COST AND UTILIZATION OF POWER ON FARMS. 



53 



Table 40.— Effect of number of days of work per year 



plowing. 



on cost c 



/ using 6 



-plow tractors for 





Number 



of 

 tractors. 



Annual cost. 



Daily cost 

 (depre- 

 ciation, 

 interest, 



and 

 repairs). 



Cost for plowing. 



Days of work per 

 year. 



Depre- 

 ciation. 



Interest. 



Repair 



and 

 upkeep. 



Total. 



Per day. 



Per acre. 





33 

 30 

 22 

 11 



8 



$183 

 204 

 257 

 239 

 261 



$44 

 48 

 50 

 46 

 52 



$29 

 42 

 39 



48 

 58 



$256 

 293 

 346 

 332 

 371 



$21. 07 

 11.72 

 10.17 

 7.58 

 6.22 



$25. 88 

 17.37 

 15.87 

 13.16 

 11.61 



$3.13 



20 to 29.9 



2.13 



30 to 39.9 



1.78 



40 to 49.9 



1.58 





1.29 







RELIABILITY OF TRACTORS. 



The reliability of a tractor has a very decided effect upon its 

 profitableness. In order to obtain definite information on this point 

 each farmer visited was asked how many days during the year his 

 tractor was not in running order when needed. On the average, the 

 286 tractors were out of commission when needed 1.9 days during 

 the year. One hundred and fifty-three, or 53 per cent of the total, 

 were always ready for work when needed, and 54, 19 per cent of the 

 total, were out of commission more than 2 days. 



There was little difference in this respect between the 2-plow and 

 the 3-plow machines. On the average, the 2-plow machines were 

 out of order when needed 1.8 days during the year and the 3-plow, 

 2.1 days. Just 50 per cent of the smaller machines and 60 per cent 

 of the larger ones were not out of commission at all. The age of the 

 tractors likewise had no marked influence upon their reliability. 

 Forty-one of the 106 which had been in use just one year and 15 of 

 the 31 which had been in use over 3 years were out of commission 

 at least one day. 



The actual number of days the 174 two-plow tractors and the 104 

 three-plow tractors were out of order during the year is shown in 

 Table 41. 



Table 41.- — Number of tractors that were out of order different numbers of days. 



Days out of order. 



Number 

 of 2-plow 

 tractors. 



Number 

 of 3-plow 

 tractors. 







87 

 56 

 11 

 12 

 8 



62 



lor 2 



22 



3 or 4 



3 



5 or 6 



9 





8 







Most of the men whose tractors were out of commission more than 

 two days had bad breaks while the machines were being used, and it 

 was impossible to procure repair parts or the services of experts 

 promptly. A delay of one or two days may not result in any serious 

 loss, but a tractor which is out of commission a week or more at a 

 time when its services are needed can scarcely be considered profitable. 



