form sheet of letter size, which was designed for 
the purpose (see p. 4). There has been much difference of opinion 
as to the utility of such a method for the purpose of obtaining accurate 
data, and many persons hold that actual daily records are more 
desirable. 
The survey method is doubtless more accurate in regard to the 
total labor requirements than in regard to its seasonal distribution, 
because the latter is affected by variations in seasons and by the 
shifting of certain operations that are not fixed as to time, such as fall 
versus spring plowing. There is, however, an approximate average 
date for the performance of various operations. The charts are based 
on these average dates and can not show the departures from the aver- 
age, but the reader, by the exercise of common sense and by the aid 
of the discussions in the text, can estimate departures for himself. 
For this purpose it will be particularly helpful to read "Interpreta- 
tion of the tables,' ' beginning on page 52. 
To base the charts on actual labor records would involve careful 
records kept by many men in many parts of the State for several 
years and on all the crops discussed in this bulletin. There is no 
certainty that farmers would not forget occasionally to keep account 
of their time. Because of these difficulties in obtaining actual records, 
the survey method was used. 
