2 7 8 



AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



farmers did not, until 1900, report as large investments in machinery 

 as they did prior to the war. 



For the United States the value of machinery per acre of farm 

 land has increased since 1850 from $0.52 to $0.90, or nearly 80 per 

 cent, and since 1 880 from $o . 76 to $o . 90, or about 20 per cent. These 

 increases in money value, however, do not measure the added useful- 

 ness of the new machinery. That is measured principally by the 

 degree to which the machinery saves human labor by substituting the 

 power of animals or of steam. It is interesting, therefore, to inquire 

 what changes have been made in the past fifty years in the use of 

 animal power on farms in connection with these new machines. A 

 comparison of human and animal labor on farms in relation to the 

 acreage of crops cultivated can be made only for the period since 1880. 

 Table XV makes a comparison between the number of males engaged 

 in agriculture, the number of draft animals on farms, and the acreage 

 of all crops reported at the last three census dates. 



TABLE XV 



NUMBER OF MALES IN AGRICULTURE, NUMBER OF HORSES, MULES, AND ASSES 



ON FARMS, AND AREA OF LAND DEVOTED TO SPECIFIED CROPS, 



WITH AVERAGES: SUMMARY 1880 TO 1900 



The number of acres of leading crops per male worker steadily 

 increased, while the number per working animal was substantially the 

 same in 1900 as in 1880. The increase in productiveness of man's 

 labor, therefore, is secured by the increased utilization of the power 

 of the horse and the mule in driving farm machinery. The figures of 

 the table indicate two important changes in the twenty years. One 

 of these appears in the increase in the number of horses to each male 

 worker from i . 7 to 2 . 3, a gain of about 35 per cent; the other is the 

 increase in the number of acres cultivated to each male worker from 



