Show cost of farming cut by tractors assertion Is made that their use means lowering of expenses now that illinois farmers have increased the number of 0 tractors on their farms farina more than 61 per cent since 1925 1025 one of the best ways for them to cut down operating costs Is to adjust their power more accurately to the needs of the individual farms this Is shown in a study of 30 central illinois farms all of which used general purpose tractors in 1031 the 15 farms that had replaced the most horses by adding a tractor had labor power and machinery costs that were 2 a crop acre less than they were on the 15 att farms rm i i h erz tye the tractors rs displaced the fewest horses the 15 35 farms that had bad replaced the most horses with tractors had labor power and machinery costs that averaged a crop acre while the 15 farms with the least number of 0 horses displaced by tractors had similar costs totaling ga an acre this saving of 2 an acre Ss is an item 0 of considerable importance in a time when dollars are so valuable operators of farms in the first group displaced an average of horses when they added a general purpose tractor but the operators of the second group of farms displaced an average of only a little botler better than two horses with each tractor where a large number ol of horses were used in addition to the tractor tor there was also an unnecessary duplication of other machinery such farms had a machinery investment of 1293 1209 an acre as compared with on the farms where more horses had bad been displaced on the farms where the great greater er number of horses was displaced the remaining horses worked GO CG crop acres each and the tractors on these farms were used gag hours a year rear in contrast the horses on the other group ot of farms operated only 37 crop acres each and nd the tractors were used only hours during the year the farms ebere the larger number cumber of horses were re replaced averaged acres or acres more than the farms in the other group the large farms also had less live stock an acre than the smaller ones the general purpose tractors were used to the best advantage on the large grain farms |