COST OF KEEPING FARM HORSES. LG 
In order to show the relation existing, if any, between the total 
of work done by a horse and the total cost of feed, the yearly records 
for each State were divided into two groups with reference to the 
average total of work done per horse. (See Table 12.) The first 
eroup contains the data for those farms on which the horses worked 
more hours than the average for all records in that State. The 
second group contains data for those farms on which the hours 
worked per horse were less than the average for the State group. 
TABLE 12.—Relation of work done to the total feed cost, by States (27 farms, 316 horses), 
Illinois (154 horses— | Ohio (72 horses—aver- | New York (90 horses— 
average hours worked age hours worked average hours worked 
1,053). 867). 1,020). 
Records ali eee hours | 4 vor. hae Never 
P age Aver- | Aver- age Aver- | Aver- age Aver- | Aver- 
hours |age feedjage feed} hours age feedjage feed] hours |age feedlage feed 
workedicost perjcost per}worked|cost perjcost per|/worked cost perjcost per 
per | horse. | hour. per | horse. | hour. per | horse. | hour. 
horse. horse. horse. 
Above the average1......... 1,200 | $75.20 | $0.063 | 1,055 | $89.00 | $0.084 | 1,172 | $97.30 | $0.084 
Below the average 1..........! 880 | 67.30 077 723 | 67.30 . 093 863 | 385.00 . 098 
Ditterences eas Ne | 320 7.90 . 014 332 | 21.70 . 009 309 | 12.30 . 014 
1.The number of records included are as follows: ‘‘ Above the average”’ in Illinois 8; in Ohio, 7; in New 
York 9. ‘Below the average”’ in Illincis 9; in Ohio 9; in New York 9. 
From this table it will be seen that the average feed cost per horse 
in each State group was greater for those horses that worked more 
hours than the average for the group, showing that there is a certain 
relation between the work done and the quantity of feed consumed per 
horse. Referring to the average feed cost per hour of labor, it will 
be seen that the excess in feed cost for the harder-working horses 
was more than offset by the extra number of hours worked by them, 
so that the average feed cost per hour of labor in this group was 
about 14 cents less on the Illinois and New York farms and about 
1 cent less on the Ohio farms. A further study of these factors, 
together with the relation of the total hours of labor worked to the total 
cost per hour of horse labor on all farms, is shown in fig. 2. Refer- 
ring to the lower line and each “X”’ in this graph, it will be seen that 
while there was a tendency for the feed cost per hour to decrease as 
the total hours worked increased, on different farms where the horses 
worked approximately the same number of hours, there was a wide 
variation in the average feed cost per hour of labor. 
This variation was especially noticeable in the case of those horses 
that worked from 800 to 900 hours per year. In this group the aver- 
age feed cost per hour varied on different farms from about 4} cents 
to 112 cents. On one farm in the group of horses that worked between 
500 and 600 hours, the feed cost per hour was 19 cents. This high 
cost was due to the fact that the horses were fed heavily on the best 
of feed throughout the year, though working but few hours per day. 
