COST OF HARVESTING WHEAT. | : 5 
binders it has been overcome entirely. In most cases where there 
is a considerable acreage to be cut and the necessary horses are avail- 
able the purchase of the large binder will prove to be the most profit- 
able because of the greater efficiency in the use of both man- and 
horse-labor. ; 
Other factors which influence the amount of work done per day, 
and therefore the cost, are yield per acre,. especially of the straw, 
the character of the soil, whether soft or firm, rough or smooth, and 
the topography of the farm, whether level or hilly. The working 
ability of the horses used also has considerable bearing on the acre- 
age covered. The condition of the working parts of the machine, 
particularly the sickle, will likewise affect the amount of work done 
per day. 
The figures here given are intended to approximate the average 
conditions so far as possible. In order to make them comparable, an 
arbitrary value for both man- and horse-labor has been used in all 
cases in calculating the cost of doing the work by the various methods, 
although these values will vary in different parts of the country. 
For the same reason the data collected have been adjusted to a uni- 
form day of 10 hours; that is, if a man reported 18 acres as an average 
day’s work with an eight-foot binder, working 12 hours per day, 
in tabulating the data his figure would be changed to 15 acres per 
day of 10 hours, since his rate of cutting was 14 acres per hour. In 
applying the figures to any particular farm, therefore, the prevailing 
cost of man- and horse-labor, as well as length of day, should be sub- 
stituted. 
Assuming man-labor to be worth $2 per day, including board 
(which is probably not far from the actual cost on a large percentage 
of farms during harvest, although temporary help may cost consid- 
erably more), and horse-labor 12 cents per hour, or $1.20 per day 
(a figure which it is believed will represent a fair average for the 
country as a whole, being slightly above the cost for parts of the 
Middle West and West, but lower thar®most of the Eastern States), 
the approximate cost of cutting wheat with the different sized binders 
is Shown in Table II. No figures have been given for the five-foot 
binder, as this size is no longer in common use. 
As would naturally be expected, the eight-foot binder drawn by 
four horses is more economical than the six- or seven-foot binder 
drawn by either three or four horses, as the cost for both man- and 
horse-labor is lower. The highest cost per acre for man-labor is 
of course found where the six-foot binder and three horses are used. 
In this case the cost of the man-labor per acre in cutting wheat is 
18 cents, or 50 per cent more than where the eight-foot binder is 
used. The difference in the horse-labor per acre between the six-foot 
