58 



BULLETIN 997, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Farms where acreage was not changed. — The average size of the 172 

 farms where the acreage was the same as before the purchase of trac- 

 tors was 244.5 acres, and the number of crop acres was 187.8. Those 

 who increased the size of their farms after the purchase of tractors, 

 had in general been farming somewhat smaller acreages than these 

 men. The men who had not changed their acreage had kept on the 

 average, 8.7 head of workstock before the purchase of tractors — -one 

 head for each 28.0 acres, and one for each 21.5 crop acres. At the 

 time of the investigation they had 6.5 head — -one for each 37.7 acres 

 and one for each 29.0 crop acres. 



The size of the tractor evidently had no influence on the reduction 

 in workstock. One hundred and seven of the 172 men who did not 

 change their acreage owned 2-plow, and 61 owned 3-plow machines. 

 Before the purchase of tractors, the owners of each size kept one 

 horse for each 21.7 crop acres. At the time of the investigation the 

 owners of the 2-plow machines had one head for each 28.8 crop acres, 

 and the owners of the 3-plow machines one for each 29.6 crop acres. 

 On the average, the owners of each size reduced their workstock by 

 2.2 head. 



Every farmer was keeping at least two head of workstock in addi- 

 tion to his tractor, and no one who did not increase his acreage owned 

 less than three head before the purchase of his tractor. 



Table 46 shows the actual number owned before the purchase of the 

 tractors and the number disposed of by the 172 men. 



Table 46. — Changes in number of workstock after purchase of tractor made by 172 owners 

 whose acreage remained the same.- 



Number of work- 

 stock before pur- 

 chase of tractors. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 owners. 



Number of owners who disposed of— 



None. 



1 head. 



2 head. 



3 head . 



4 head. 



5 head. 



6 head. 



7 head. 



9 head. 



3 or 4 



7 

 38 

 44 

 41 

 30 

 12 



4 

 11 



10 

 8 

 4 

 7 



2 

 8 

 9 

 1 

 1 



1 



11 

 13 

 13 

 2 

 1 















5 or 6 



4 

 6 

 8 

 6 



4 

 5 

 5 

 5 











7 or 8 



1 



2 

 7 









9 or 10 



4 

 4 







11 or 12 



1 

 3 







1 















Total 



172 



44 



21 



41 



24 



19 



10 



4 



1 











The organization of the farm must be known in detail before one 

 can say definitely how many head of workstock a farmer should keep 

 for the greatest profit after he purchases a tractor, but it is apparent 

 that some of these men were still keeping more workstock than 

 needed. (See page 37.) Table 47 shows the average number of 

 crop acres, and the number per horse before and after the purchase 

 of tractors on the farms where different numbers of workstock were 

 disposed of. 



