808 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



"This table shows the actual amount of work done by each of four 

 horses during each month in the year on a western New York farm of 

 104 acres. The extra horse is not counted in the averages, as it was a 

 colt just being broken into work. On this farm there were, in one year, 

 25 acres of mixed orchard plantings and about 72 acres of crops — wheat, 

 hay, beans and oats. While two of the horses worked more than 1200 

 hours in the year, the average total work of all four horses was 880}^ 

 hours each, or 2.8 hours a day each for the 313 working days of the year. 

 At an average cost of $10 a month a horse, this amounted to 13.6 cents 

 an hour for horse labor. The variation in cost was from $2.66 an hour 

 in February, when the four horses worked only fifteen hours during the 

 whole month, to a little over 5 cents an hour in June, the busiest month. 

 The personal use of horses on Sunday for driving is not counted; neither 

 is the time of the horses, though the cost of maintenance on Sundays is 

 included in the $10-a-month charge. It should be possible to utilize this 

 horse labor to better advantage in the winter, thus relieving the congestion 

 later and possibly loAvering the rate. This is a good illustration of the 

 uneven distribution of horse labor on a farm." 



Reducing the cost of production calls for careful information relative 

 to the items that make up the cost. The introduction of records and 

 accounts on farms in such a way as to account for the time and expenditures 

 incurred for each enterprise will doubtless do much to stimulate better 

 methods and more attention in the production of farm products. 



REFERENCES 



"Manual of Practical Farming." McLennan. 



Connecticut Expt. Station Bulletin 73. 



Illinois Expt. Station Circular 177. "Relation Between Yields and Prices." 



Minnesota Expt. Station Bulletins: 



97. "Cost of Producing Farm Products." 



124. "Cost of Producing Dairy Products." 



117. "Cost of Producing Farm Products." 

 Missouri Expt. Station Bulletin 125. "Cost of Production on Missouri Farms." 

 Texas Expt. Station Bulletin 26. "Cost of Cotton Production and Profit per Acre." 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics, Bulletin 48. "Cost of Producing 



Farm Products." 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics, Bulletin 73. "Cost of Producing Min- 



Farmers' Bulletin 364, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. "A Profitable Cotton Farm." 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, B. P. I., Bulletin 49. "Cost of Raising a Dairy Cow." 



