202 



Farm Power Problems. 



[JUNE, 



As a result of a Conference held in Chicago on 6th and 7th 

 October last, a Report was submitted to the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, recommending that Congress 

 ^Problenis^^ asked to provide funds for carrying 



out trials in farm power problems, to 

 be undertaken by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture in co-operation with the State Colleges. 



At the Conference the various interests concerned — farmers 

 and horse breeders ; tractor and implement makers ; saddlery 

 and feed-producer representatives ; workers from farm manage- 

 ment, animal husbandry and agricultural engineering depart- 

 ments of the agricultural colleges ; and representatives of 

 interested bureaus of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture — were given the opportunity of presenting their viev/s. 



It was agreed that the most urgent problem before the 

 American public to-day is how to lower the high cost of hving, 

 and that the key to this, in American agriculture, is to be found 

 in increased and more economic production, which would come 

 chiefly through a more efficient utilisation of farm power. 

 The Conference realised that the power problems needing 

 immediate attention were many and complex, and the various 

 interests represented pledged their active co-operation in 

 carrying out the necessary investigations and demonstrations. 



A programme of work was drawn up. This included studies 

 of the economic factors, such as farm power requirements 

 for field operations, hauling and other work ; animal power ; 

 mechanical power ; relation of forms of farm power to man 

 labour ; and the influence on the farm organisation and opera- 

 tion of the size of the farm, the character of the soil, the intensity 

 of culture, etc. 



The Committee appointed by the Department of Agriculture 

 drew up a scheme of investigation under seven heads : — 



1. Testing and rating of farm tractors ; 



2. Determination of the working rating of horses ; 



3. Measurement of power requirements of machines and 



implements ; 



4. Development of practical methods of expanding the 



power of farm horses ; 



5. Determination by field studies of the mechanical 



efficiency of horses as power units ; 



6. Increasing the economic efficiency of horse and tractor 



power by the re- adjustment of the size of the farm 

 and the combination of enterprises ; 



7. Compihng accurate data concerning farm power 



demands and the relative cost of meeting these 

 demands by the various kinds of power on farms. 



