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34 BULLETIN 1202, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Repairs and upkeep.—The age of a tractor has considerable in- 
fluence on the annual cost for repairs and upkeep and these costs 
for two-plow, three-plow, and four-plow tractors of different ages 
are summarized in Table 38. It is seen that in general the cost for 
the older tractors was greater than for the newer ones. 
In determining the repair and upkeep cost for each tractor, repair 
parts and expert labor were charged at the cash cost and farm labor, 
that is, the labor of the owner, members of the family, or the regular 
hired help, at 20 cents per hour. The number of tractors on which 
there was no cost for any of the three items during the year covered 
by the investigation is shown in the last three columns of the table. 
In all, some repair parts had been purchased during the year for 266 
of the 318 machines, some expert labor had been used on 91, and 
some farm labor on 284. 
A considerably larger percentage of the tractors which had been 
in use a short time than of the older ones required no cash expense 
for repairs during the year. 
TABLE 38.—Annual repair and upkeep costs of tractors of different ages, 1921. 
| Average expense per tractor Number of tractors 
for— without cost for— 
Age of tractors (months). _Number. Fea EN grag TT ce Sa 
| : xper arm ; | Expert) Farm 
Parts. | yabor. | labor Total. | Parts. labor. | labor. 
2-plow: 
PRIMLUOSS cence sem J eae are 33 $20; $12 $4 $36 8 22 | 7 
[KD SS ease SA ae tae 26 43 15 a 65 4 20 4 
eh eee ee a 2 pa 16 66 | 12 6 84 2 | 13 1 
SMAHOMOVED | Siasn pase cs02~0e 4 6 | 5 4 15 0 | 3 0 
3-plow: | 
WAS ATIOUIOSS yea eee ee 76 | 29 5 7 47 19 57 | 4 
POO DOL totes 5S - 2 ee Sst se| 63 | 59 8 76 7 46 7 
DIA RO ee aye A gee AER 32 | 53 | 12 | 8 73 5 20 3 
Gund over: !. 0-20) ee 18 91 | 8 6 105 2 12 | 1 
4-plow: | 
NAS AIOSS.. ete. tee seas ee 13 97 | 8 6 111 2 12 3 
NS On2O. 3's ko Li ee ee 11 | 90 | 9 | 10 109 0 7 1 
244 1S): ee Oe, PRO ea aie oe ae 9 | 86 | 29 | 13 128 | 1 2 1 
Romain Over. ..0! eee foes 3 | 85 | 0 10 95 0 3 0 
| | 
| 
Fuel and oil.—Table 39 shows the amounts of fuel and oil used 
pet year and per hour for the drawbar work done on the home farm 
y the machines of different sizes. The average tractor used 660 
‘gallons of fuel per year for drawbar work, 49 per cent of which was 
gasoline and 51 per cent kerosene. The average cost per gallon of the 
asoline used during the year covered by the investigation was 25 cents, 
Be cine’ 17 cents, and lubricating oil, 89 cents. These are somewhat 
higher than present prices in the same territory. (See p. 31.) 
TABLE 39.—Fuel and oil used per year and per hour for drawbar work on home farm by 
tractors of different sizes. 
| Drawbar Fuel per year. 
a : \Num-| work - os Oil per | Fuel per, Oil per 
Size of tractor. . | : 
| ber. Ud Gasoline. licerosene. Total. al hour. hour. 
. s | | = __ iad kre 
Hours. | Gallons. | Gallons. | Gallons. | Gallons. | Gallons. | Gallons. 
210 CL ae 2 88 309 | 270 275 545 | 51 1.8 | 0. 16 
RE oh, 2. 207 | 296 310 339 649 | 43 2.2 | 15 
RIMS eral) Soro 2 40 334 454 | 439 893 | 62 2.7 | -19 
Over 4-plow.............- 19 268 465 | 374 839 | 63 e114 A 
Total and average..| 354 | 302 324 336 | 660 | 48 2.2 | 16 
