GRAIN FARMING IN NORTH DAKOTA. 
17 
market. A small amount of work in general farm upkeep is done by- 
horse labor. 
USE OF IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY. 
The prewar value of machinery on the average North Dakota farm 
visited (averaging 480 acres in cultivation), was $1,757 (cost price). 
This figure does not include automobiles, tractor-plow rigs, or thrash- 
ing rigs. Each acre of crop land, therefore, must bear the mainte- 
nance charges for $28 worth of machinery. 
Table IV shows some of the facts relative to the utilization of the 
more important implements, as indicated by information secured on 
40 farms in North Dakota. These figures represent prewar condi- 
tions, a marked advance having been noted in 1917. The average 
life of implements varies somewhat, with consequent variation in the 
amount of depreciation. The average life of all farm implements is 
12 years, making the annual depreciation 8.3 per cent. 
The annual repairs for the various implements depend upon the 
amount of use and care. The high repair cost of gang plows is due 
to the replacement and sharpening of shares. The big item of re- 
pairs of binders consists of new canvases, which are generally re- 
placed every two to four years. The average annual cash expense 
for repairs amounts to 6.7 per cent of the first cost of implements. 
Table IV. — Average value, life, annual repair cost of various implements, and 
the area covered by etich {prewar data). 
Implement. 
Average 
value 
(new). 
Average 
life. 
Annual 
repair 
cost. 
Acres 
covered 
per vear 
(each). 
Gang plow 
Disk narrow 
Drag harrow 
Roller and packer 
Grain drill 
Grain binder 
Mowing machine. 
Hay rake 
Manure spreader . 
Corn binder 
Corn planter ..... 
Sulky cultivator . . 
Wagon gears 
Gram tanks 
Wagon racks. .... 
Bobsleighs 
Gas engine 
Harness (set) 
44 
23 
53 
130 
14} 
49 
30 
129 
132 
43 
36 
59 
28 
14 
53 
Years. 
13 
12 
9 
19 
11 
10 
12 
13 
12 
10 
16 
12 
IS 
11 
6 
15 
13 
11 
sir, 
3 
1 
1 
4 
13 
4 
1 
7 
7 
174 
165 
670 
240 
300 
16S 
54 
67 
31 
49 
61 
57 
The last column of the table shows the average number of acres 
each implement covers each year, in the usual farm practice. Nearly 
all of the larger machines cover from 150 to 300 acres each per year. 
This is one of the factors which determine the comparatively large 
89815°— 19— Bull. 757 3 
