ey rr 
32 BULLETIN 1202, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
COST OF HORSE LABOR. Z ed 
The cost per hour of horse labor was determined for each farm by 
dividing the total cost of keeping the work stock by the total number 
of hours of work done by the horses owned on that farm during the 
year. For all farms the average cost per hour was 17 cents. In the 
southern area the cost was 22 cents per hour, in the western area 18 
cents, and in the northern area 13 cents. There were wide variations 
in both the cost per head of keeping the work stock and the hours of 
work per head, and consequently there were wide variations in the cost 
of horse labor. On 68, 19 per cent of the 354 farms, the cost was less 
than 10 cents, and on 78, 22 per cent, it was 20 cents or more. 
Table 35 shows the cost per head of keeping the work stock and the 
cost per hour of horse labor on farms where they did different amounts 
of work per head. In general the cost per head of keeping the work 
stock was greatest on the farms where they were utilized most fully, 
but the cost did not decrease in proportion to the amount of work 
done. On the average the cost per hour of horse labor was least on 
the farms where the horses did the most work per head. These figures 
should not be interpreted to indicate that a tractor owner should 
use his horses on unnecessary work or on work for which the tractor 
could be used to better advantage just for the sake of reducing the 
cost per unit of work, but they do show the importance of reducing 
the number of work stock to a minimum and thus decreasing both the 
total cost per year of keeping them and the cost per hour of horse 
labor. 
TaB Le 35.—Relation of hours of work per head to cost per year of keeping work stock 
and cost per hour of horse labor. 
Southern area. Western area. Northern area. 
Hours per head. Num- | Cost | Cost |Num-| Cost | Cost | Num-| Cost | Cost 
ber of per per | ber of per per | ber of per per 
farms. | head. | hour. | farms. | head. | hour. | farms. | head. | hour. 
WOSS GOAN 200.2. tc ae owes oe 13 $74 | $0.58 16 $42 | $0.37 | 
AYU ORLY, ea ee ae er 40 71 44 51 18 16 | $54 $0. 16 
BIN ORS OO 2 ar as a» Soe ae ae 31 | rb) -15 32 60 me 63 | 70 .14 
UDR C LS Ce i ies a SS 26 89 Ai 10 56 . 09 38 78 ig 
MEATIGUOVON: 0-522 ..ceeeo es 10 | 102 mg! | 5 57 - 06 10 62 07 
Total and average. .... 120 76 22! 107 | 50 18 127 | 69 | “ig 
COST OF USING TRACTORS. 
Each tractor owner reported the first cost of his machine and 
estimated the total length of its useful life. The annual deprecia- 
tion was determined by dividing the first cost of the tractor by its 
estimated life. The cash outlay for repair parts and expert labor 
during the year, and the amount of time spent by the owner or reg- . 
ular farm labor in repairing or overhauling he machine were obtained. 
Interest was grace at 8 per cent on the average investment. Table 
36 shows the average annual charges for depreciation, interest, 
repairs, and upkee of the tractors of different sizes. 
he total annual cost of these items for each tractor was divided 
by the number of hours the tractor was used during the year and to 
this was added the cost of the fuel and oil used per hour to obtain — 
the cost per hour of work. The cost per acre for each operation 
