TRACTORS AND HORSES IN THE WINTER WHEAT BELT. 57 
Costs for power are based upon the costs of using tractors and of 
keeping work stock on the individual farms during the year covered 
by the investigation. The cost of man labor has been calculated at 
the flat rate of 20 cents per hour for man labor on all farms both 
when using tractors and when using horses. Costs for the grain 
binder, header and combine when drawn with tractors include the 
labor of a man on the machine as well as that of the tractor operator. 
The labor of only one man is included in the costs of all other opera- 
tions shown. 
Costs per acre in 1922 of power with tractors were computed on a 
basis of 75 per cent of the costs for the year of the investigation, and 
the same rate (20 cents per hour) was charged for man labor. 
On account of the lower cost per hour of horse labor on the farms 
where tractors were not owned the costs per acre of power for the 
different operations were in every case lower than the costs for the 
/ same operations when done with horses on the farms where tractors 
were owned. 
FARMS ON WHICH NO HORSES WERE OWNED. 
Eleven farms in the western area kept no work stock. On two 
of these farms no horse labor was used for planting and harvesting 
the one crop, wheat. A combine drawn by the tractor was used in 
each case to harvest the crop. On the remaining nine farms horse 
labor was hired as needed, usually to harvest wheat, an average of 
1,025 hours for the nine farms being used. 
These farms were much smaller than either of the other classes 
previously discussed—454 acres in total size, and 306 acres in seal 
of which 271 acres, about 90 per cent, was in wheat. (See Tables 
2 and 3.) On seven farms wheat was the only crop grown. The 
_ tractors were used for 82 per cent of the total drawbar work on 
these seven farms, compared with 76 per cent on the entire 11. 
The drawbar work on the 11 farms amounted to an equivalent of 
10 hours of horse labor per crop acre, compared with 15 hours on 
the farms where some horses were owned. (See pages 25 and 53.) 
TaBLE 67.— Utilization and cost of using tractors on farms on which no horses were owned. 
Average | Average 
Item. per Item. per 
tractor. tractor. 
MSISEDOL OMIATING 2! oe oa. sio oe wasos es ss 11 Fuel per year for drawbar work: 
SePEIOMLEAChOE-«-4 =. 2s 72-5. months.. 13.8 || Gasoline. ee ree nae gallons. . 349 
marst cost of tractor...-.s...-.--- dollars..| 1054 IKiGLOSGNGM eee Seek ee doee:< 219 
®stimated total life...-.......... years... 5.8 Oil per year for drawbar work. .... Gdor=2 49 
Annual cost of repairs and upkeep Cost of using tractor for drawbar work: 
eer te sores << soe wk Be dollars. . 25. 00 Pen yeares 2520226. 5....'... dollars... 399. 00 
Tractor work per year: Per NOULSs 66 sae cc wok ceca ces do. 1.36 
Drawbar (home farm) ....... hours. . 293.2 || 
+ DE eee eel FOG 
Custom (home farm)......... do 90.0 |; 
Total (home farm)............ doz. 2 383. 0 
Sixty-four per cent of the tractors were of the two-plow size. The 
first cost, annual cost of repairs and upkeep, and cost per year and 
per hour for drawbar work are less on these farms than on the 
_ 1-tractor-and-horse farms on which only 31 per cent of the tractors 
were of the two-plow size. More custom work but considerable less 
