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Farm Tractor; a Power Plant of Many Possibilities
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T
HE tractor has added a new
chapter to the romance of the
middle-weat corn-belt farm.
The pioneer broke the rich,
virgin oil of the prairie with
horses or oxen and an old
v alklng plow. Then came the ' riding
rlow, breaking a rlngle furrow at a time;
then the gang plow, with a whole herd
of horses or mules for power, and each
change lightened the labor of the man
behind the plow and made lt possible for
him to turn more acres In a given length
of time. Now the tractor la superseding
ell these and changing the character of
agriculture.
Years and decades of heavy corn and
wheat crops are beginning to tell on the
fertility of our soil. For years we tilled
only the surface, leaving the rich soil
below unused. Now we are plowing
deeper to secure the fertility that lies be
neath the surface soil. To do this we
must have power to pull the plows.
Horses and mules will f urnish power 'if
we have enough of them, but lt Is ex
pensive to keep and feed a large number
of animals that are in use only In- the
plowing season. Here the Ingenuity of
man comes In and furnishes us the Iron
horse to fill this need. , '- -
The tractor travel slowly -up shd down
the . fields, pulling from one or two td
twenty or more plows, according to the
size of the field arid the power of the
machine in us. It never tires.' It hevr
takes fright at a wind-blown paper and
runs away. In winter and Idle seasons
lt consumes no . feed and requires no
care. It is steady, reliable and powerful.
At first the tractor was tired only, for
plowing, but time and, recent Improve
ments have shown us that tha tractor
may be made an all-around handy ma
chine on the farm. It comes In sites
to fit the farm, and the price depends
largely oh the amount, of power that
can "be generated and the ' size ahd
adaptability of the machine.
The farmer starts his croj year In Juty
or August, when he plows the' stubble
fields in preparation for the fall-sown
grain. Here the tractor does its first
work, traveling hour after hour and day
after day up and down the fields, under
the broiling summer 'sun, never tiring,
requiring no ' fee' and water at night,
when the farmer comes in ' tired and
hungry from his hard day' work. Not
only does the tractor pull the plows, but
behind , the'plows are attached the disc
and harrow' and sometimes a roller, ro
that the work that once took many days
or labor, rouowinr the . team with one
Implement afteY another, la now done-
In one operation. At one time the soed
bed is prepared and' moisture stored in
the ground , and protected by a dust
mulch, so; that It will remain until the
seed Is sown and thus Insure good germi
nation. .
' Then comes silo filling time. The trac
tor Is -again put to work, and day by day
the .silage .'cutter , hums and clicks, and
the. partly .ripened corn or sorghum 1
hoisted, load after load, 4 into the top of
th"e ' slid and pressed down, where It
ferments sod 4 changes . Into the rich,
Juicy1 silage that keens the cattle sleek
and fat throughout the winter.
The silage'' cutter fs not owned on every
farm that has a alio. The tractor is thus
the - basis of" neighborhood co-operation.
Several farmers living In ths . sam
vicinity buy a sl!pge cutter together. It
takes a number' of -men to operate the
cutter and fill the silo. At alio filling
time the men who own the cutter work
together, going from farm to farm and
exchanging labor until all the silos are
filled. The tractor is attached to the
cutter and the work is done quickly, and
when the slloa are filled the tractor hauls
the cutter to ita place of storage, where
It is left until the next season.
.Then comes thrashing time. For years
the threshing crew, with Its steam engine
and big (hreehlng machine, has traveled
about over the wheat belt, spending from
a day to a week or wore on each farm,
threshing out the grain. The tractor la
changing all this. Instead of hiring the
traveling crew, the farmer puts his own
tractor to ue. The threshing machine
Is now, In many cases, owned by a group
of farmer, who work together aa at silo
filling time, . threshing first one man's
grain and then another's, until threshing
time is over and the granaries are filled.
The man with the tractor still needs
many wagons to hold his grain, but he
does not .need the men and teams that
used to be necessary to haul it to the ele
vator. Neither does he need to consume
msny days making weary trips over the
road with one load after another. He
2re7gin6 and
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loads hts wagons, hitches them all behind
the tractor and sets olit with a long train
of loaded wagons behind him, and ane
trip may be sufficient for the whole big
crop.
City horse are fed baled hay, which Is
compressed Into a mall rompaea and Is
easily handkd. Tasking tills hay Into
bales takes power, ami Is another field
In which the tractor finds a use. On
many a farm an1 ranch the hay, whether
wild hay, timothy, alfalfa or rlcver. Is
cut and cured and raked Into windrows.
Then the tractor and hay press are taken
out Into the field and the hay la gathered
up from the windrows and pressed Into
theae wire-bound, sweet-smelling bales,
and hauled to the city markets, whore
It finds a ready sale.
The tractor and baler are In many
cases also used to preserve the straw
that Is left in great heaps in the field
after the threshing Is done. Once the
grain-belt farmers left this alraw to rot
In the staok, where lt occupied and ren
dered useless land that was ' growing
more valuable year by year, or he burned
It, and after harvest time the country
was bright with fires that werw burning
up the farmers' dollars. Now he spreads
some of this straw on his fields, for ha
has found that properly used it makes a
valuable fertiliser, and some he bales for
winter bedding for his cattle and horses.
Later In the fall comes corn husking
time. Then planting tlma for all the fall
sown grain. Now. ths tractor la again
taken Into the fields to prepare the seed
bed and to sow the seed.
Bven In the winter time the tractor
naed not be altogether idle. There la grain
to grind. Borne grind alfalfa, into meal
for cattle. Sometimes the- tractor is put
t work pumping .water tanks full of
water for the house or for the stock. The
Ingenious farmer can find a hundred
ways to use his engine.
And when Spring comes again the fields
are plowed and disced and harrowed for
tho spring town crops. Then the corn
fields are ready to be prepared for seed
and seeded.
After the spring rams the farmer of
the present day goes out and drag the
road. He la oomlng mora and mors to
a realisation of the importanos of good
roads In his vicinity; He wants good
roads between his ptaos and town be
cause he drive over them so often in his
motor car, and he needs good roads be
cause they save hint tlma in hauling his
produce to market. So he goes out when
ever he has spar tlma and the condi
tion are right and drags- the roads. His
tractor doe the Job quickly and well.
It also helps him when he wants to
grade, A road grader la no trouble at all
for the ordinary tractor to handl.
Then cornea harvest time, and otto
more the tractor travels the length of the
fields and. back, and forth again, this
time, pulling the. binder, and sometimes
several bidders are used at onoe.
Bo the tractor la an Important part of
the machinery equipment of the farm.
It has displaced many horses and mules
and lightened the labor of many a man
already,' and tractor farming la Just at
1U beginning- , A few years ago the trac
tor was a clumsy thing. It was adapted
only to use on the big farms and ranches,'
wh-re plowing was a problem that ma-'
ohlnery alone could solve. It was expen
sive and complicated, and Its use neces
sitated the constant presence of a highly
paid and well trained machinist. The
ordinary farmer, with his 1B0 or S30 acres,
could not afford to' own such a big and
expensive manhln for us during ths
plowing season, but Idle during all the
rest of the year. '
'The decrease in me slss of the ma
chlue, the Improvement ' In the engine,
making It less complicated and more ess
tly handled, the accompanying lowering
Of the price ,aa tractors are made In In
creasingly larger numbers, and the pos
sibility of adapting It to various kinds of
work, have all been factors in placing
upon the markets of this country a large
number of different machines which are
praotlcal and not unduly expensive on
the ordinary farm.
To utilise the tractor to the best ad
vantage the farmer has had to mak a
few changes In his methods. There are
certain things which the hors or mule
will not and cannot do. There are also
certain things which ths tractor will not
and cannot do. Tou can't beat a tractor
with a whip and force It to do what It
has not been mads to do. You have to
arrange your work In accordance with
ths ability ' and whims of the tractor.
Ths most Important change in farming
operations due to the characteristics of
the tractor la probably In the matter of
ths shape of ths fields. It takes a trac
tor' a much longer time to make turns
than It does to cover ths same distance
In a straight Una, and ths tractor cannot
mak as short turns as a team can. On
this account, ths farmer who wants to
use a tractor on his farm must make
his fields long and narrow In shape. The
square or nearly square field Is not
praotlcal with the tractor, as it requires
too "much ' turning. The long, narrow
field, with a maximum length of furrow
an l a minimum amount of turning is th
Ideal for the traotorised farm. Many
farmers ' grow a narrow bono of hay
Crop' around the ends of their plowed
fields, and these afford a convenient
place for turning the tractor without
much loss of time, and at the same time
utilise the land so that none of It Is
wasted.'
To Obtain That Satisfied Feeling
The Drink Must Be
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The Golden Rod Brand Is Refreshing,
Healthful, Invigorating and Pure
Manufactured By ,1
The Fremont Bottling Works
Fremont, Nebraska '
L. D. RICHARDS, Pr..id,nt J. R. HENRY, Vic Pr;Unt L. M. KEENE, TVssrarsr
' ' RALPH N. JENNINGS, Sap9rinttndnt
R. P. RICHARDS, 5rrr
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BILL YOUR STOCK TO FEED AT THE
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Yar
remon
THE PLACE TO FILL FOR THE OMAHA MARKET
1,600 Acres Tame Grass Pasture on the Platte River
30 Miles 50-Inch Mesh Fencing; 30 Pastures . ,
Electric Light;, Boarding House at the Yards
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CAPACITY
Cattle, 94 Cars; Sheep, Covered Sheds, 35 Cars
Open Pens, 18,000; Dipping Plant Capacity, 5,000 Daily;
Set 10 Stewart Machine Shears; Ten Double Deck
. . Unloading.Chutes, Five on Each Track
AN EASY RUN TO FEEDING POINTS NEAR CHICAGO
Fremont Stock Yards, Fremont, Neb.
City Office, 111 East Fifth St. Telephone 93. Yard Office, Telephone 150
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