The workman is known by his tools. The problem of obtaining the most efficient machinery for the conduct of the farm without having an excessive amount is not easy of solution.

It is probable that the cost of maintaining machinery and tools is not less than 15%, 10% for upkeep and 5% for interest, even under the most careful management. Doubtless in practice it is as much as 25%. If this is conceded there must be a limit to the amount which may be economically invested in equipment. This is a place where the lead pencil may be used profitably. For example, if $125 is invested in a self-binder, the annual cost of the machine at 15% will be $18.75. If one has but 15 acres of grain to harvest, it may be better to hire a self-binder at $1 an acre. On the other hand, it may be necessary to own a self-binder in order to get the grain harvested at the proper time.

Among the machines requiring a considerable investment for the number of days used may be mentioned hay loaders, hay tedders, corn-binding harvesters and lime spreaders. There is a certain class of labor-saving devices, however, for which there is more or less constant need, as, for example, means of pumping water, methods of handling manure, both from the stable to the manure shed, and from the manure shed to the field. This leads to the remark that there is at present great need of modifying our traditional ideas concerning farm barns. Why do persons usually sleep on the second floor, while horses and cattle are placed in the basement? Three things have brought about the need of a radical revision of our practices concerning the planning of barns: (1) Our present knowledge of the difference in the function of food in keeping the animal warm, and that of producing work, flesh or milk; (2) the discovery of the bacillus of tuberculosis; and (3) the invention of the hay carrier. It is not the purpose here to discuss barn buildings, but merely to call attention to the fact that the traditional barn has long since outlived its usefulness, and that the young farmer should plan his farm buildings to serve the purposes required in the light of modern knowledge.

Various attempts have been made to manufacture combined machines; that is, a machine which, by an interchange of parts or other modification, may be used for two or more purposes, as, for example, harvesting small grain and cutting grass. Such attempts have usually been unsuccessful. On the other hand, the young farmer should consider the range of usefulness of any given type of machine or tool; thus, a disk harrow is more efficient for some purposes than a spring-tooth harrow. For other purposes the spike-tooth harrow is better than the spring tooth. The spring-tooth harrow, however, will do fairly well wherever the disk harrow or the spike-tooth harrow is needed. When, therefore, only one of these tools can be afforded, the spring tooth may be a better tool to buy than either the disk or the spike-tooth, although it is not for certain purposes as efficient as either of the others.

The kind of machine should obviously be adjusted to the conditions, as, for example, the size of the farm, and the character of the farming. Riding plows may be desirable on level land, but where it is necessary to plow up and down hill, walking plows should be used. The extra weight of the wheel plow is not a serious matter on level land, because the sliding friction has been transferred to rolling friction, but no mechanical device has been or can be invented which will decrease the power necessary to raise a given weight a given height. The various machines requiring horse power should be adjusted, as far as possible, to require the same number of horses. If the main unit is three horses, then, as far as possible, all machines should require three horses, such as plows, harrows, manure spreaders, harvesters, etc. If the activities of the farm are sufficient to require six horses then some of the tools may require three horses each, while others require a pair.

A farm with six work horses is rather a desirable one from several aspects. Among other things, it enables the farm owner to employ two men who can perform most of the team work with two three-horse teams, while at other times three pairs of horses may be arranged when the owner needs to use a team. This leaves the farmer time to attend to many activities not requiring horses, and time to plan the work and to look with more care after the purchases and sales. The size of such a farm will depend entirely on the nature of the activities. If it is a so-called general farm with a minimum of live stock, it would, perhaps, consist of from 150 to 180 acres of tillable land with some additional pasture and woodland. Ideally, every farm should have sufficient activity to make it something of a center. It should be an organism. It is difficult to organize one man.

It will be useful, when we come to discuss how profits may be estimated, to divide the capital into three general groups: (1) The plant, which in addition to the real estate, will include the machines and tools, horses used for labor, and other animals used for breeding purposes or for the production of animal products, such as butter, wool or eggs; (2) materials, which will include animals which are to be fattened for sale, and all seeds, fertilizers and foods intended to be turned into products to be sold; (3) supplies, which may include foods for teams, and money with which to pay labor, be this labor that of the farmer or his employees.

The purpose of this classification is to bring sharply into view the fact that the nature of different kinds of equipment varies. All the things named under the plant are in the nature of an annual charge against income. The charge under materials may or may not be an annual charge. If a man invests $2,000 in 50 head of cattle, which he intends to feed and sell for $3,250 at the end of one hundred days, he does not have to calculate interest on $2,000 for a year, but only for 100 days. Cattle paper is held in large quantities by banks in the cattle feeding districts of the United States. The farmer would, in fact, be unwise to keep $2,000 in the bank nine months in the year in order to use it three months. Like any other business man, if he has the money, he invests it and borrows the money to buy his cattle. The same thing applies to food and fertilizers. If the food is fed to cattle, some of the money invested in the food must pay interest during the fattening period. Food fed to dairy cattle and chickens may be paid for out of each days income. In practice, the amount of money invested in food for dairy cattle and chickens is dependent only upon the most economical unit of purchase. One may apply fertilizers to buckwheat, give a three months note for the fertilizer, and pay the note out of the proceeds of the crop. If the fertilizer is applied to one-year-old apple trees, this investment may be required to pay interest for fifteen years.

The same principle applies to supplies. If one starts into raising horses for sale, he needs to have some money or other income on which his laborers and his own family can live, say for five years, this being the age at which a horse is supposed to become salable. More people would raise apples and horses if they could afford to wait for the return on the investment.

While this is a serious handicap, it is an advantage to the man who arranges his farming methods so that he can secure an income from some other source in the interim. The young farmer will do wisely to so arrange his farm methods that a portion, perhaps the major portion of his farm, will give him quick returns while making some long-time investments, which later in life will give him a greater return because so few people are sufficiently forehanded to make them.