A FIVE-YEAR FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN" OHIO. 35 



less extra labor of this sort was hired on 24 of the farms, at a total 

 cost of $489. 



The labor expense was practically the same for the first four years, 

 and in 1916 it was 4 per cent above the five-year average. 



KEPAIES AND DEPEECIATION. 



Expenses for repairs and depreciation included repairs on machin- 

 ery, dwellings, other buildings, and fences, and depreciation on dwell- 

 ings, other buildings, and machinery. These were all considered cash 

 expenses. The expenses for repairing machinery, buildings, and 

 fences represented only those actually paid out, and did not include 

 the value of any repairs made by the farmer himself or of any repair 

 material furnished from the farm. The expense for depreciation of 

 machinery and buildings was equivalent to a cash expense. While we 

 do not think 'of money as actually paid out for depreciation, yet it 

 was paid for new machinery to replace that worn out, for replacing 

 old buildings so far gone that others were built in their stead, and 

 for such extensive repairs to buildings as would avoid the necessity 

 of replacing them for several years. 



The annual expense for repairs and depreciation amounted to $81 

 per farm, or 20 per cent of the total farm expenses. The expense for 

 depreciation was about twice that of repairs. 



The annual expense of all farms for repair of machinery was $4 

 per farm, or slightly over 1 per cent of the inventory value of the 

 machinery ; that for depreciation was $25 per farm, or nearly 8 per 

 cent of the inventory value. The total annual cost for upkeep of ma- 

 chinery was $29 per farm, or 9 per cent of the inventory value. New 

 machinery was bought to the amount of $37 per farm. 



For all farms the annual expense for keeping the dwelling in repair 

 was $6 per farm and that. for depreciation was $10. The total annual 

 expense for repairs and depreciation of the dwellings was $16 per 

 farm, or If per cent of the value of the dwellings. 



The expense for repair and depreciation of the other farm build- 

 ings was greater than that for the dwellings. The average annual 

 repair expense was $7 per farm and that of depreciation was $18. 

 The annual repair and depreciation expense together were $25 per 

 farm, or just a little over 3 per cent of the value of the buildings. 



The expense for fence repair includes not only slight cash expenses 

 for repairing fences but also the cash outlay for new fencing when it 

 is to replace that worn out. The average annual expense for keeping 

 fences in repair on all these farms was $11 per farm, or 7 cents per 

 acre. The reason for such a low expense for fence repair in this area 

 may be readily seen from figure 3 (p. 7). With so many rail fences 

 most of the fencing material was furnished by the farm without cash 

 outlay. 



