6 



BULLETIN 174, U: S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



full horsepower. A 1,200-pound horse moving at the rate of 2\ 

 miles per hour and exerting a pull of 120 pounds (one-tenth of his 

 weight) would develop only four-fifths of a horsepower. Thus, 

 an engine delivering 20 horsepower at the drawbar would be exerting 

 a stronger pull than 20 horses (averaging less than 1,500 pounds in 

 weight) normally do hour after hour. It should be borne in mind, 

 however, that the engine is capable of delivering at the drawbar in an 

 emergency but a fraction in excess of its rating of 20 horsepower, 

 while 20 average horses are able for a short time to pull several times 

 their normal load; that is, the engine might be overloaded to deliver 

 25 horsepower, while the 20 horses can be so urged as to deliver 30, 

 40, 60, or more horsepower for very short periods of time. 



SOURCE OF DATA. 



In obtaining the data on which this bulletin is based, several 

 hundred owners in sections where tractors are most widely used were 

 personally visited, and conditions were observed and interviews had 

 with farmers using tractors as weU as with those who did not use 

 them. At the same time the opinions of business men with regard 

 to the use of tractors by farmers in their vicinity were secured and 

 brief histories of the experience of users were recorded. 



A letter was addressed to all bankers located in the farming sections 

 of the United States lying west of the Mississippi River, requesting 

 their opinions as to the effect of the tractor on the farming industry 

 in their vicinity, the desirability of the tractor as an investment for 

 a farmer, their practice regarding the loan of money for the purchase 

 of a tractor, and related questions. (See Table II.) 



A letter was addressed to more than 13,000 tractor owners, inclosing 

 a list of questions to be answered, the replies to which were tabulated 

 and are shown in the following pages. The distribution of these 

 tractor users by States is shown in Table I. Replies were received 

 from about 40 per cent of the men addressed, but many of the reports 

 were discarded because tractors had not been used for a sufficient 

 length of time to enable their owners to form an opinion as to their 

 merits. However, more than 2,000 men who had operated their 

 outfits for one or more seasons furnished detailed reports. 



Table I. — Distribution of tractors in States west of the Mississippi River, showing the 

 approximate number of owners reported by bankers. 



o t t | Tractor 

 btate - owners. 1 



State. 



Tractor 

 owners. 



State. 



Tractor 

 owners. 



North Dakota.. . a. son ! 



Texas 



650 

 345 

 335 

 265 

 130 

 125 

 105 

 102 





80 





2,100 



1,205 



1,200 



1,060 



950 



730 



700 





Arizona 



New Mexico 



20 







15 





Colorado 



5 





Utah... 



5 







Total 









13,327 

















