62 



BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



farms. Nevertheless, the necessities of the case require that the 

 expenditure for machinery be nearly twice as much per acre of crops 

 on the smallest farms as on the largest, and there is an almost regular 

 decrease in the value of machinery per acre as the size of the farm 

 increases. A similar state of affairs is shown in the last two col- 

 umns of the table. On the very small farms the average value of 

 the farm dwellings is 3.41 times, while on the largest farms it is only 

 1.68 times the net farm income. Similarly, the cost of other build- 

 ings is relatively very much larger on the small farms than it is on 

 the large ones, as shown when the value of the buildings is measured 

 in terms of the net farm income. The cost of farm buildings in this 

 area is considerably higher than it is in many other sections of the 

 country. This is due mainly to the fact that farm structures are 

 more substantially built here than is customary in more newly set- 

 tled sections. It is doubtful, however, in view of the very substan- 

 tial construction of these buildings, whether the annual cost of main- 

 tenance for farm buildings is much, if any, larger than it is in the 

 Middle West, where the buildings cost less but are less substantially 

 built. The amount of money the farmer can afford to put into a 

 building depends in part on the length of time it will last. It may 

 be, therefore, just as cheap in the long run to build a very substan- 

 tial building that will last a century as to build a much cheaper one that 

 will last only 30 years. While the interest charges are greater on 

 the more expensive building, the depreciation and repairs may be 

 much less. This is a problem which has not yet been worked out 

 fully. We do not know just what proportion of the farmer's income 

 he is justified in putting into farm buildings, though this is one of 

 the important problems under investigation. 



Table XXVIII shows another reason why small farms are more 

 difficult to make profitable than large ones. This table shows the 

 annual repair and interest charges on machinery and buildings and 

 the repair charges on fences on farms of different size. In the last 

 column of the table these expenses are combined and reduced to an 

 acre basis. 



Table XXVIII. — Relation of size of farm to yearly interest and repair charges 

 on machinery, buildings, and fences on 378 owner farms, Chester County. 





Cost per farm. 





Size of farm, in acres. 



Machinery. 



Buildings. 



Fence 

 repairs. 



Total 

 per 

 farm. 



Cost 

 per 





Re- 

 pairs. 



Inter- 

 est. 



Total. 



Re- 

 pairs. 



Inter- 

 est. 



Total. 







$9 

 14 

 21 

 41 



$18 

 29 

 37 

 53 



$27 



43 



_ 58 



'94 



$11 

 11 

 16 

 3 



$162 

 248 

 308 

 493 



$173 

 259 

 324 

 496 



86 

 8 

 14 

 18 



$206 

 310 

 396 

 608 



$5 81 



61 to 100 



5 80 



101 to 160 



4 54 



Over 160 



4 31 









16 



30 



'46 



12 



254 



266 



10 



322 



5.08 







