42 BULLETIN 1202, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Farm No. 1, southern area.—This farm of 146 crop acres was operated with a two- 
plow tractor and two head of workstock at a total cost for power of $454, or $1.32 per 
crop acre. The power furnished by the tractor for drawbar work cost $339 for the 
year, or $0.99 per hour. This low cost is the result of comparatively small investment, 
few repairs, an estimated life of eight years, and normal use of fuel and oil. The low 
investment in the work stock and their full utilization on all of the two-horse opera- 
tions is responsible for the low cost of 7 cents per hour for horse labor. 
The tractor plowed 85 acres and listed and sledded 40 acres of the wheat ground, 
disked and harrowed (in combination) the oats ground (11 acres), drilled the wheat 
and oats, and harvested them with an 8-foot binder. The horses plowed 4 acres for 
Sudan grass, harrowed three and one-half days in preparing the wheat ground, planted 
and cultivated 6 acres of corn, made 4 acres of hay, stacked 80 acres of grain, headed 
6 acres of kafir, and were used 43 days for threshing. A third horse was purchased 
for use in harrowing and listing, and sold when this work was completed. Had all 
of the drawbar work on this farm been done with horses, 3,778 hours of horse labor 
would have been required. On this basis the tractor work represents 53 per cent of 
the total drawbar work done on this farm. 
The owner of this farm had just begun farming in that community, consequently 
no changes due to the use of the tractor were recorded. ‘‘More work in a given time?’ 
was considered the chief advantage of the tractor and “‘first cost and depreciation”’ 
the chief disadvantage. 
Farm No. 2, southern area.—This farm is considerably larger than farm No. 1 (see 
Table 47), and an average of 8.5 head of work stock in addition to a 3-plow tractor 
was used in its operation. The total cost of power for drawbar work represents an 
increase of 205 per cent, with a corresponding increase of 270 per cent in crop acres 
overfarm No.1. 
The tractor was used for 242 hours of drawbar work, or 28 per cent of the total. The 
depreciation and repair charges for the year were both considerably higher than on 
farm No. 1, but the large amount of belt and custom work done reduced the propor- 
tion of these costs chargeable to drawbar work so that the cost for the year was practi- 
cally the same as for the tractor on farm No. 1. 
The cost of keeping work stock on this farm includes $100 depreciation for the loss 
of one horse during the year, and interest on a larger investment than on farm No. 1. 
The yearly horse labor per head is practically the same on the two farms, although 
more of the heavy work was done by horses on farm No. 2. The horses did 50 acres 
of spring plowing, 60 acres of fall plowing, 37 acres of listing, 335 acres of seeding, and 
drew the binder and header on 335 acres, in addition to performing 1,568 hours of 
other labor. The tractor did 225 acres of fall plowing, 215 acres of harrowing, and 
was used for threshing on the farm, besides doing 8,000 bushels of custom threshing. 
The size of the farm had not been changed since the purchase of the tractor, but the 
work stock had been decreased by 5.5 head. The horses had all been purchased and 
no colts were being raised at the time of the investigation. Three months less of 
family labor was used during the year than had been used before the tractor was pur- 
chased. ‘‘Saving horses in hot weather,’ and ‘first cost and depreciation?’ were 
thought to be the greatest advantage and disadvantage of the tractor. The owner 
believed that in 1921 an increased yield of 5 bushels of wheat per acre was directly 
traceable to the use of the tractor through greater depth of plowing, better seed bed 
preparation, and more timely work. 
Farm No. 1, western area.—On this farm the tractor was used for a greater variety 
of work than on any of the others described. In addition to 103 hours of plowing and 
137 hours of disking it was used for seeding 565 acres of grain, cutting 155 acres of 
grain, listing and planting 65 a res of corn, and cutting 25 acres of corn with a corn 
binder. The seeding was done with two 8-foot drills, and a 2-row lister and drill was 
used for planting corn. The tractor did 54 per cent of the total drawbar work on the 
farm, which is 8 per cent above the average for the western area, at a cost of 89 per 
cent of the average cost for drawbar work. 
The tractor was out of order for six days when it was needed for disking. During 
the year $40 for new parts, $5 for expert labor and two and one-half days of farm labor 
were spent on it. The horses were fed 2 tons of roughage per head and a light grain 
ration supplemented by five months of wheat, four months of grass, and three months 
of night pasture during the year. The low cost for feed, together with a $50 colt credit, 
were largely responsible for the low cost of $39 per year per head for keeping the 
horses. ‘Two work horses had been disposed of after the purchase of the tractor and 
the owner stated that he had made a marked reduction in the grain ration allowed 
the remaining horses. 
Farm No. 2, Western area: This farm was by far the largest one of the six and the 
total cost of power for drawbar work was naturally greatest, yet the cost per cro 
acre was only $1.08, which is less than on any of the other farms. Five hundred an 
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