AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
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Cost of Tractor and Horse-ploughing. Compared.
AS I HAVE before stated in these columns, the coniparison of work done by tractors with that done by horses is rather difficult, for the simple reason that there do not exist many up-to-date figures as to the actual cost of tractor ploughing. Of tractor costs, a few figures from practical experience may be given. A tractor, working on a farm of medium soil, ploughed on an average five acres per day, at a cost each day (that is, for every five acres) of El 13s. 6d. a day. This is made up as follows for each .five acres c—
No account was kept of petrol used for starting, so that something has to be added for this, and then there is depreciation. One can easily add 20 per cent. per annum for the plough and 33-1 per cent, per annum for the tractor and work this out for themselves.
A team of three horses, under present hours of work, would plough three-quarters of an acre a day, or roughly it might be put at five acres in six days. Now a team of three horses and labour costs £8 a week, or El 12s. per acre.
The cost of doing the -work by horse labour is made up thus :—
Keep af three horses at 30s. One head cartelat '48s. 6d. One youth at 18s. ... Sundries Nothing is allowed in this case for depreciation or wear and tear. Regarding the horses' keep it is put at 30s. per week each. But practical farmers would tell us that it costs muoh more to keep a horse, unless he is tozned out to grass, in whioon case he would not be fit for the work. The wages of a head horseman rule. generally. at about 43s. 6d. per week of 48 hours in winter and 50 in summer ; thus, allowing 5s. a week for overtime, one arrives at the weekly wage of 48s. 6d. The other items need no comment.
Without taking into account depreciation, tractor ploughing in this case costs roughly 6s. 8d., as cernpared with 32s. by horses. As I have said, depreciation was not ta.ken into account, and, for this purpose, we will refer to these notes in the issue of The Commercial Motor for January 13th, and take the basis given there for calculating depreciation, which gives a result of 5s. 5d. per acre to be added, making a total of 12s. id. per acre as the cost Of ploughing by tractor. Thus horse traction costs nearly three times_ as much.
In giving these figures I do not pretend that farmers will all find a tractor work so cheaply. But, if they choose a good machine, they ought, as soon as they become well acquainted with it and its mechanism, to be somewhere in the region of these figures in regard to costs. Heavy land costs more to work with the tractor than light and medium land, as was shown. at Lincoln. The same is applicable to horses. With them heavy land costs more to work than light. We know that, when a tractor comes firSt on to the farm, it costs much more to run than it does after it is no longer a new toy. I had a new motor-bicycle some little time back. It costs about a third in petrol of what it did while its novelty still obsessed me.
The fact remains, however, that, between the cost of the two methods described above there is a considerable difference. There is a big margin to play with in. favour of the tractor. Further, one could go all the way and, if the costs were equal, the advantage would still be in favour of the tractor. A team of three horses ploughed five acres in six days. -The tractor did it in one day. So that, if someone comes along and disputes my
figures, saying that it costs 20s. 25s. or 30s. an acre to plough ough by tractor, I still have the important advantage of time saved to claim in its favour. This, in itself, is sufficient to revolutionize agriculture in a climate like ours.
There is another way of comparing the economy of the tractor on the farm with the results produced by horses. I have in mind at the moment the work done by the War Agricultural Committees in their use of the tractor in connection with the cultivation schemes of the Food Froduction Department. In my own county the War 'Agricultural Committee charged 25s. an core for ploughing land for farmers.
We -will take as an example 100 acres of three-horse land. For ploughing this the War Agricultural Committee would charge 2125. During the same period (1918) it would cost 17 5sa week to keep a team of horses going. This cost is made up as follows:— Now, it would take one team 100 days to plough 100 acres if they ploughed at the .rate of one acre per day. That is roughly three months, and, if the work is to be -completed within three months, at this rate, it Must be assuined that good ploughing weather prevails. This, however, is assuming the impossible, as such weather never does prevail for so long a period. In actual practice—and in normal seasone-the time -worked is about 50 per cent., and this would increase the time required to plough the 100 acres to six months. Thus the cost would be /7 5s. multiplied by 26 Nyeeks (six months), which would equal a total cost of 2188 10s.
But are we justified in assuming that the rate of ploughing is correct when we put it at an acre a day
We are not. Any experienced farmer would prove that not more than three-quarters of an acre of threehorse land can be ploughed in a day. .Then this means adding 25 per cent. to the time reqUired for doing the work and 25 per cent. to the cost. So, now, it takes 30 weeks to plough the 100 acres at a cost of 2188 10s., plus 25 -per cent., or 247 2s. 6d., total 223-6 12s, Eld. With the tractor at 21 5s. per acre the cost is £125-; at 11 it -would be 2100, and at 15s. it would amount to 175. In the first case a balance in favour of the tractor is given of /110 12s. 6d., in the second case of 1135 12s 6d., and in the third case of 2160 12s. 6d.
While the War Agricultural Committees were Charging 25s. an acre those experienced with tractors knew that it. did not coat anything near that figure, providing the machines teere properly handled ; it is a poor machine in the same circumstances that will not work at a cost -of £1 an acre at the most, and, as we have already seen it is easily posSible to do the work at 15s. and less. seen, the reduction of cost is no more striking than the saving of time that is effected. The team of three horses would require SO weeks for the operation, that is, 7i months (additional teams would reduce the time, but not the cost). A tractor ploughing five acres a day would require 20 days, or about three weeks. If it was only possible to plough four. acres a clay, 25 days would be necessary, and so on. This advantage and the great difference are too obvious to need•further comment.
The question of time and cost is not all. Tractor work in ordinarily better done. The farmer is always sure of having his land ready for sowing at the right time, and one can be fairly certain of getting all the land ploughed, which, with only horses to depend Upon in our treacherous climate, is ever a great un certainty. AORIMOT.