26 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 1254, TJ. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE. 
62 per cent estimated the amount thus saved, which amounted, on 
the average, to $324. This figure, however, can hardly be taken to 
represent the actual amount by which their labor bills had been re- 
duced but rather as an average of the estimate of the amounts by 
which these bills would have been increased at the usual rates paid 
for such labor at that time if they had not owned trucks, and if 
they had been doing the same amount of work that they did after 
buying their machines. 
It must be remembered, of course, that the wages paid for farm 
labor were considerably higher at the time the 1920 reports were 
made than at the present time (1922), and that the average saving 
for hired help which might be possible at this time would be some- 
what less than the amounts given. 
Eighty-four per cent of the operators of fruit farms reported that 
their trucks reduced their expense for hired help, and the average 
saving was placed at $364. The percentage of truck owners on fruit 
farms reporting a saving in the expense for hired help was slightly 
higher than on any of the other four types of farms. 
There is little difference in the percentage of the owners of the 
different sizes of trucks who stated their machines had not reduced 
their bills for hired labor. On the other hand, for those men who 
reported that their machines had been instrumental in reducing their 
labor bills there was a decided difference in the estimates of the 
amounts saved by the use of trucks of different sizes. The average 
of the estimates of the owners of the 1-ton and smaller sizes who 
reported a reduction was between $250 and $300, for the 1^ and 1-V 
ton trucks the average saving was given at between $375 and $100, 
while the owners of the 2-ton and larger sizes estimated their sav- 
ing at more than $600. 
DISPLACEMENT OF HORSES. 
While the addition to the farm equipment of a motor truck pur- 
chased primarily for hauling produce from and supplies to the farm 
will in some instances result in a reduction in the number of horses 
needed, the reports received from owners of these machines show 
that in many cases no change is made in the work stock kept. On 
the smaller farms where but one or two horses are ordinarily kept 
they will generally be needed for work on the farm itself. 
In 19i20 these truck owners were asked to state the number of 
horses they were keeping at that time, and the number disposed of 
after they bought their machines. In 1922 they were asked regarding 
the number kept at that time. Complete replies were received from 
255 men in both years. 
The number of horses kept on the individual farms before the 
trucks were purchased ranged from none on one small farm to 21 
on a very large one. Eighty-two per cent of the men stated they had 
kept 6 head or less, and the average for the 255 farms was 4.75 
head before trucks were purchased. 
Between the time of buying their trucks and making their 1920 
reports 114 of the 255 men reporting stated that they disposed of a 
tot ;il of 202 horses, or an average of l.TT head for each of the 114 
farms, or an average displacement of less than one head for each 
truck purchased. 
