THE EQUIPMENT
The workman is known by his tools. The problem of obtaining the most
efficient machinery for the conduct of the farm without having an
excessive amount is not easy of solution.
It is probable that the cost of maintaining machinery and tools is not
less than 15%, 10% for upkeep and 5% for interest, even under the most
careful management. Doubtless in practice it is as much as 25%. If
this is conceded there must be a limit to the amount which may be
economically invested in equipment. This is a place where the lead
pencil may be used profitably. For example, if $125 is invested in a
self-binder, the annual cost of the machine at 15% will be $18.75. If
one has but 15 acres of grain to harvest, it may be better to hire a
self-binder at $1 an acre. On the other hand, it may be necessary to
own a self-binder in order to get the grain harvested at the proper
time.
Among the machines requiring a considerable investment for the number
of days used may be mentioned hay loaders, hay tedders, corn-binding
harvesters and lime spreaders. There is a certain class of labor-saving
devices, however, for which there is more or less constant need, as,
for example, means of pumping water, methods of handling manure, both
from the stable to the manure shed, and from the manure shed to the
field. This leads to the remark that there is at present great need of
modifying our traditional ideas concerning farm barns. Why do persons
usually sleep on the second floor, while horses and cattle are placed
in the basement? Three things have brought about the need of a radical
revision of our practices concerning the planning of barns: (1) Our
present knowledge of the difference in the function of food in keeping
the animal warm, and that of producing work, flesh or milk; (2) the
discovery of the bacillus of tuberculosis; and (3) the invention of the
hay carrier. It is not the purpose here to discuss barn buildings, but
merely to call attention to the fact that the traditional barn has long
since outlived its usefulness, and that the young farmer should plan
his farm buildings to serve the purposes required in the light of
modern knowledge.
Various attempts have been made to manufacture combined machines; that
is, a machine which, by an interchange of parts or other modification,
may be used for two or more purposes, as, for example, harvesting
small grain and cutting grass. Such attempts have usually been
unsuccessful. On the other hand, the young farmer should consider the
range of usefulness of any given type of machine or tool; thus, a disk
harrow is more efficient for some purposes than a spring-tooth harrow.
For other purposes the spike-tooth harrow is better than the spring
tooth. The spring-tooth harrow, however, will do fairly well wherever
the disk harrow or the spike-tooth harrow is needed. When, therefore,
only one of these tools can be afforded, the spring tooth may be a
better tool to buy than either the disk or the spike-tooth, although
it is not for certain purposes as efficient as either of the others.
The kind of machine should obviously be adjusted to the conditions,
as, for example, the size of the farm, and the character of the
farming. Riding plows may be desirable on level land, but where it is
necessary to plow up and down hill, walking plows should be used. The
extra weight of the wheel plow is not a serious matter on level land,
because the sliding friction has been transferred to rolling friction,
but no mechanical device has been or can be invented which will
decrease the power necessary to raise a given weight a given height.
The various machines requiring horse power should be adjusted, as far
as possible, to require the same number of horses. If the main unit is
three horses, then, as far as possible, all machines should require
three horses, such as plows, harrows, manure spreaders, harvesters,
etc. If the activities of the farm are sufficient to require six
horses then some of the tools may require three horses each, while
others require a pair.
[Illustration: Mr. R. H. Garrahan, Kingston, Pa., is one of the most
successful growers of celery in the United States. After graduating from
the Wyoming Seminary he spent one year studying horticulture at the
Pennsylvania State College. For several years he was assistant in
horticulture at the University of Tennessee. He now has at Kingston 60
acres under intensive cultivation. His principal crops are celery,
asparagus, cabbage, tomatoes and onions.]
[Illustration: H. H. Richardson, Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, agricultural
graduate, Ohio State University, 1892. Fourteen years ago inherited 35
acres of land and an indebtedness of $1,750. He has raised a family of
four children, has what is seen in the picture plus the land and $6,000
invested elsewhere. Mr. Richardson has held some local public office
continuously during the past ten years, being at present member of school
and water boards, member of advisory board of bank, secretary of
Cleveland Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association and Ohio
vice-president of the National Vegetable Growers' Association.]
A farm with six work horses is rather a desirable one from several
aspects. Among other things, it enables the farm owner to employ two
men who can perform most of the team work with two three-horse teams,
while at other times three pairs of horses may be arranged when the
owner needs to use a team. This leaves the farmer time to attend to
many activities not requiring horses, and time to plan the work and to
look with more care after the purchases and sales. The size of such a
farm will depend entirely on the nature of the activities. If it is a
so-called general farm with a minimum of live stock, it would,
perhaps, consist of from 150 to 180 acres of tillable land with some
additional pasture and woodland. Ideally, every farm should have
sufficient activity to make it something of a center. It should be an
organism. It is difficult to organize one man.
It will be useful, when we come to discuss how profits may be
estimated, to divide the capital into three general groups: (1) The
plant, which in addition to the real estate, will include the machines
and tools, horses used for labor, and other animals used for breeding
purposes or for the production of animal products, such as butter,
wool or eggs; (2) materials, which will include animals which are to
be fattened for sale, and all seeds, fertilizers and foods intended to
be turned into products to be sold; (3) supplies, which may include
foods for teams, and money with which to pay labor, be this labor that
of the farmer or his employees.
The purpose of this classification is to bring sharply into view the
fact that the nature of different kinds of equipment varies. All the
things named under the plant are in the nature of an annual charge
against income. The charge under materials may or may not be an annual
charge. If a man invests $2,000 in 50 head of cattle, which he intends
to feed and sell for $3,250 at the end of one hundred days, he does
not have to calculate interest on $2,000 for a year, but only for 100
days. Cattle paper is held in large quantities by banks in the cattle
feeding districts of the United States. The farmer would, in fact, be
unwise to keep $2,000 in the bank nine months in the year in order to
use it three months. Like any other business man, if he has the money,
he invests it and borrows the money to buy his cattle. The same thing
applies to food and fertilizers. If the food is fed to cattle, some of
the money invested in the food must pay interest during the fattening
period. Food fed to dairy cattle and chickens may be paid for out of
each day's income. In practice, the amount of money invested in food
for dairy cattle and chickens is dependent only upon the most
economical unit of purchase. One may apply fertilizers to buckwheat,
give a three months' note for the fertilizer, and pay the note out of
the proceeds of the crop. If the fertilizer is applied to one-year-old
apple trees, this investment may be required to pay interest for
fifteen years.
The same principle applies to supplies. If one starts into raising
horses for sale, he needs to have some money or other income on which
his laborers and his own family can live, say for five years, this
being the age at which a horse is supposed to become salable. More
people would raise apples and horses if they could afford to wait for
the return on the investment.
While this is a serious handicap, it is an advantage to the man who
arranges his farming methods so that he can secure an income from some
other source in the interim. The young farmer will do wisely to so
arrange his farm methods that a portion, perhaps the major portion of
his farm, will give him quick returns while making some long-time
investments, which later in life will give him a greater return
because so few people are sufficiently forehanded to make them.