10 BULLETIN 627, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
larly in certain sections where wet ground has made the operation 
, 
of the binder difficult. ; ; 
The use of these engines not only lessens the draft for the horses 
(usually to a sufficient extent to permit of the binder being pulled 
by one or two horses fewer than the number commonly used), but 
also permits cutting heavy grain at slower speeds for the outfit as 
a whole than would be possible without such an auxiliary source of 
power (since the sickle runs at a constant, speed at all times), and 
allows the grain to be harvested with a binder on ground where the 
bull wheel would slp if it were required to transmit power to the 
cutting and binding mechanism. 
These engines cost about $150, but their use is by no means confined 
to the binder alone, as most owners who have them use them for 
numerous other odd jobs about the farm where belt power can be 
utilized. Under these conditions their estimated average life is 
about 94 years. In some instances the engines are used practically 
every day of the year for pumping water, except while on the binder. 
Under such conditions the overhead charges of depreciation, interest, 
and repairs, which would be chargeable against harvesting, amount 
to a very small figure, while the operating expenses will be only 
about three-fourths of the daily labor cost of one horse, and the 
engine will in nearly every case decrease the number of horses re- 
quired by at least one. | 
The owners of these outfits report that from 2 to 5 gallons of gaso- 
line are required to operate the engine per day, the average being 
a fraction less than 4 gallons, while about 1 pint of lubricating oil 
per day appears to be a fair average. With gasoline at 20 cents per 
gallon, and lubricating oil at 40 cents, this would make the daily 
operating expense amount to about 85 cents. The overhead charges 
will vary according to the amount of other work done by the engine 
annually. 
The engine not only decreases the number of horses required, 
but in most cases will effect a considerable increase in the acres cut 
per day. Reports from farmers who have used these outfits indicate 
that an increase of from 4 to 5 acres per day may be expected in the 
area covered with the binder under the conditions existing where 
they were being used, which were for the most part unfavorable con- 
ditions such as those previously mentioned. 
The repairs on the outfits concerning which the reports were re- 
ceived had averaged slightly less than $3 annually, although the 
average age was only 21 years. The repairs during the latter years 
of the engines’ lives would in all probability be somewhat higher than 
this figure. 
_ The possibility of effecting a saving in the cost of harvesting wheat 
under many unfavorable conditions by means of the binder engine 
ge 
Oe tn a ee 
4 
