COST OF HARVESTING WHEAT. 5 



binders it has been overcome entirely. In most cases where there 

 is a considerable acreage to be cut and the necessary horses are avail- 

 able the purchase of the large binder will prove to be the most profit- 

 able because of the greater efficiency in the use of both man- and 

 horse-labor. 



Other factors which influence the- amount of work done per day, 

 and therefore the cost, are jdeld per acre, especially of the straw, 

 the character of the soil, whether soft or firm, rough or smooth, and 

 the topography of the farm, whether level or hilly. The working 

 ability of the horses used also has considerable bearing on the acre- 

 age covered. The condition of the working parts of the machine, 

 particularly the sickle, will likewise affect the amount of work done 

 per day. 



The figures here given are intended to approximate the average 

 conditions so far as possible. In order to make them comparable, an 

 arbitrary value for both man- and horse-labor has been used in all 

 cases in calculating the cost of doing the work by the various methods, 

 although these values will vary in different parts of the country. 

 For the same reason the data collected have been adjusted to a uni- 

 form day of 10 hours ; that is, if a man reported 18 acres as an average 

 day's work with an eight-foot binder, working 12 hours per day, 

 in tabulating the data his figure would be changed to 15 acres per 

 day of 10 hours, since his rate of cutting was 1^ acres per hour. In 

 applying the figures to any particular farm, therefore, the prevailing 

 cost of man- and horse-labor, as well as length of day, should be sub- 

 stituted. 



Assuming man-labor to be worth $2 per day, including board 

 (which is probably not far from the actual cost on a large percentage 

 of farms during harvest, although temporary help may cost consid- 

 erably more), and horse-labor 12 cents per hour, or $1.20 per day 

 (a figure which it is believed will represent a fair average for the 

 country as a whole, being slightly above the cost for parts of the 

 Middle West and West, but lower than most of the Eastern States), 

 the approximate cost of cutting wheat with the different sized binders 

 is shown in Table II. No figures have been given for the five-foot 

 binder, as this size is no longer in common use. 



As would naturally be expected, the eight-foot binder drawn by 

 four horses is more economical than the six- or seven-foot binder 

 drawn by either three or four horses, as the cost for both man- and 

 horse-labor is lower. The highest cost per acre for man-labor is 

 of course found where the six-foot binder and three horses are used. 

 In this case the cost of the man-labor per acre in cutting wheat is 

 18 cents, or 50 per cent more than where the eight-foot binder ia 

 used. The difference in the horse-labor per acre between the six-foot 



