MACHINERY COST OF FARM OPERATIONS. 



17 



to about one-eighth of 1 cent. The average cost per tree for trees of 

 different height l is approximately as follows: 



Height of tree. 



Cost per 

 tree. 





$0.0008 

 .0015 

 .0021 



13 to 20 feet 







.0012 





The cost per acre depends upon the number of trees planted per 

 acre, and can readily be computed for any given orchard by multi- 

 plying the appropriate one of the above amounts by the number of 

 trees per acre. 



MOWERS. 



While the mower is a machine with rapidly reciprocating parts, it 

 gives relatively long service. Inspection of Table XIV indicates 

 that the average farmer does not obtain the maximum days of work 

 from his mower. Mowers that cut 14 acres annually last only four 

 years longer than machines that cut 90 acres a year, the latter doing 

 100 days of work against 25 for the former. The size of the mower 

 has some influence on the total acres cut by mowers before wearing 

 out, but the principal contributing factor to a high record of days of 

 work appears to be large acreage annually. 



Table XIV. — Mowers — relation of work done annually to service and cost per acre and 

 per day used on 1,232 farms. 



Range of area covered annually acres. . 



1 to 15. 



16 to 30. 



31 to 45. 



46 to 60. 



61 and 

 over. 



Average. 





368 

 13.8 

 16.1 

 222.2 

 25 

 4.9 



518 

 23.6 

 14. 3 

 337.5 

 38 

 5 



193 



38.8 



14.6 



566.5 



60 



5.4 



110 



53.6 



13.1 



702.2 



70 



6.0 



43 



8S.8 



11.9 



1,056.7 



100 



6.4 





Average area covered annually acres . . 



28.0 

 14.8 





414.4 





46 



Average width of mower feet. . 



5.2 





$40. 00 



19.00 

 20. 15 



$40.00 

 24.45 

 18.30 



$42.00 

 35.77 

 19.71 



S45. 00 

 37.47 

 19.00 



S47. 50 

 37. 84 

 18.33 



$41.00 





26.94 



Total interest during life, at 6 per cent 



19.39 



Total of depreciation, interest, and 



79.45 



82.75 



97.48 



101. 47 



103. 67 



87.33 







Cost of mower: 



S3. IS 

 .357 



$2.18 

 .245 



SI. 62 



.172 



SI. 45 

 .144 



$1.04 

 .098 



$1.90 





.210 







The overhead charges against mowers doing the amount of annual 

 work shown in Table XIV average $0,099 for depreciation and 

 $0,047 for interest per acre. 



i Computed from Table XXVI, U. S. Dept. of Agr. Bui. No. 3. 



