. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. STUDY OF SMALL FARMS NEAR WASHINGTON. 15 the farm area, it is found that the former group returned an average labor income of $73 and the latter an average of $468. Obviously, on such small, high-priced farms the amount of waste land should be reduced to a minimum. MACHINERY AND TOOLS. But one-third of the farmers with 10 tillable acres and under have more than one horse. The equipment on these farms usually consists of a one-horse wagon, a one-horse plow, a spike-tooth harrow, a one- horse cultivator, a work harness,
. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. STUDY OF SMALL FARMS NEAR WASHINGTON. 15 the farm area, it is found that the former group returned an average labor income of $73 and the latter an average of $468. Obviously, on such small, high-priced farms the amount of waste land should be reduced to a minimum. MACHINERY AND TOOLS. But one-third of the farmers with 10 tillable acres and under have more than one horse. The equipment on these farms usually consists of a one-horse wagon, a one-horse plow, a spike-tooth harrow, a one- horse cultivator, a work harness, and necessary hand tools. Each of these farms also reported 17 hotbed sash on an average. (See fig. 6.). Fig. 6.—Tomato plants in hotbeds. Board fence gives protection from cold winds. The large farm usually had both a two-horse and a one-horse wagon. The number of cultivating tools increases with the size of farm, occasionally including a disk harrow or spring-tooth harrow. About half of the farmers have mowing machines. The number of hotbed sash increases with acreage up to a certain point, the greatest number being found on the farms of 11 to 20 tillable acres, averaging 50 per farm. It is very evident that the operators of the very small farms are at a disadvantage in not having enough land to keep two horses busy, thus necessitating the use of one-horse tools, which waste man labor. When plowing and harrowing and all hauling must be done with one horse, the farmer is manifestly not using his time to best advantage. Much farm labor, to be done economically, requires the use of at least a two-horse equipment. Two-thirds of the farmers visited had hotbeds for starting early tomatoes, early cabbage, eggplant, peppers, and other early Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original United States. D
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