MINOR AETICLES OF FARM EQUIPMENT. V 



The total cost of the various items suggested is extended in column 

 5. The total, which seems extremely large in comparison with the 

 usual estimates, is, however, not unreasonable if a rather complete 

 equipment is desired. Taking the grand total inventory of items 

 mentioned in this list for all the farms, using the prices given in 

 colunm 4 and dividing by 33, the first cost for the average farm of 

 167 acres is found to be about $190. The discrepancy between this 

 figure and that given for the total cost of items suggested, S270.70. 

 may be due partly to incomplete inventories but more to the fact 

 that the latter figures contain a large number of single articles for 

 which the mean previously mentioned was a fraction greater than 

 one-half and less than one. Column 5 indicates a rather complete 

 outfit. Neither the $190 nor the $270.70, however, includes any 

 allowance for a stock of materials for the repair of equipment, as 

 given in Farmers' Bulletin 347. An expenditure of $50 or more in 

 this connection would save many trips to town for materials, even 

 if the equipment for making use of them were complete. Many 

 items considered useful and necessary might be added to the list 

 suggested, but the purpose of this circular is to establish what might 

 be called a working basis for considering this phase of equipment. 

 The occasional need for many of these omitted items will be ap- 

 parent, and attention is called to the fact that the list in column 3 

 contains only 158 out of 240 articles, all of which were considered 

 necessary in certain cases. The initial expense if all the items were 

 included in as large numbers as shown in column 2 would be over 

 $685, and it is not an uncommon thing to find farms in the United 

 States on which the actual investment in small and miscellaneous 

 articles would be above this figure if all the tools had been bought 

 first hand. The summary of the thirty-three inventories is given as 

 follows: 



Table I.—Summai-y of items of minor equipment reported on thirty-three farms in Ohio, 

 with the number and cost of all items suggested us necessary and their total cost. 



Items. 



r.enenil purpose: 



AuKor 



Awl 



Ax and handle 



Pinch bar 



Bench screw . . 



Auger bit 



Bit brace 



Steel square. . . 

 Bevel square.. 



Try-square 



Wood chisel . . . 



[Cir. 44] 



Cost of 

 each item. 



$0.25 

 .10 

 1.25 

 .75 

 .GO 

 .30 

 1.50 

 ■.75 

 .40 

 .•25 

 .40 



Total cost 

 of items 



suggested 

 as neces- 

 sary. 



$0. 75 



.10 



2. .50 



.75 



.60 



2.00 



1.50 



.75 



.40 



.25 



