22 
BULLETIN 338, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table XX. — Relation of the annual outlay for repairs to the first cost and present value 
of farm implements in western New York. 
Implement. 
Average 
size. 
First cost. 
Per cent of 
first cost 
expended 
annually 
for repairs. 
Average 
present 
value. 
Per cent 
of present 
value ex- 
pended an- 
nually for 
repairs. 
"Walking plow 
Sulky plow 
Spring-tooth harrow. 
Spike-tooth harrow. . 
Disk harrow 
Land roller 
Grain drill 
Corn planter 
Do 
1-horse cultivator 
Riding cultivator. . . 
Cabbage setter 
Mower 
Hay rake 
Hay tedder 
Bean harvester 
Grain binder 
Corn binder 
11.8 inches. 
13.3 inches. 
6.9 feet.... 
11 feet 
6.4 feet 
8.1 feet.... 
6.2 feet.... 
1-row 
2-row 
5. 2 feet... 
9. 8 feet... 
6 feet. 
810. 00 
42.50 
17.50 
17.00 
27.00 
24.00 
72.00 
12.00 
40.00 
6.50 
32.00 
45.00 
41.00 
24.00 
34.00 
25.00 
125. 00 
125. 00 
20.5 
5.0 
4.3 
2.0 
1.8 
2.0 
1.8 
5.8 
4.2 
5.4 
3.1 
2.5 
4.4 
1.5 
1.2 
4.0 
1.6 
1.6 
S5.43 
23.88 
9.54 
9.01 
14.54 
12.75 
38.19 
6.51 
21.82 
3.48 
17.28 
24.26 
21.89 
12.83 
18.31 
13.47 
66.56 
69.54 
37.8 
3.8 
3.4 
3.8 
3.3 
10.6 
io!o 
5.7 
4.7 
8.3 
2.8 
2.2 
7.5 
3.1 
2.9 
From Table XX it appears that the walking plow is the only im- 
plement that requires much over 5 per cent of its first cost to be ex- 
pended annually for repairs; corn planters are so little used here that 
the data for these implements, showing 5 per cent annually, may be 
only approximately correct. 
Tabulation of the repair expense according to the age of the im- 
plements showed no uniform increase in repair cost as the age in- 
creased, the repairs being low the first year or two and practically 
the same per year thereafter. 
SHELTER. 
Much has been written and said about the waste incurred by lack 
of housing for machinery on farms. Many large and successful 
farmers do not shelter their machinery at all. The principle which 
guides them is that if a machine not housed at all will wear out before 
it is injured by exposure there is no need to shelter it. The larger 
the amount of work that can be done with an implement annually, 
therefore, the less need there is to house it. The waste, by depre- 
ciation, of capital invested in farm machinery is caused primarily 
by the inability of the smaller farms to wear out their implements 
with profitable use. An economic remedy is partial reorganization 
of their business and cooperation with neighbors so that more work 
can be done annually with the machinery equipment. 
There are no data available on the relative fife of machinery when 
housed and when not housed. Careful study of the cost of housing 
farm machinery in an area in eastern New York indicated that farm- 
ers do not invest in special machinery shelter to a greater extent 
than 20 per cent of the first cost of their implements. Similar data 
from eastern Nebraska gave a percentage of 10 or less, the relative 
