22 
BULLETIN 814, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
SHOCKING OATS. 
The average performance of 2, 3, and -i man crews in shocking 
oats is given in Table XXII. The reports show that two men con- 
stitute the customary crew for this work on nearly four-fifths of 
the farms, and that they do on an average 17.4 acres per day, or 
half an acre less per day than is covered by an 8-foot binder drawn 
by four horses. The efficiency of the labor decreases decidedly with 
the addition of extra men to the crew, three men working together 
covering 2 acres less per day per man than in a 2-man crew, and 
four men covering nearly 3 acres less per man. Part of this reduc- 
tion in efficiencv is due to the fact that it is customary for the 
Fig. 9. — The portable elevator is generally used for unloading grain. 
shockers to follow around the field closely after the binder, and no 
matter how many men are used they can not shock any more grain 
in a given time than is cut by the binder after which they are 
working. 
Table 
XXII.— 
Shocking 
oats. 
Number 
of men. 
Number 
of reports. 
Acres per day. 
Average 
per crew. 
Average 
per man. 
Average per crew 
most oiten reported. 
2 
3 
•1 
400 
101 
16 
17.4 
20.0 
23.4 
8.7 
6.7 
5.9 
(15(102 reports). 
\20(U3 reports). 
20 (47 reports). 
20 (7 reports). 
517 
8.2 
The yield per acre of oats evidently has very little effect upon the 
amount of work done by the shockers. The average of 59 estimates 
