60 BULLETIN 997, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 48. — Increase in investment due to purchase of tractor. 
Item. 
2-pIow 
tractors. 
3-plow 
tractors. 
All 
tractors. 
S972 
271 
SI, 354 
430 
§1,140 
343 
Total 
1,243 
1,784 
1,483 
Value of workstock disposed of (2.2 head, at $144) 
317 
11 
317 
14 
317 
12 
Total 
328 
331 
329 
915 
1,453 
1 154 
In all 67 men disposed of some of their horse-drawn implements 
after purchasing tractors, and the average amount received by these 
67 men for such implements was $51. As shown in the table, this 
item amounted to an average of $12 for all farms. Most of the im- 
plements sold were plows and disks. Many farmers who did not 
sell any horse-drawn equipment stated that they had not used some 
of their old equipment since the purchase of tractors, but at best the 
value of the implements which could have been sold was small as 
compared with the other items shown in the table. 
While the purchase of tractors resulted in an increase in invest- 
ment of more than $1,000 on the average, the cost per year of power 
for operating the farms did not increase. The cost of the drawbar 
work done by the average tractor during the year of the investigation 
was equal to the cost of keeping 2.1 head of work stock, but 2.2 head 
had been displaced on the average farm, and the cost per head of 
keeping the remaining work stock was somewhat less than it would 
have been if tractors had not been owned. 
SAVING OF MAN LABOR DUE TO USE OF TRACTORS. 
The total amount of man labor used for the operation of these 
farms before tractors were purchased was not obtained and conse- 
quently it is impossible to give definite figures as to the saving of 
man labor effected by the tractors on individual farms. However, a 
comparison of the accomplishment of the tractors with that of one 
man when using horses should give an indication of the average 
reduction in man labor effected by the tractors. 
The acres covered per day by the 2-plow and the 3-plow tractors 
at the different drawbar operations are given in Table 12 (page 16), 
and the daily duty of one man in the different areas when using 
horses for spring and fall plowing, disking, harrowing, etc., and cut- 
ting grain is given in Table 49. 
