The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-09-05
Steam ON the Farm aud Road.

That steam power is not only prac.
,icablc but cheaper than horse power
in many Of the operations Of the farm,
the experience Of the lasr itteen years.
and especially that of the last Eve
years. amply demonstrates. That steam
power applied as traction on common
roads, may be made available has been
proved ever since the Fawkes engine
ran up and down hill, drew plows, and
performed a variety Of the necessary
work on the farm. Yet when put to
work upon land made adhesive from
rain, it failed entirely. and this has
been the case with al! the machines
since brought out. Results in England
have been pretty much like our own
experience, and they have at last fallen
back upon a power that placed on the
side Of the field will draw the p'ows
and cultivatiug apparatus from side to
side of the lands, the engine being
moved along from time to time as may
be needed.
This sys'en of p'owing introduced
into the United States. has never met
with favor and for the simple reason
that the labor Of horses is cheaper and
nlore easily managed. We may there.
fore concluded that steam power for
blowing will never be received with
lavor in the United States, so long as
horses, mules and cattle may be 50
chearly raised and fed. They consti-
tu'c part Of the capital oftle average
larmcr who raises them year by year
FOR sale. Thus it may be safely Goa
cluded, ia the West at least that plow
ing by the trac i'm power OF steam, is
not, and will net become feasible, at
least until, first, the labor of draft AMI.
mails is worth considerable more than
now. and second. the important clause.
until the tendency to slip, in traction.
on cur ordinary prairie soils when not
perfectly dry" is overcome The same
difficulty will be experienced in tract
ion en-ines on earth roads. When
dry and hard. they may be made to
work; when our roads are slippery from
rain. or muddy such engines must in
evitab'y fail Ga hard roads there is
no reason why these machines may not
work. In fact. they will and do work
ueasureably well as was shown at the
late test in Wisconsin, when the 'Osh
kosh,' machine invented by Schooner
e. Farr n, of O.hkosh, made the trip
from Fort Howard to Madison, POI
miles. in thirty-'hree hours and twenty.
seven minutes; thus coming within the
liuit Of time prescribed. six miles an
hour. This machine also hauled load i,
plored, and accomplished varions toss
Yet the committee refrsed to award
the premium offered by the state, 'o~
the reason as given that the machine
is not accordi' g to the spirit Of the law
"a cheap and practical substitute for
the use Of horses and other animals on
the highways and farms Thus was
the premium Of $4,000 lost; offered
b. the legislature of Wisconsin two
years ago for successful road motor
propelled BY steam or otherwise, to be
used as a substitute for ordinary arri-
cultural work. as in plowing thrasLing
etc"
Inventors have yet three years in
which to perfect machine ior this
purpose, since the time as specified by
the law Offering the prizs does no. ex-
pre before that time. TO be success
iul, the machine must hau: loads On
roads, and p'ows on lands where horses
may succ, s>fu'ly work. 1t should
thrash, run various farm machinery, be
of light comparative costs, ard be so
simple as not to require extra skilled
labor to operate it. The Oshkosh"
ished i. 500 pounds light: and with
water ami fuel 6.6OG pounds. 1t costs
81 200. and required daily expend
ture Of from 81 to Sc per day to run
it. 1t in one instance haul, d load
IF FIVE tons. only 3,4O0 pounds more
than it's own weight 1t cert 'ly seems
"a greet improvement over previous
machines 'r;e!, and yet is long way
tram being a practical machine that
will recomu end itself to farmers, at
the present price of horses, mules or
attic and their feed.
The problem Of steam power on roads
is not yet settled sat.sf,csori|y,so far as
economy is in question. We do not
think it ever will be. where earth
roads are concerned.-[Prairie Far
mer.