The era of hand cultivation is giving way to that of farm machinery propelled by horse-power and even by steam, gasoline, or electricity, with its resulting great increase in the efficiency of labor. Eleven years ago the editor of The Dakota Farmer, in his testimony before the United States Industrial Commission, put the matter tersely, and with little exaggeration, as affecting his own section of the country, at least, when he said: "When I first worked out it took five binders to follow a machine, one man to rake off, and one to carry the bundles together. Now the hired girl frequently drives a machine that does the whole business."[205] Some idea of the extent of this increase may be obtained by reference to the following figures compiled from census reports:
Value of Farm Implements and Machinery in the U. S.[206]
| Year | Value 000,000 | Per Cent. Increase |
| 1910 | $1,265 | 69 |
| 1900 | 750 | 52 |
| 1890 | 494 | 22 |
| 1880 | 407 | 50 |
| 1870[207] | 271 | 10 |
| 1860 | 246 | 62 |
The increase in the value of farm implements and machinery per acre of land in farms from 1900 to 1910 was from $0.89 to $1.44, or 61.8 per cent.
An analysis of the figures for farm machinery by geographic divisions shows a marked difference in the rates of increase, but the tendency in all sections during the last forty years has been decidedly upwards, the greatest growth having been witnessed in the decade ending 1910. During that decade the lowest rate of increase in any section was that of New England, 39 per cent., and the highest that of the Mountain States, 163 per cent.[208]
Another development which is making larger demands upon the farmer for working capital is the increasing use of artificial fertilizers, the expenditure for which in the United States approximately doubled from 1880 to 1900.
As the result of such tendencies and of the rapid depletion of our free domain, farming in the United States is losing its old-time kinship to mining and becoming more like manufacturing. More and better machinery and more power are needed on most farms in the interest of efficiency. This calls for short-time credit. But a supply of good machinery requires a fair sized farm for its efficient utilization—hence the need for larger farms and for mortgage credit to make their purchase possible. Upon this subject there are some very illuminating data in Warren and Livermore's Agricultural Survey of four townships in Tompkins County, N. Y., from which the following is quoted:
The value of farm machinery increases rapidly with the size of the farm.... Any one who has ever made a list of the necessary farm machinery will see at once how inadequately these small farms are equipped. Yet their machinery costs nearly twice as much per acre as that on the larger farms that have nearly three times as much machinery. Machinery can be used more effectively on large farms. One mower, one hay rake, one tedder, one hay loader, one corn harvester, one grain harvester, one grain drill, one manure spreader, one potato digger, one potato planter, can do their work on a 250 acre farm as readily as on a small farm. Few of the small farms have half of these tools. If a small farm does have nearly all the list, it cannot use them enough to pay for the investment. The more efficient and numerous machines become, the larger our farms should be. It is interesting to notice how many of the tools are of very recent development. Almost half of the value of farm machinery on a well-equipped farm is invested in machinery that has been perfected in the last few years.
Much the same situation exists in regard to an adequate equipment of horses.
Three or four horses are the smallest number that can be used efficiently with modern machinery.... The small farms have not enough horses to make efficient teams and yet they are over-supplied with horses compared with their area. On these farms there are only 15 acres per horse. On the largest farms, one horse farms three times this area, with no resulting decrease in crop yields.... When we consider the cost of keeping a horse we see what a great advantage the larger farms have.