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 like 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. 1 



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 2 



13 



16 



'7 



18 

 26 



Name and Quantity of Chop Pro- 

 duced and Description ok Work 

 Done 



Barley: 30 bushels (1 acre) 

 barley 



Corn : 40 bushels (1 acre) yel- 

 low corn, husked ; stalks 

 left in field 



Cotton : by hand, 7 50 pounds ; 

 by machine, 1000 pounds 

 (1 acre) seed cotton . . . 



Hay: harvesting 1 ton (1 acre) 

 timothy hay 



Oats : 40 bushels (1 acre) oats 



Potatoes : 220 bushels ( 1 acre) 

 potatoes 



Rice : 2640 pounds (-1 acre) 

 rough rice 



Rye: 25 bushels (1 acre) rye 



Wheat: 20 bushels (1 acre) 

 wheat 



Year of Production 



Hand 



1S29-1830 



l3 5 5 



1841 



1850 

 1830 



1866 



1870 

 1847-184S 



1829-1S30 



Machine 



1895-1896 



1894 



1895 



1895 

 1893 



1895 



1895 



1 894-1 895 



1S95-1S96 



Time Worked 



Hand Machine 



Hr. 

 6^ 



167 

 21 



66 



10S 



62 



62 



61 1 



35-o 



45- 



48.0 



5.0 

 15.0 



55- 

 58.9 



Mitt. 



42.8 



7.8 



42.O 

 56.5 



5-8 



10. o 



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, 



