Farmers' Weeh in Agricultural College. 



141 



inoclern inacliiiiery. The ianiis uL" 151 lo 2()() acres arc the smallest 

 ones that have an average of four horses per farm. 



TABLE 7. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO HORSES. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS 

 - COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. 



The figures of acres per horse are still more striking. The small 

 farms have not enough liorses to make efficient teams, and yet they are 

 over-supplied with horses compared with their area. On these farms 

 there are only 15 acres per horse. On the largest farms one horse 

 farms three times this area, with no resulting decrease in crop yields. 

 When we consider the cost of keeping a horse, we see what a great 

 advantage the larger farms have. 



The sul)stitution of horse power for man power is the most strik- 

 ing feature of American agriculture. One horse properly directed 

 can do the work of ten men. According to the United States census, the 

 area farmed per man has increased one-third in the past twenty years. 

 This increase has been due to the use of more horses per team. The 

 area farmed per horse has not changed, but the farmer is using one- 

 third more horses per man and has increased the acreage that he could 

 farm in the same ratio. At the same time the crop yields of the country 

 have increased. 



TABLE 8. SHOWING THE INCREASE IN AREA AND HORSES PER MALE 

 WORKER, FROM THE UNITED STATES CENSUS. 



1900. 



Average acres per male worker 



Average number horses per male work er 

 Average number of acres per horse 



31.0 



2.3 



13.5 



The most striking examples of the use of four to six-horse teams 

 is in the middle west. In some cases, as in Iowa and Missouri, this has 

 resulted in a decrease in rur«,l population. At the same time, total pro- 



