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(irm-‘Y -Vi‘ :“.d“‘T-” 5A,,
VOL. LXXI. No. 4180.
NEbV YORK, DECEMBER 7, 1912.
WEEKLY. $1.60 PER YEAR
THIS HORSE EATS GASOLINE.
And Does‘ All Sorts of Work.
MEDIUM VVEIGHT TRACTORS.-Up to a com-
paratively few years ago traction farming in America,
with occasional exceptions, was contined to the grain
kings of the great “lest. The big tractors, with their
proportionate equipments of tillage implements and
harvesting machinery, fitted well the unobstructed
way, turning furrows by the dozen, or cutting mighty
swaths of grain. These large outfits were of course
not well adapted to quarter and half-section farms
with highway, division line and cross fences. The
development of reasonable reliability in gasoline and
kerosene engines, however, gave manufacturers an
a great deal more. It furnishes its own power to be
placed where it is wanted; it does much of the work
of horses in the field and on the highway; and when
it is idle it requires nothing by way of maintenance.
COMPARISON bVITl‘l HORSES.-Didthe farmer
reader ever seriously consider the cost of keeping his
horses? If he has been in the market as a buyer bf
late years he need not be told of the ontgo for pur-
chasing a good pair. But the everyday feed that they
must have, whether giving good returns for their keep,
just paying their board, or not earning him anything
-as is the case with most of them during the long
iVinter-is generally figured less closely than the
rations that go to sheep, cattle and hogs. At the same
time the feed consumed by horses has the money value
rowed at the same time. During the performance of
this work his teams may, have ample employment, and
the hired men more exercise than in holding reins.
The tractor says to him when the stubble fields are
bare: “You and I and the boy and engine gang will
get busy with Mother Earth before the weeds grow
ripe. The hired men and the horses can take the
manure sprcaders and tarkleyour barnyard bank,
which has beenireceiving deposits regularly and not
paying out to the field what it should, because you
haven't had the time to draw on it."
WORK XVELL DONE.-There is "business" in six
furrows turning in unison, and richness which has
long awaited the alchemy of air and sunshine rolling
up from below the old plow-crust of the horse gang.
.4v s. 330.1. V
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A WISCONSIN OUTFIT WHICH PLOWS
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opportunity to adapt tractioneering to a smaller scale.
The result has been the production of numerous light
and medium-weight tractors designed to pull from
three to six plows and furnish belt power. Some of
them have not been in the field long enough to acquire
a successful past; others have, and can be relied ‘upon
to make good in performance. With these facts in
mind the writer purchased‘in the Summer of l91l a’
tractor which he knew to be reliable, and which be-
longs to the medium class in weight and capacity. It
. pulls six plows and delivers 40 horsepower to the belt.
‘ ADVANTAGES OF GAS TRACTORS.-The gas
tractor, like the automobile, has come to stay. This
is shown by the general interest manifested by farmers
in its work, and the steadily incrcasixfg purchases by
those convinced of its possibilities. It puts the power
Plant of the farm where it will do the most 110011-
For years farmers have hauled heavy Pofiablc 9"8l"C5
. ' about with horses. These engines serve their purpose,
but‘ their helpfulness is limited to the belt. The
tractor does all the work these portahles perform, and
V .
of just what it is worth on the market. One hundred
dollars a year is .1 reasonable sum to charge to a
horse, if he is taken through the Winter in condition
for work in the Spring, aside from veterinary attend-
ance and shoeing. That the tractor affords the means
of reducing the number of horses required is reason-
able; and that with its aid in plowing, disking, harrow-
ing and hauling, the use of the horses that are retained
may well be turned to work that is ever calling but
often gets no answer, or at least a delayed one, is
most certain. It is absurd to speak of dispensing with
horses on the farm, as do some over-enthusiastic
votaries of mechanical substitution for their services.
The tractor has come as an able assistantito the horse
in relieving him of much of his hard work, thus pro-
longing his usefulness and freeing him for miscella-
ncous duties performed at the right time. It enables
the farmer to “make things go" more certainly and
effectually than he can with horses alone; his usual
Fall plowing possibly done, in August, and ground
intended for Winter grain plowed, disked’ and har-
rm: GASOLINE 1=ARix1 r1sA1ii WALKING OFF TO THE HAY MARKET. FIG. 506. '
'The deeper plowing gives promise of better things
to be-practically a new farm from the old, tried acres.
The farmer has time for reflection as he guides his
outfit about the field and sumsup its work. It is
performing the service of l2 horses, of three drivers
of horse gangs and six of walking plows. And him-
self and the boy are handling the whole jobl The day
may be sultry, but, unlike horses, the engine works the
better; the‘ tlies do not bother it, and the furrow-line
is straight and true if the steersman keeps his eye
alert. The horses and the men are working the spread-
ers to advantage on the meadow, insteadiof plowing I
lightly and ‘resting languishingly. ' 1
EXPENSE OF THE WORK.-Now what does it
cost? This is a very common inquiry in the English
language-and I suppose in all languages, for that
matter, spoken by people who wear clothes and face
responsibility. The farmer, of all men engaged in
production, may well consider the cost, for he gets ,
it coming and going. Unlike the manufacturer with
whom he‘-isisomctimes compared, he cannot add a
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