Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-12-27
CARE OF MACHINERY.
~ Depreciation and Appreciated -
Farm implements.

ny E. II. Demarse, AoronomisA ,. I.
Case Plow Works.)
Are those farm tools which one sees
out under trees or in fence corners OF
any account? If not. why not sell
them for old iron and clean up the
place: l: they are, should they, not
be pu. under the shed or In the barn?
Iron VIII rust. you know. and paint
will easily scale Oh.
Rusted pillow shares, moldboards OK
cultivatcr shovels are full OF pits
caused Ivy the small iron scales which
drop off in the rusting process. These
tools never scour properly again and
ca use trouble ever after by such de-
lay and further fail to do good work
when most needed. Poor, blowing and
poor cultivation most certainly mean
poor craps and always q poor farmer.
This Is important. but 1t IL not the
intention Of this article to go into
that phase Of the matter. How about
the actual depreciation Of farm ma
chinery and what does 1t mean to
farmers to have their tools wear out.
rust out or disappear in any other
manner? AZ.
Bulletin PIP. bureau Of plant indus.
try, United States department OF agri-
culture, is a report Of an investigation
OF Investments In and on, Ohio farms.
The average size of a farm reported
was 16G acres. though the list;arangsd
from 80 t. 400 .acresdn Bixe,i The aver
age investment in machinery was stu
These figures will 4not besstypical nf
every stat but will furnishes thinkinx
man a basis of comparisons re-!
II a farmer has STA tied up In farm
machinery, his interest charge on the
amount ntt6 per cent. isis346.44 tbSr
year. Now, this money can never q
gotten out of those machines again;
but the total cost plus the yearly In,
terest must be charged to his yearly;
cost Of production. ID rethis item
of any moment? Can We AFFORD to let
machinery odepreciate rapidly! s!i38,
To make a concrete example, sup
pose we assume an Investment OF The
above amount and that the machines
last ten years. The total cost Of prin-,
cipal and interest win amount to
}1,238.4O in that time. II farm
OF this size has 100 acres to be tilled
on the average each year, then the
machinery charge against each acre
OF ttllable land for the period Of ten
years will be slightly more than $40.
This means then $1Sper acre per year
as a machinery charge to the cost Of
producing; farm crops. ,' 8s3
Suppose the machinery only lasts
five years, how about the cost? (The
writer knows Of expensive implements
being completely worn out in less
time.) Computed on the same basis
as the above, the machinery cost IL
s1.7O rer acre per year for the hve-
year period, and II the whole Gquip
ment had to be replaced, 1t would. Of
course amount to $40 per acre per
year for ten-year period.
Comparing the two sets OF figures.
theoretical though they may be: We are
forced to admit that. they are based
upon enough facts and obvious condi-
lions to make them closely approx
mate the truth.
Furthermore, since there is limit
TO the. yield Of crops. 1t appeals to the
writer that one Of the best ways to
make money on our, farms 1t to try to
decrease the cost of production. 1t the
same, time we are actually trying to
increase production.
From the. example cited above Il
would seem that q proper appreciation
OF good farm implements will be .
money making sentiment. A, good
tight shed for machinery IL neces-
silly on every; farm and will be found
q highly profitable Investment. &