AN APPRAISAL OF POWER USED ON FARMS 
51 
in the relative proportion of the areas devoted to the different crops 
produced; an increase or decrease in the yields of crops; changes m 
the systems of handling the crops or other farm conamodities; an 
increased displacement of hrnnan labor by power-driven equipment, 
including both a broader use of the equipment now available and the 
possible development of entirely new types of labor-saving machin- 
ery; changes in the mechanical efficiency of the types of machinery 
now in use; and, finally, the possible development of entirely new 
methods of utilizing power by agriculture, such as stimulating crop 
and animal growth, control of insects, and the curing of harvested 
crops. 
Only about 19 per cent of the land area of the United States is at 
the present time utilized for crop production; and while most of 
the land that can easily be placed imder cultivation is now so utilized, 
it has been estimated that it will be possible to increase this to per- 
Cosf in Cents 
10 20 
30 
NewYor{<.... 
»as^EE 
Iliinois 
Iowa 
Mebraska.. 
MnnfH Dnkntrt 
' " 'l '" 
Idaho 
1 
California... 
Texas 
Wisconsin.. 
Georgia..... 
UnitedSlafes. 
1 
1 
™™™" 
' "^ 
1 
^■"'■"^^ 
■*""'" 
Fig. 55.— Approximate average net cost of animal power per horsepower-hour on nontractor 
farms in several representative States. Based on 1924 values. Includes cost of feed and 
housing, interest on investment, taxes, insurance, depreciation, and wages of caretaker when 
not actually at work. Those States showing costs below the average usually have an excess 
production of feeds fed to work animals, whereas in those States showing higher than the 
average costs it is usually necessary to ship in a part of the feed used. The value of work 
animals is also relatively higher as a rule in the last-mentioned States. 
haps 50 per cent of the total area should the population increase to 
the point where the need for food would render it necessary. (See 
article entitled ^^Land Utilization" in the Yearbook of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, 1923.) Since about 90 per cent 
of the povrer now utilized on farms is applied either directly or in- 
directly to crop production, any increase m the crop area mil have 
a corresponding tendency to increase the amount of power used. 
Present available information would indicate that power equip- 
ment is utilized to replace human labor in but little over one-half of 
the work now done on farms. Power equipment is available for a con- 
siderable part of the remaining work but for various reasons is not 
now utilized. In some areas wages have been so low that it has 
been more economical to hire human labor than to use the available 
machinery; in other cases the reason has been that machinery can 
not or has not been developed to do the work economically where 
only a small amomit is to be done or the proper kind of power and 
