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Miles for Food Raising Made Available
by Agriculture's Tardy Recognition
of Mechanical Progress.
rhaa been said that there is noth
ing eo backward as farming;
that whllo every othor occupa
tion, has taken advantage of the
great modern advance in mechan
ical invention the average farmer
etill depends largely upon his own
muscles and thoso of his farm ani
mals much as his predecessors did
In the days of tho Pharaohs.
Examiners into the causes for the
rapid continuous rlso in the cost of
living have found one factor in this
backwardness of the farmer. Prices
are regulated by tho law of supply
and demand, and it is obvious that
it the production of tho farms does
not keep up with the constantly in
creasing population of tho earth food
will keep growing scarcer and prices
-will soar accordingly. Besides that
the drudgery of the farm, which
could be so lightened by machinery,
drives away the sons of tho farmer
Into tho cities and prevents him
from getting even adequate man
power.
The Year Book of the Department
of Agriculture points out this situa
tion of affairs, but at the same tlmo
it calls attention to an awakonlng
of tho farmer to tho necessity of the
machine-made farm. In certain
parts of tho country such an awak
ening seems to be already woll ad
vanced, and the steam engine, the
electrlo motor, tho gasoline engine,
but particularly the oil-burning en
gine, are doing tho work of opening
up countless moro acres to cultiva
tion. Of the crushing burdens of farm
ing, that 6f plowing is tho greatest.
To turn a single aero of land with a
twelve-Inch plow it is necessary that
the farmer and his team travel eight
end one-fourth miles. The wheat
acreage of the United States aver
ages 46,600,000 acres annually. It
this were all plowed each year with
ordinary plows tho plowmen of
America would havo to travel a total
of 888,025,000 miles. If we add eo
this the hundreds of millions of acres
of land that must be plowed an
nually for. tho country's crops of
or
preferred
breads.
trrtXl Packers' Convention, re-
cently held in Chicago, warns
' of a beef famine. In Europe,
where a similar crisis has Impended
for years, there are countries which
meet the situation by sanctioning thu
slaughter of animals against whose
consumption there is in America a
sentimental prejudice. Abroad, this
attitude has been so modified by
necessity, experiment and acquired
babjt that, annually, thousands ot
horses, mules and goats are sold to
municipal abattoirs, which slaughter
the animals and send them out to
licensed shop? patronized by all
classes.
France, land of gourmets, has an
association which gives banquets to
exploit tbe savorlnes3 and healthful
ness of tbe .flesh ot the horse, ot the
mule, and even of the ass, the famed
roast of the Romans. Partly as a
result of this propaganda the demand
for these viands is now so great that
consumers nro disturbed over tbe pos
sibility of underproduction, which is
ulready threatened.
Eight hundred shops in France sell
only cbevaline (horse meat) cuts. In
Paris alone there are butchered every
year over 60,000 horsea, and many
donkeys and mules, in comparison to
800,000 bead of beef. Germany con
sumes nearly 150,000 horses annually
and 500,000 goats, compared with the
consumption ot 3,500,000 adult cattle,
16,000,000 porkers and 2,000,000 sheep.
y Mow The? Get C lapr M ea
Paris
mm
it
1
corn, oats, barloy, rye, buckwheat,
cotton, tobacco, potatoes and othor
products, the number of miles of
weary plodding necessary that' the
people of our country may havo
their wants satisfied runs up to an
inconceivable total.
Tho first farm task to which me
chanical power was genorally ap
plied throughout the country was
threshing grain. Most persons fa
miliar with country llfo who have
reached middle age can remember
when wheat, oats, barley and other
small grains were threshed by horse
power with old-fashioned "chaff
piling" threshing machines, Then
the farmer and his sons or hired
hands spont days or weeks winnow
ing the grain with a fanning mill
turned by hand. This laborious and
inefficient mothod of threshing and
winnowing grain haB now been ren
dered practically obsolete In Amer
ica by numberless steam threshing
"outfits" that traverse the country
roads throughout tho land after har
vest, stopping at the farms along
tholr routes and doing the work at
a stated sum per bushel. Thresh
ing and cleaning the grain are now
done in a fraction of the time for
merly required and at much less
cost.
The next Innovation In the way of
power-driven machinery for the per
formance of farm labors to come
into general use was tho hay and
straw baler, followed quickly by ma
chines for shelling corn and shred
ding fodder. These machines, like
the threshers, nro taken through
tho country by traction engines, and
perform their several taBks much
moro quickly, efficiently and eco
nomically than they could be per
formd by hores.
Then, ten years or so ago, an
epoch in Western development waa
marked by the introduction of the
steam plow upon the great farms
and ranches of the West. However,
coal is heavy and cumbersome and
la many regions water Is scarce and
precious. So the application of the
gasoline engine to farm purposes
was hailed as a triumph of Inventive
Berlla the brain ef
Lower
Kid and 9 at are
commonly found on
Spanish and Portu
guese tables.
Horse sausages are openly sold as
such from England to Algeria, thou
sands of cases being exported from
packing houses adjacent to the Paris
slaughter house for horses. la Spam
a council of scientists and byglenista
Is pursuing a systematized effort to
Introduce hippophagy the consump
tion of horse meat for the revivify
ing bf a decadent people.
The Public Charities of the French
capital dispense dally 1.000 pounds
of horse flesh in the free hospitals
and asylums. Ita lower cost has
made It accessible to the sick poor,
who accredit it with tonlo properties
superior to those ot any other meat.
Certain pharmaceutical establish
ments employ the products of the
horse In the compiling of tonics,
hemogloblnes, peptones, extracts of
meat nnd meat powders which are
in demand in both Europe and the
United States.
Scarcely a baker or delicatessen
shop in Paris or Berlin but prefers
tbe brains of the horse to sweet
breads in concocting meat pasties,
and tbe delicacies known to tourists
from abroad as well as to native
patrons as vol au vent and timbalei
financlercs. The decanted fat of the
horse Is rendered into an oil which
In certain famous restaurants goes
Into the making of a highly regarded
mayonnaise. But the fat is chiefly
used in frying the crisp and suc
culent potato in hotel and restaurant
kitchen? and at the hundreds ot
street stands which adventurous
travellers sometimes patronize in and
about Paris.
norse tripe, cut In strips, consti
tutes the "andoullles," which, rolled
and breaded, are daintily displayed
on parsley-trimmed platters in many
a charcuterie window.
Mixed with beet or pork, or util
ized alone, horse meat Is said to make
excellent sausage. Tbe trade speaks
of a thin horse destined for this end
as "a sausage." No prejudice exists
against these viands, which sell in
the most pretentious shops of Bel-
1
New
Thousands
of Sauare
gonlus. Bnt tho great objection to,
the gasoline engine on tho farm is
that gasoline is an expensive fuel.
So the American inventor perfected
the oil-burning ongine. Oil Is the
cheapest and most perfect of all
fuels. Tho latest tvrm of nll-hiirnlnirk'
engine is as efficient as tho gasollnofft
ftnelnn nnd pan hn nnnrntiwl tntiMi K'
more economically.
It now scorns reasonable to nre-
diet that tho oil-burning cnglno will'
work as great a revolution In Amer-i
lean agriculture as -was worked hypp
uio auiuuiuuc uarTBBlor.
One writer has stated the situa
tion mus: -wiui norses, every
plow needs a man, but with a good
cngino two men can operato eigh
teen plows and hold controlled in
their hands the power of eighty
horses that novor tire."
On some of the larger ranches the
power plowing machine Is run night
and day, with only a ohango of men.
At night a hoadlight, like that of a
locomotlvo shows tho way. Some
times tho numbor of plows is re
duced and grain drills and harrows
aro attached behind the plows. The
land is thus plowed, seeded and har
rowed with one passing of tho on
gine. Then, whon the grain is ripe,
the same engine may be hitched be
hind from threo to six combined har
vesters. The engine threshes and
winnows the grain and is sometimes
used for hauling It to market, easily
drawing from seven to ten heavily
loaded farm wagons. If agriculture
Is to score the samo progress that
has been made in almost every other
line of human endeavor and if tho
rise In the cost of tho necessities of
lite 1b to be checked, power farming
of this description must become the
rule instead of the very rare excep
tion. The only valid objection to the
general use of mochanical power on
the farms is on tho ground of the
cost of suitable traction engines.
Some of the steam traction engines
now used for plowing on the great
plains region cost 2,600 each. They
are similar in construction to freight
locomotives and will climb steep
"Chevaline" (Horse Meat) Approved by Physicians,
Preferred as Sweeter and More Tender by Those Who Have
Eaten It and Could Be Sold in America Much
Than Beef
glum and France as
"tauclstet d'Arlet"
or "Lorratne." '
Periods of elege
and hardship first
taught the use ot
tho horse as food.
During the wars ot
the French Ropub
lio and Empire, and
during tho Prussian
occupation of Paris
In 1870, tho soldiers
knew of no other
meat. When tho na
tion was at peace
tho demand for it'
continued because
its consumers had
learned that, while
it cost less than
beef, it was moro
salutary, more
strengthening, more
tender, and, so say
Its devotees, mora
palatable.
Physicians called
attention to the"
herbivorous habits
of the horse, and
to tho fact that, in
distinction to
many other animals eaten with relish.
the horse is fastidious as to forage
and drinking water. The constitution
of the muscles Is absolutely similar
to that of other beasts. Statistics
demonstrate that but one horse In
10,000 has tuberculosis, and that
even the raw meat transmits no dis
ease to man.
In 1865 the first horse meat shop
was licensed in Paris, and the first
police ordinance was framed relative
to the new industry. Then other
stalls were opened throughout tbe
city with the stipulation that they
sell horse products only and an
nounce their specialty by a charac
teristic elgn.
At the abattoir then, as now, care
ful inspection was the rule, no horse
being accepted which had not been
killed under the eye of the appointed
authorities, or which was afflicted by
Copyright, 1111,
hills with ease. Nona but the own
ers of great ranches of thousands ot
acres are Justified in putting bo
largo a sum ot money in a traction
engine, even though, unlike the
horso, it "eats only when it works."
But this objoctioa Is being over
come in tho West by men who havo
bought power plowing "outfits" and
who travel from farm to farm plow
ing on contract at a etated eum per
acre.
Then, too, much the same sort ot
an evolution that has taken place in
the automobile trade is In progress
iu the manufacture ot powor farm
ing machinery. Lighter and cheaper
engines, that are still capable of
performing the work on an ordinary
farm with ease and efficiency, are
being manufactured.
Mechanical power is employed la
the West and Southwest to a great
er extent for farming purposes than
in any other part ot the country,
for several years a large ranch In
Montana has dispensed with horses
entirely, employing power-driven
machinery for all purposes for which
horses aro usually considered neces
sary. It is truly a. "horseless farm."
a.i ttB AbTtlS!K A7,t,H? Th,r Jarn to Bo Slaughtered for Meat. Each
u iff!: VrL neit- RIl3T Inspected by Government Officials to Make Sure That It
Is Free from Disease and That It Is Not Too Emaciated to Make Satisfactory Food.
any disease whatsoever, even of the
hoof. Emaciated animals were also
rejected.
The time came when this meat of
the poor and distressed grew in favor
with the more fortunate. Horses
were scientifically fed and selected
with a resulting Improvement in
quality. To-day in many European
cities meat superior to that which
was formerly acceptable is sold at a
price which is fast approaching that
of the best beef.
The retail price of first cuta is
about the same as second cuts of beef,
or twenty to twenty-tour cents a
pound.
Consumers ot hone meat aro
peculiarly loyal, boasting its depend
able tenderness, no matter what the
age, and disdaining the tough and
tasteless beef which finds its way to
city market.
Tbe price paid for an average
by the Star Company. Oreat Britain
lieESigilJfflM
Oil-Burning Plow Oneraune 24 Blades and Digging 24 Fur
rows 16 Feet Wide and 7 Inches Deep, at a Timet.
There are now 25,000,000 farm vated land In America to devoted to
horses In America. These consume the upkeep of farm horses If mn.
12.600,000,000 ot the farmers' feed chanlcat pover caa displace eSly
and labor. One-fifth of all tho cultl- fcnfcaU of these ho7ses it will mTka
horse ii f 60, and for a mule H0. In
choosing tho animals mares and geld
ings aro given tho preference, tho
flesh of stallions being considered
more fibrous; white nnd gray horses
are not liked so well as those with
a colored coat The horse renders a
higher proportion of meat than the
cow, bull or ox.
In tho street market of Menll
montant, which extends for half a
mile through one of tho outer boule
vards of Paris, the poor workingmen
lay down their "little sous" for the
"blftek" and soup meat furnished by
man's helpmate. In the huge cen
tral markets of Paris, of Berlin, of
Brussels, Vienna and Madrid there
are stalls devoted exclusively to the
sale ot chevaline delicacies. The
same cities and many smaller towns
support hundreds of shops, usually
distinguished by a horse's head,
which vaunt a large and respectable,
RighU RMrv6.
if in Europe
V
On of the 800 Shops Licensed by the French Government Where
Nothing but Horse Meat Is Sold.
even a fastidious clientele a clientele
which counts the consumption of
horse and mule no more shocking
than the eating of the plaintive lamb,
the mild-eyed calf, tbe noisome pig
and the cow with tubercular ten
dendes. Tbe prejudice against horso beat
Combination Engine Driven
Plow and Pnrrow. The Plow
Blades Each Dig Furrows
14 Inches Deep and the Har
row Immediately Passes
Over the Plowed Area. Two
Separate Farming Opera
tions Are Thus Combined in
One.
tans of minions of acres ot land sows
used for the upkeep ot horses avail
able for the production ot foodstuffs.
In 1888 Sir William Orookos, pres
ident of the British Association for
the Advancement ot Sclenco, com
piled statistics that appeared to
prove that widespread famine was
imminent. At that time tho world's
wheat acreage was about 163,000,00
acres aad the annual production
amounted to about 2,070,000,009
bushels. He asserted that th
world's wheat acreage could not be
materially increased and that in
thirty years the world's require
ments would call for 3,260,000,000
bushels of wheat annually. To pro
duce this quantity of wheat from
the aero go available would call tor
the addition to the sell ot 12,000,060
tons ot nitrate annually. He be
lloved that this quantity of nitrate
could not possibly bo obtained, hence
the conclusion was inevitable that
widespread f amino was certain in tho
not distant futuro for tho human race.
Only fifteen years have passed
since tho British scientist made pub
lic his dismal forebodings. Yet the
world's wheat acreage has already
increased to something like 235,000,
GOO acres aad the annual production
to about 8,109,000,004 bushels.. The
nitrate beds ot Child are still far
from exhaustion and a practicable
method of extracting nitrogen from
the atmosphere has been perfected
and is used on a commercial scale.
The problem of the world's food sup
ply for centuries to come Involves
no auestlea of a scarcity of land or
a shortage et fertilizer. It Is solely
a problem ot the economical and eft!
cleat application ot meohanlesl
power.
In America is purely sentimental, and
there seems no good reason whyit
should not be Introduced to our mar
kets and our tables. The extended
use of horse flr3h would Indefinitely
postpone the danger of a meat
famine and might do a good deal
toward lowering the cost of living.
