UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



SL&*^WU 



BULLETIN No. 910 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 

 and Farm Economics. 

 H. C. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



December 10, 1920 



EXPERIENCE OF EASTERN FARMERS WITH MOTOR 



TRUCKS. 



An Analysis of 753 Reports from Farmer Truck-Owners. 



By H. R. Tolley, Scientific Assistant, and L. M. Church, Assistant in 

 Farm Accounting. 



CONTENTS. 



Summary 



Method of study 3 



Location of farms and types of farming 3 



Distance to market 4 



Size of truck 6 



Age of trucks 7 



Are these trucks profitable investments? 7 



The best size 7 



Advantages and disadvantages 9 



Road hauling with trucks 10 



Road hauling for which trucks are not used . . 13 



Hauling on the farm with trucks 15 



Custom hauling 17 



1 Effect of different kinds of roads on use of 



trucks 



Change of market 



Annual use of trucks 



Life and depreciation of trucks 



Repairs 



Gasoline and oil 



Tires -. 



Reliability 



Cost of operation 



Cost of hauling with trucks 



Saving of hired help 



Displacement of horses 



Farms on which tractors are owned. 



SUMMARY. 



This bulletin is based on the experience with motor trucks of 753 

 farmers in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 

 chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware, and Maryland who have motor trucks for use 

 on their own farms. 



These farms are of all sizes and types, and the motor trucks used 

 on them are of all sizes from J ton to 5 tons. The rated capacity of 

 very few of the trucks is over 2 tons, however, and nearly half are of 

 the 1-ton size. 



Only 18 per cent of these farms are less than 5 miles from market, 

 and nearly one-fourth are 20 miles or more from market. 



Ninety -five per cent of these men believe that their trucks will 

 prove to be profitable investments. 



8335°— 20 1 



