10 BULLETIN 627, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



larly in certain sections where wet ground has made the operation 

 of the binder difficult. 



The use of these engines not only lessens the draft for the horses 

 (usually to a sufficient extent to permit of the binder being pulled 

 by one or two horses fewer than the number commonly used), but 

 also permits cutting heavy grain at slower speeds for the outfit as 

 a whole than would be possible without such an auxiliary source of 

 power (since the sickle runs at a constant speed at all times), and 

 allows the grain to be harvested with a binder on ground where the 

 bull wheel would slip if it were required to transmit power to the 

 cutting and binding mechanism. 



The^e engines cost about SI 50, but their use is by no means confined 

 to the binder alone, as most owners who have them use them for 

 numerous other odd jobs about the farm where belt power can be 

 utilized. Under these conditions their estimated average life is 

 about 9? years. In some instances the engines are used practically 

 every day of the year for pumping water, except while on the binder. 

 Under such conditions the overhead charges of depreciation, interest, 

 and repairs, which would be chargeable against harvesting, amount 

 to a very small figure, while the operating expenses will be only 

 about three-fourths of the daily labor cost of one horse, and the 

 engine will in nearly every case decrease the number of horses re- 

 quired by at least one. 



The owners of these outfits report that from 2 to 5 gallons of gaso- 

 line are required to operate the engine per day. the average being 

 a fraction less than 4 gallons, while about 1 pint of lubricating oil 

 per day appears to be a fair average. With gasoline at 20 cents per 

 gallon, and lubricating oil at 40 cents, this would make the daily 

 operating expense amount to about 85 cents. The overhead charges 

 will vary according to the amount of other work done by the engine 

 annually. 



The engine not only decreases the number of horses required, 

 but in most cases will effect a considerable increase in the acres cut 

 per day. Reports from farmers who have used these outfits indicate 

 that an increase of from i to 5 acres per day may be expected in the 

 area covered with the binder under the conditions existing where 

 they were being used, which were for the most part unfavorable con- 

 ditions such as those previously mentioned. 



The repairs on the outfits concerning which the reports were re- 

 ceived had averaged slightly less than $3 annually, although the 

 average age was only ?A years. The repairs during the latter years 

 of the engines' lives would in all probability be somewhat higher than 

 this figure. 



The possibility of effecting a saving in the cost of harvesting wheat 

 under many unfavorable conditions by means of the binder engine 



