44 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



of machinery is, in some degree, dependent upon them. But to 

 attempt the separation of these credits would be much Hke attempt- 

 ing to determine which blade of a pair of shears does the cutting. 

 Moreover, these various other forces play, comparatively, a very 

 incidental and subsidiary part. I believe that the following pages 

 will justify this opinion, and venture, therefore, to disregard what- 

 ever inaccuracy there may be involved in the statement and to say 

 that the entire increased product is due to the use of machinery.^ 



It will be sufficient, for purposes of illustration, to consider only 

 a few of the principal crops in the production of which machinery 

 has become a recognized factor. The crops selected for this 

 purpose, together with the time of man-labor requisite for pro- 

 ducing stated quantities of each crop by hand and by machine 

 methods, as reported by the Department of Labor, are shown 

 in the following table : 



Unit 



Num- 

 ber* 



Name and Quantity of Crop Pro- 

 duced AND Description of Work 

 Done 



Year of Production 



Hand 



Machine 



Time Worked 



Hand 



Machine 



13 

 16 



17 



18, 

 26 



Barley: 30 bushels (i acre) 

 barley 



Corn : 40 bushels (i acre) yel- 

 low corn, husked ; stalks 

 left in field 



Cotton : by hand, 7 50 pounds ; 

 by machine, 1000 pounds 

 (i acre) seed cotton . . . 



Hay : harvesting i ton ( i acre) 

 timothy hay 



Oats: 40 bushels (i acre) oats 



Potatoes : 220 bushels (i acre) 

 potatoes 



Rice: 2640 pounds (i acre) 

 rough rice 



Rye : 25 bushels (i acre) rye 



Wheat: 20 bushels (i acre) 

 wheat 



1829-1830 



1855 



1850 

 1830 



1866 



1870 

 1847-1848 



1829-1830 



I 895-1 896 



1894 



1895 



1895 

 1893 



189s 



1895 



I 894- I 89 5 



1895-1896 



Hr. 

 63 



38 



167 

 21 



66 



108 



62 

 62 



61 



3S-0 



45.0 



48.0 



5.0 

 15.0 



5S-0 



5.0 

 58.9 



5.0 



15 



42.8 



7.8 



42.0 



56.5 

 5-8 



2-5 

 1 0.0 



19.2 



1 For the purpose of this discussion I shall use the term " machinery," generally, 

 to signify not only machines, but also tools or implements, and other man-labor- 

 saving forces when used as essential adjuncts or parts of machines. For example, 



