32 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



94- WASTE OF CAPITAL INVESTED IN FARM MACHINERY 1 

 BY E. M. D. BRACK KK 



Wasteful practices with farm machines occur to a greater or less 

 extent on almost every farm. These cause a very large annual loss. 

 To prevent this loss the farmer should master the details relative to 

 the selection, adjustment, and care of machines. Few farmers, com- 

 paratively speaking, have a thorough knowledge of the machines they 

 are using. [There then follow thirty- six pages devoted to discussion 

 of technical details of material, design, adjustment, and points to be 

 borne in mind in selecting a machine suitable to the task to be per- 

 formed. EDITOR.] 



Many farmers are penny-wise and pound-foolish in their farming 

 operations. Great care will be taken to insure maximum yields and 

 to gather the harvest so carefully that none of the crop spoils or is 

 lost. A farmer exercises great care in these respects because other- 

 wise his income might be reduced one or two hundred dollars. Yet 

 the same farmer's income may easily be lessened this much or more 

 by his neglect properly to care for the machines with which his crops 

 were tended. 



It is essential that all machines be protected from the elements 

 while not in use, and a building should be provided for this purpose. 

 Investigations upon the depreciation of farm machines, made at the 

 Minnesota Agricultural College, show for twelve common farm imple- 

 ments annual depreciations ranging from 6.75 per cent to 11.78 per 

 cent. These figures apply to machines which have been housed. 

 Authorities estimate that machines depreciate twice as quickly when 

 they are not housed. 



Just to see how the neglect to protect his machines from the 

 elements affects the farmer's income we will take a farm which 

 requires $600. worth of machinery properly to equip it. The average 

 western Oregon farm requires about this outlay in farm machinery. 

 If these machines are properly housed they will depreciate approxi- 

 mately $48 in value each year, but if they are not carefully housed the 

 depreciation may be at least $96 each year and in some cases very 

 much more. It is evident that the money invested in the building 

 will yield a dividend which would soon repay the cost of the building. 

 After this is paid for, the farmer will find that the dividend is quite 



1 Adapted from Experiment Station Bulletin Jjj, Oregon Agricultural College, 

 PP. 3, ",38-41. 



