16 
BULLETIN 941, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
MACHINERY. 
The macninery investment usually covers equipment for a combi- 
nation of grain and live-stock farming. For the grain crops, binders 
and drills are needed, and for the live stock many of the farmers are 
putting in silos, which necessitates gasoline engines and cutters. 
These expensive items of equipment are to some degree purchased 
cooperatively, but frequently a farmer is so far from his nearest 
neighbor with similar requirements that he is forced to buy them 
individually. 
FEED AND SUPPLIES. 
The item of feed and supplies covers feeds and farm supplies on 
hand at the beginning of the farm year, which for this survey was 
the spring of 1917. The year 1916 had been unfavorable to the 
production of crops in this region, and most of the feed raised had 
been fed during the winter. Few farmers had more feed on hand 
than was necessary to feed their work stock until the 1917 harvest. 
Many were depending entirely on pasture, together with small pur- 
Fig. 9. — Red clover, as it grows on "level upland." In point of desirability these lands class with the 
"valley" lands. 
chases of grain concentrates, to eke out until the oat crop was ready 
to feed. The crop year 1917 was favorable, thereby enabling the 
farmers to carry sufficient feed and supplies for the following spring 
feeding without the purchase of as much feed as was necessary the 
previous year. 
CASH TO RUN THE FARM. 
The average amount of cash reported by the operator as on hand 
during the year to meet farm expenses increases regularly as the size 
of farm increases. The large amount reported for the largest-size 
group of valley and bottom farms is due to the fact that the buying 
and feeding of stock is practiced by these farmers. In some instances 
a bunch of feeder cattle or hogs may be bought and carried through 
