FARM EQUIPMENT 357 



The depreciation is more on the. more complicated 

 machines, such as threshing machines. Machines that 

 have as heavy usage as corn binders depreciate rapidly. 

 Manure spreaders depreciate rapidly, because the manure 

 rots them. New kinds of machines always depreciate 

 more rapidly than those that have been in use for many 

 years. 



227. Machinery costs. The cost of machinery in- 

 cludes not only depreciation, but repairs, cost of housing, 

 interest on the money invested, and oil. These items 

 usually exceed the cost of depreciation. Table 76 shows 

 part of these costs for a considerable number of farms in 

 Minnesota. The costs of housing and oil were not 

 counted. Interest is counted at 6 per cent. 



Nearly all the farms included were fairly large, so that 

 the machinery was as fully employed as on farms in any 

 part of America. 



The total cost of machinery per acre of corn varied from 

 $1.14 to $1.75 in different regions of the state. Of this 

 cost, the corn binder amounted to over half. For corn 

 husked from the standing stalks, the machinery costs 

 varied from 49 to 55 cents per acre in the different 

 regions. 



The heavy expense for the corn binder is one of the 

 reasons why farmers in this region continue to harvest 

 corn from the standing stalks. So long as hay is cheap, it 

 does not pay to go to the many expenses involved in saving 

 corn stalks. 



The total machinery costs per acre of small grain, not 

 including threshing machine, varied from 37 to 56 cents. 



The machinery costs for hay varied from 29 to 55 cents 

 per acre in the different regions. The lowest cost is in 

 the region of largest farms. 



