Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-12-01
CARE OF MACHINERY.
The Dep, eeiatIon snt Appreciation Of
Farm Implements.

(By r. n. Den,aree, Asrononoist. }. !.
Case PIow Wcrks.)
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 put under the shed or in the barn
Iron vii: rust, you know, and paint
will easily scale of.
Rusted rlow shares, mo!dboards or
cultivatcr shovels are full Of pits
caused by the small iron scales which
drop off in the rusting process. These
tools never scour properly again and
caVse 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 crops and always poor farmer
This is important. but 1t is not the
intention of this article to 90 into
that phase of the matter. How about
the actual depreciation Of farm ma
chinery and what does it mean to
farmers to have their tools wear out.
rust out or disappear in any other
manner:
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 farm reported
was 16G acres, though the list ranged
from so t. 400 acres in size. The aver
age investment in machinery was STA.
These figures will not be typical OF
every state, but will furnish thinking
man . basis Of comparison.
II farmer has STA tied up in farm
machinery, his interest charge on the
amount st per cent. is 1854 per
year. Now, this money can never be
gotten out of those machines again,
but the total cost plus the yearly in
terest must be charged to his yearly
cost of production. Is this item
OF any moment? Can we afford to let
machinery depreciate rapidly?
To make 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 will amount to
$1,23s.4O in that time. If . farm
Of this size has 12o acres to be titled
On the average each year, then the
machinery charge against each acre
of tillable land for the period Of ten
years will be slightly more than SO
This means then 81 ger acre per year
es a machinery charge to the cost Of
producing farm crops.
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 is
$40 Ter acre per year for the. five
year period, and if the whole equip
ment had to be replaced, 1t would, Of
course amount to $40 per acre pei
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 a limit
TO the yield of crops, 1t appeals to the
writer that one OF the best ways tc
r,ske money on our farms 1t to try &c
decrease the cost of production at the
same tine we are actually trying &c
increase production.
From the example cited above II
would seem that proper appreciation
OF good farm implements will be
money making sentiment. A good
tight shed for machinery is a neces
sity Oh every farm and will be found
a highly profitable investment.