Mr. Gabriel Hiester, Harrisburg, Pa., graduate of the Pennsylvania State College, for many years trustee of the college and president of the State Horticultural Society, had a beautiful farm home near Harrisburg. During the first twenty years in bearing his orchard, of which one-fourth the trees were unprofitable varieties, returned an average of $80 per acre with apples selling at 60 cents to $1 per bushel. Mr. Hiester believed, with a proper selection of varieties and a favorable location, that any well-managed orchard can be made to do much better.
Dr. J. H. Funk, Boyertown, Pa., graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, 1865, farmers institute lecturer, former state pomologist, has 50 acres of apples and peaches. Returns from his plantings begun in 1896 are so phenomenal that he is afraid to permit the publication of his profits. It is known, however, that he has sold $5,000 each of peaches and apples in one year.
COST OF MAINTAINING WORK HORSES
At the Minnesota station, the total cost of feeding and maintaining a farm work horse for one year was estimated to be from $75 to $90, of which about $20 was charged for interest and depreciation. On the basis of 3.3 hours as the length of the working day, the cost per horse per hour was estimated to be 7-1/2 cents. At the Ohio state university, it was found that four horses weighing about 1,400 pounds were chosen to perform 2,185 hours of labor during one year, while under like conditions four horses, weighing about 200 pounds less, worked on an average but 1,641 hours each. For each secular day, therefore, the former worked about 7-1/2 hours, while the latter were employed but five and one-half hours. The cost of food was estimated at $54; cost of shoeing, repairs of harness and stable supplies at $6.50; and the cost of feeding, grooming and cleaning of stables at $23.50, or a total cost of $84 per year. Nothing was charged for interest or depreciation, but the expense of feeding and caring for three colts was included in the estimates given. The annual expense of maintaining a horse was practically the same in both states, but the cost per hour of labor performed was less because of the possibility of employing the horses at productive labor a larger portion of the time. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the need of planning a farm organization which will give continuous employment to horses as well as to men in order to realize the most profitable returns. An industrial system that makes it necessary to maintain work animals three days in order to secure one days work falls far short of an ideal.
CHAPTER XVII
FARM LABOR
The problem of farm labor demands thoughtful and frank consideration. Since work is an essential element in the production of all wealth, it follows that every industry has its labor problem. The adjustment of labor to the production of the various forms of wealth must ever constitute one of the most important problems in any organized society. It is often remarked that the labor problem is the chief difficulty in farming. In a certain sense this is true, since work is a primary element in the production of agricultural as well as all other wealth. It is not true, however, that the problem of labor is more difficult or more intricate than that of other industries. In fact, that problem is less delicate than in some other occupations, because farming is less industrialized.