24 
BULLETIN 997, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
BELT WORK. 
The use of the tractor for belt work does not influence horse labor 
and should really be considered a separate enterprise. However, the 
doing of such work with the tractor adds to its usefulness and reduces 
the cost per day of work for such items as depreciation, interest, and 
repairs. As shown in Table 10, these 286 tractors were used an 
average of 2.7 days for belt work on the home farm during the year. 
However, 91, nearly a third, of the 286 were used for no t>elt work 
on the home farm during the year. 
Table 11 shows that on the average the 3-plow tractors were used 
considerably more for belt work than the 2-plow machines. Eighty- 
five or 82 per cent of the 104 three-plow machines and only 103 or 
59 per cent of the 174 tw T o-plow machines were used for belt work 
on the home farm during the vear. (See fig. 7.) Table 19 shows 
Fig. 7.— Three-plow machines were used more for belt work than the two-plow machines. 
the number of men who used their tractors for different kinds of belt 
work during the year and the average time spent on each kind 
of work : 
Table 19. — Belt work on home farm. 
Operation. 
Number l T) av<? Number 
perform- i „ c 1h Operation. perform- 
ing. used - J ing. 
Fays 
used. 
110 1. 4 
101 1. 5 
58 1. 8 
Shredding 35 
Shelling corn 15 
Other work 29 
3.8 
1.1 
Filling silos 
2.5 
Thrashing 
40 3. 2 
A large number of the men who sawed wood or ground feed during 
the year used their tractors for this work. A few owned small 
stationary engines w r hich were used. On the average 1.4 full days 
was sufficient for sawing the year's supply of firewood and 1.5 days 
