6 
BULLETIN 931, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ket with the distances from market of the farms on which trucks are 
owned show clearly that most of the men whose reports form the 
basis for this bulletin have exceptionally long hauls. 
SIZE OF TRUCKS. 
The motor trucks owned on these 831 farms vary from one-half ton 
to 2 tons in size. Only 10 are of the one-half -ton size, however, and 
in all of the tables following the one-half -ton and three- fourths-ton 
sizes are combined into one group. Similarly, there are three trucks 
rated at 1J tons, and they have been combined with those rated at \\ 
tons. None over 2 tons in size was reported. In general the larger 
trucks are used on the larger farms. 
The number of the different sizes, the average size of the farms on 
which they are owned, and the average number of crop acres per 
farm are shown in Table II : 
Table II. — Number of trucks of different sizes and size of forms on which they 
are useH. 
Size of truck. 
Total 
number. 
Average 
size of 
farm (to- 
tal acres). 
Average 
crop 
acres. 
Hon and f-ton 
74 
588 
109 
60 
333 
328 
407 
434 
229 
236 
294 
309 
lj-ton and l l j-ton.. 
2-ton 
Total 
831 
347 
248 
AGE OF TRUCKS. 
The length of time the 831 trucks had been in use at the time the 
reports were made is as follows : 
394 had been in use 7 to 12 months. 
375 had been in use 13 to 24 months. 
55 had been in use 25 to 36 months. 
7 had been in use 37 months or over. 
ARE THESE TRUCKS PROFITABLE INVESTMENTS? 
No attempt was made to determine to what extent the incomes 
of these men had been increased through the use of their trucks. 
However, 91 per cent of them stated that in their opinion their trucks 
will turn out to be profitable investments. 
On the average these trucks travel 2,777 miles a year, and the 
cost of operation is between 16^ cents and 17 cents per mile, making 
the total annual cost from $460 to $470. Each truck displaces 1.2 
