270 



ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



few acres of land. Now, with modern machinery, one man 

 can handle, in the production of general farm crops, one 

 hundred or more acres and still work no harder, and prob- 

 ably not so hard as formerly. The effect of improved farm 

 machinery on agriculture is shown by the following. ' 



The Bureau of Statistics of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture pubHshed a statement to the effect 



Figure 120. — Four good horses on a gang plow. 



that in 1855 it took four hours and thirty-four minutes of 

 human labor to produce one bushel of corn; while in 1894, 

 a bushel of corn could be produced with but forty-one 

 minutes of human labor. 



Investment in Machinery. — At present there is a com- 

 paratively large investment in farm machinery on every 

 farm, and quite a considerable part of the farm earnings 

 must be expended for repairs for operating expense of 

 machinery or for new machines. Farm machinery is, there- 

 fore, well worth studying. Sometimes machines are pur- 

 chased when they should not be, and sometimes a needed 

 machine is not purchased when it would be real economy 



