4 BULLETIN 338, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The larger the acreage the farmer has over which he profitably can 

 work a machine, the more able is he to afford a well-built article of 

 good design. There is no doubt, also, that farmers having large 

 capital and business will average better as operators of machinery 

 than will men who are content or obliged by personal limitations to 

 operate a small business. Data obtained in this section regarding 

 repairs also indicate that farmers having the larger acreages to work 

 do so with the lower repair charges per acre. This is due, partly at 

 least, to the fact that some repairs are made necessary because of 

 deterioration when the machinery is idle. But it is probably also 

 due in part to the fact that the better managers on the large farms 

 make repairs, adjustments, and give other needed attention promptly, 

 thereby reducing the repair costs and obtaining more units of work 

 from each implement. The economic aspects of expenditure to 

 shelter farm machinery from exposure to the elements are referred 

 to hereafter. 



SOURCES OF DATA. 



An inquiry addressed to several thousand farmers in Niagara, 

 Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, Genesee, Livingston, and Ontario Counties 

 in western New York afforded a considerable mass of data from 

 which the utility of farm machinery in this section has been de- 

 termined. Facilities for housing machinery in this section are very 

 much better than the average the country over, the natural thrift 

 of the farmers leading them to house such property as much as pos- 

 sible. On account of the large amount of rainfall, hay and grain 

 crops are usually stored in the relatively large barns typical of the 

 area, so that during the summer months many farm implements 

 stand out exposed to the weather until the barns are emptied of 

 these bulky crops. At other seasons, however, the machinery is 

 well housed. In mechanical ability there is no doubt that the 

 farmers in this section are the equal of any. 



In response to the # inquiry reports were obtained for 1,165 walking 

 plows, 294 sulky plows, 1,169 spring-tooth harrows, 824 spike-tooth 

 harrows, 738 disk harrows, 1,173 land rollers, 1,061 grain drills, 72 

 one-row corn planters, 97 two-row corn planters, 1,114 one-horse 

 cultivators, 881 riding cultivators, 217 cabbage transplanters, 359 

 engine sprayers, 1,232 mowers, 1,217 hay rakes, 416 hay tedders, 

 563 bean harvesters, 1,028 grain binders, and 458 corn binders. The 

 bean harvesters, cabbage setters, and corn binders are used chiefly 

 in Livingston and Genesee Counties, while the engine sprayers have 

 their widest use in the fruit-growing counties along the lake. The 

 other implements are used on nearly every farm. Corn is planted 

 almost entirely with the grain drill, few corn planters being used. 



