BULLETIN 1348, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUBE 
living of a people. Undoubtedly these factors have played an 
important part in making possible the present standard oi living 
of the people of the United States. Figure 1 shows the total acreage 
in crops in the United States and the total number of persons 
engaged in agriculture during the period from 1850 to 1920. The 
shaded portion represents the increased crop acreage made possible 
by improved methods of farming since 1850. Figure 2 shows for 
the same period the relation between the number of persons engaged 
in agriculture and the total number gainfully occupied in all em- 
ployments in the United 
States. The shaded por- 
tion in this case represents 
the additional workers 
that would have been re- 
quired to take care of the 
crops produced had 1850 
methods of farming con- 
tinued to 1920.2 
The importance of farm 
power as a problem at the 
present time may be ap- 
preciated by comparing 
the power used in agricul- 
ture with that used in 
some of the other larger 
industries. Figure 3 shows 
this comparison between 
agriculture, the manufac- 
turing industries, mining, 
and railroad transporta- 
tion, based on reports of 
the Fourteenth Census of 
the United States. The 
total capital invested and 
the number of workers 
employed in agriculture 
Fig. 1— Relation between power per agricultural worker and rrrai^+a-r -(-"han in Qn^r nf 
increased crop production. The shaded portion shows the *^^^ giecttei luau. in any ui 
increased crop acreage due to changed conditions and im- fVip other industriPS "whilp 
proved methods of farming since 1850. Based on United i ^ '^tuei liiuustiieo, wuiie 
States census data the primary horsepower 
available for use is greater 
than for either mining or manufacturing and is second only to that 
used by the railroads. 
The total amount of power used annually on farms in the United 
States amounts to close to 16,000,000,000 hoi*sepower-hours, while 
' It is probable that not all of this apparent increase in production per worker can be attributed directly 
to increased efficiency in farming. Some operations formerly performed on the farm have been transferred 
to the manufacturing groups in the towns and cities as the industrial groups have been developed. How- 
ever, the reduction in the length of the farmer's workday and the greater leisure the agricultural worker 
now enjoys largely offset any transfer of operations that has occurred. Some of the credit for the actual 
increase of farm efficiency is, no doubt, due also to a better understanding of the crops best adapted to the 
various soil and climatic conditions, to the use of better seed, and to the exercise of better management 
throughout; but a large part ofjthis greater efficiency can undoubtedly be attributed directly to the displace- 
ment of hand labor by power. 
