16 
BULLETIN 1446, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
repairs, depreciation, and interest. The total annual charge for use 
of general farm machinery to wheat was made on the basis of the 
number of horse hours of use on the wheat enterprise. Deprecia- 
tion was the largest single item in the annual charge for use of gen- 
eral farm machinery and amounted to 58 per cent of the total. The 
other items of cost in the order of their importance were repairs, 20 
per cent; interest, 16 per cent; and fuel, oil, and grease, 6 per cent. 
The annual use-cost of general farm machinery per farm over the 
the period 1920 to 1922 was from 38 to 43 per cent of its inventory 
value. The annual use-cost of tractors, combines, and stationary 
threshing outfits include fuel, oils and grease, repairs, insurance, 
depreciation, and interest. Charges were made according to actual 
hours of use 6 (Table 13). 
Table 12. — Average value and use-cost of general farm machinery, 1920-1922 l 
Item 
1920 
1921 
(140 
(149 
farms) 
farms) 
766 
810 
2,342 
1,975 
899 
820 
1.17 
1.01 
.082 
.065 
1922 
(147 
farms) 
Tillable area per farm acres 
Average value per farm dollars 
Use-cost per farm do__ 
Use-cost per tillable acre do.. 
Use-cost per horse-hour of use do.. 
837 
666 
713 
.85 
061 
• All farm machinery except tractors, combines, and stationary threshing machines. Because of incom- 
pleteness of detail machinery cost data certain farms have been omitted from this table. 
Table 13. — Average value and use cost of tractors, motor-drawn combines, and 
stationary threshing machines 
1920 
1921 
1922 
Item 
42 
72 
6 
45 
82 
8 
40 
80 
7 
trac- 
com- 
thresh- 
trac- 
com- 
thresh- 
trac- 
com- 
thresh- 
tors 
bines 
ers 
tors 
bines 
ers 
tors 
bines 
ers 
Average value per machine 
dollars.. 
3,469 
2,140 
2,607 
2,771 
1,872 
2,087 
2,348 
1,637 
1,820 
Use cost per machine. .do 
2,359 
1,017 
922 
2,080 
1,011 
874 
1,892 
941 
756 
Days of use per year 
number. . 
63 
24.3 
19.2 
55 
23.9 
25.7 
51.8 
23 
23 
Use cost per 10-hour day 
dollars.. 
37.44 
14.85 
48.17 
37.82 
42.32 
33.94 
36.55 
40.87 
32.87 
The most economical use of farm machinery is obtained when it is 
used the maximum amount of time on profitable work. This fact is 
illustrated in Table 14, which gives the average value and the charge 
for use of general farm machinery on farms of specified sizes. These 
data indicate that, while the tillable acreage per farm was about 65 
per cent greater on the farms of the larger size the machinery use-cost 
per tillable acre was 32 cents less on the farms in this group, and the 
cost per horse-hour of use 2 cents less. Under actual farm conditions 
a machine used only a few days each year lasts only a little longer than 
the same machine used a much longer time. Therefore from the 
standpoint of good management a farmer should attempt so to 
organize his business as to obtain, annually, the maximum of profit- 
able use of his farm machinery. 
6 See Department Bulletin No. 1447, for a detailed analysis of tractor and combine costs in Sherman 
County, Oreg., 1920-1922. 
