Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1. POWER ON THE FARM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 1 December 1926, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1. POWER ON THE FARM.

That the horse may still be regarded as an important factor in economical farm production is? indicated by the results of various investigations undertaken in the United States of America in regard to the relative efficiency of horse traction as compared with mechanical power. In an article in the Breeders’ Gazette, Mr .1. L. Edmonds, of the University of Illinois, states that up to date practically all results of cost investigations dealing with the farm power operations which may be carried out either bv the use of horses or of tractors point out clearly the economy of the horse. As evidence, lie ‘cited a bulletin issued by the United States Department of Agriculture on “Tractors and Horsts in the Winter Wheat Belt,” in which comparative costs per acre for power and man labour combined are given tor different operations when carried out with tractors and witli horses. The investigation, which covered nine important Held operations, showed that the savings per acre when the work was done with horses varied from 12.5 to 50.5 per cent, with, an average of 35.1 per cent. HorSe and man labour together made up from 80 to 90 per cent of the total operating expense. Reference is also made to a comparison of the cost of horse and tractor power per acre, made by the department in 1921, in which the operations involved included spring and autumn ploughing, discing, harrowing, and rolling, and the drawing of a bayloader and a binder. The saving of horses over tractors per acre varied from 7.4 to 43.6 per cent, with an average saving of 27.6 per cent. In a comparison of the records of 19 farms in Woodford County, Illinois, the writer states that sufficient difference was found in the total earnings on the farms working the most crop acres per horse and those working the fewest to indicate the importance of the efficient use of horse labour. “Further evidence is laid upon the value of the horse,”

he continues, “by the fact that the

st*vi'll fcirms earning the highest rate on i lie total farm investment worked 20.5 acres per horse, and had tractors only 12.2 per cent of the time, while tlie seven farms which earned the lowest rate worked 20.-1 acres per horse, and, in addition, had tractors 57.1 per cent of the time, indicating that considerably more power was provided on the farms earning the lowest rate on the investment.”