4 BULLETIN 931, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



from men who had owned their machines six months or less, and 

 those from men who are using their trucks primarily for custom work 

 or in connection with other business, and only incidentally for farm 

 work were also excluded. Thus all of the 831 reports which form 

 the basis of this bulletin are from men who are practicing the general 

 grain and live-stock farming characteristic of the corn belt and who 

 own trucks which were purchased new and which have been in use 

 long enough to enable their owners to form an intelligent idea of 

 their worth. 



LOCATION AND SIZE OF FARMS. 



The number of reports from the different States, the average size 

 of the farms, and the average number of crop acres per farm are 

 given in Table I. The average size of these farms where motor 

 trucks are owned is considerably greater in every State than the 

 average size of all farms. For instance, the reports of the 1910 

 census show that the average size of all farms in Illinois was only 

 129 acres, in Indiana 99 acres, in Iowa 156 acres, and in Missouri 125 

 acres. The number of acres planted to crops on the farms studied is 

 also large, the average number of crop acres per farm being 248. 

 Seventy-two per cent of the farms have over 160 crop acres and 21 

 per cent have more than 320 crop acres. 



Table I, 



-The number of reports from different States, average size of farm, 

 and average number of crop acres per farm. 



State. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 reports. 



Size 

 of farm 



(acres). 



Crop 



acres. 



State. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 reports. 



Size 

 of farm 



(acres). 



Crop 

 acres. 





114 

 52 



216 

 44 

 32 

 86 



116 



316 

 267 

 285 

 466 

 286 

 381 

 324 



239 

 214 

 230 

 274 

 228 

 260 

 233 



Southeastern South 



154 

 17 



471 

 245 







301 



Iowa 



Southern Wisconsin 



Total 



160 









831 











347 



248 



Eastern Nebraska 









All the reports included from the States of Kansas, Nebraska, 

 South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are from men operating 

 farms in the sections where corn is one of the principal crops. Every 

 one of the 831 reports is from a man who raises corn as one of his 

 principal crops, and in most cases the raising and feeding of hogs is 

 an important enterprise. Reports from farms where dairying is the 

 principal enterprise are not included. 



DISTANCE TO MARKET. 



Probably the most striking point concerning these farms is their 

 great distance from market as compared with other farms in the same 

 section of the country. Only 14 oer cent of these farms are less than 



