Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-24
TRUCKS MAKE NEW
MARKET FOR FARMER
Survey by Agricultural Depart
ment Shows They Save in
Time.

truCk on farm according 10 Ine ie
suit of n survey conducted by the United
States Department Of Agriculture among
753 farmers, is time saving. Ninety
one per cent. sent this reply. About %
per cent. of these men had found better
markets since buying their trucks, but
so percent of them had not cut down
the number of their work stock by as
much as a single head while fewer than
one man in ten had cut down his work
stock more than two head.
Which merely goes to show, says
a department specialist in farm power,
show difficult it is to arrive at dei-
mite conclusion in matter like this motor
truck study we have Just completed
II would certainly appear that any saving
attributed to the motor truck on the
farm is in time saved rather than In
expense Most of these men think that
the profits accruing from the saving IN
time more than overbalance any extra
EXPENSE entailed by the use of the motor
truck.
"It is significant that the majority
os these farmers are considerable dis
sance from market, more than four
fifths of them FIVE miles or more from their
sbipping points, and the saving In time
effected by their use of trucks is naturally
greater than it would be on the average
farm, which lies nearer TO market thah
do most of the farms concerned IN TINS
investigation. The experience OF the .5o
farmers who have contributed TO TINS
study should enable the farmer himself
to Judge with fair degree of accuracy
as TO whether the motor truck would prove
advantageous under his conditions.
on the average there are about elent
weeks during the year when the roads
are In such condition on account OF
mud and snow that these trucks cannot
bc used. The roads on which thoree-
fourths of them usually travel are all
or part dirt.
About one-fourth of the farmers have
changed their markets for at least a
part of their produce since purchasing
trucks. For those who have changed
markets the average distance TO the oio
market is seven miles and the average
distance to the new market is twenty
miles.
The owners estimate that. on the aver
.ce their trucks travel $500; miles per
wear and are used on 113 days per veal
The average life of the trucks IS be-
,voen six and one-half and seven years,
and in most cases depreciation is the
largest single item of expense IN connec-
tion with their operation. :, ;,
Most oi the owners of one-hah ana
three-ouarter-ton trucks prefer pneu-
matte tires, the owners of one-ton trucks
ave about evenly divided In their prefer
cnce. and most of the owners OF trucks
larger than one ton prefer solid tires.
over two-thirds of the trucks had not
Icon ont of commission when needed Tor
. single dav during the year covered by
tho report, and nearly the same proper
,;on of the owners stated that they had
not lost any appreciable time on account
of motor and tire trouble or breakagc
whom ,lsing their trucks. However, about
ono truck in thirty had been out OF COM
mission ten days or more.
Tho average cost of operation OF the
ton trucks was about cents per mile;
of the shree-quarter-ton trucks about Is
cents: of the orc-ton about II cents; OF
the l.-ton and l2-ton about ~ cents
and of the 2-ton about 20 cents
Tho average cost of hauling crops, IN
,audino the value of the drivers time
az "a cents an hour. was about 80 cents
nor ton-mile with the 12-ton trucks, "a
cents with the s4-ton 26, cents with the
lion % cents with the l14-ton and
lIs-ton, and is cents with the 2-ton
trucks.
About four-ffths Of the men state
that thor trucks decrease their expense
for hired help. On the average they
estimate that this decrease amounts 10
S324 per year. Over half OF the 2Oo
truck owners whose farms contain more
than 100 crop acres own tractors: Inc
number of work stock kept on the farms
where both trucks and tractors are
owned is only slightly less than the num-
Der kept on farms OF corresponding SIZE
where only trucks are owned
The investigation IN question was
made last winter and spring. Farm
ers in the States Of Maine, New Hamp-
shire. Vermont, Massachusetts,, Rhode
Island. Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey. PENNSYLVANIA, Delaware and In
diana. who have motor trucks for use
on their farms, were asked to report TO
the department the types and sizes OF
their farms. the use they make OF their
trucks. the cost of operating them, the
advantages and disadvantages OF trucks
for farm use, and other related lnforma-
ton.
A study of the reports OF 153 OF these
farmers has just been completed by the
Office of Farm Management and Farm
Economies The farms which these men
operate are OF all sizes and types, and
the motor trucks are OF all sizes, from
u to 8 tons The rated capacity OF a
very few of the trucks is greater than 2
tons. however, and nearly halt OF them
are OF the one-ton size.
Among the facts revealed by the in
vestigation may be mentioned the fol-
lowing:
Only IS per cent of these farms are
less than FIVE miles from market and
nearly one-fourth of them are twenty
miles or more from market; 95 per cent
of the farmers believe that their trucks
. will turn out to be profitable invest
ments: one-ton trucks are preferred by
more men than prefer any other size
about half of the owners Of one-haf and
three-quarter-ton trucks prefer sizes
larger than they now own. on the opin-
ions of these men, the principal disad-
vantage of motor truck is poor roads"
As compared with horses and wagons,
the trucks save from one-haH to two
thirds of the time required for hauling
materials TO and from these farms.
4