28 BULLETIN 735, CJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The fact that hauling is dune for less per ton with two horses than 

 with other sorts of teams is perhaps not entirely due to the efficiency 

 of this method of hauling, but is more likety to be due to the fact that 

 the men with the uphill haul or harder haul used more horses to a 

 wagon than the men with easier hauls. The cost of hauling varies 

 with the season and the condition of the fields and roads. For 1915 

 the load hauled averaged 3.18 tons. Two horses hauled on an average 

 2.82 tons, three horses 2.92 tons, and four horses 3.37 tons, the aver- 

 age cost of hauling being 26 cents per ton per mile hauled, when man 

 labor is figured at 20 cents per hour and horse labor at 10 cents per 

 hour. If better methods of loading and unloading were devised, 

 and especially if improvement could be made in loading beets on the 

 wagons, this cost could be greatly lessened. 



The hired hauling on an average cost 28.3 cents more per ton 

 than hauling done by the farmer, where his labor was figured at $2 

 per day per man and $1 per horse for a 10-hour day, and the average 

 distance for the hired hauling was 1.3 miles less. This gives some 

 indication of the scarcity of labor which usually prevails during 

 the harvest season. The man who has not the horses for hauling 

 beets must hire the necessary men with teams and must have the 

 labor done during a short period of time, so he has to pay for this 

 work at a rate that is higher than is common for other seasons of 

 the year. Usualty he does not furnish wagons or any harness, which 

 would mean some expense for wear and breakage. The average 

 cost was $4.81 per acre for hauling the beets where the farmer did 

 the work, counting labor only, and $7.85 for hired hauling, a differ- 

 ence of $3.04. In computing the cost of hauling 1 ton of beets 1 

 mile it was found that for farmers doing their own work in the 

 first group, those averaging 0.76 of a mile, the average cost was 49 

 cents per ton-mile. For the second group, those averaging a 1.67-mile 

 haul, the cost was 28 cents per ton-mile; in the third group, those 

 averaging a 2.91-mile haul, the cost was 19 cents per ton-mile; in the 

 fourth group, those averaging a 3.96-mile haul, the cost wag 17 

 cents per ton-mile. The hired hauling cost 69 cents per ton-mile 

 on an average haul of 0.88 mile, 51 cents per ton-mile for 

 an average haul of 1.46 miles, and 36 cents' per ton-mile for an 

 average haul of 2.83 miles. The difference of 21 cents between 

 groups 1 and 2 and 9 cents between groups 2 and 3 for farmers 

 doing their own hauling might be taken as an indication that the 

 average cost of loading beets was about 12 cents per ton; but this 

 is not an accurate method of figuring, as the actual time taken to 

 load the beets was not recorded. Table VIII, showing the cost of 

 hauling according to distance, indicates that it costs the farmers 

 in the group farthest from the dump an average of $3.11 more per 

 acre to deliver their beets than those in the group closest to the dump. 



