Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1899-03-08
THE MOTOR WAGON.
Improved Roads May Bring It in
Use in the Country.
Are Rapidly DisDlae-
ing the Horse In the Cities, But .
the Animal VIII Always Re-
main On the Farms.

Some of our contemporaries are al
ready discussing the possible applica-
ton of automotors to country and farm
uses. This, of course, is upon the as
sumption that they are to be success
fully introduced into the cities and,
sooner or later, drive equine vehicles
from our streets. OF that there cannot,
be much doubt. The extraordinary tri-
umph Of the bicycle shows how rapidly
the public will adopt an improved We
hicle when it's practical value has once.
been demonstrated. go, 49,.
The motor wagons use in the country
is another matter. Automotor car
riages and wagons cannot become very
common on the ordinary country roads
of to-day. The highways must first be
improved SO thatfhese motor vehicles
can be driven fairly up to their best
speed. There would not be much en-
enlargement TO farmers for investment
in them if they were required to drive
them over bad roads at slow pace and
to the, detriment of the machinery. On
improved roads, however, they would
soon demonstrate their superiority
over vehicles drawn by horses. .''
Whether they can be profitably EN-
ployed OH the farm itself is question
hereafter to be solved. There are some
ferns of farm work now done by horses
to which it would be difficult to apply
any other power known. Steam plows
are seen and used on the great prairie
farms Of the west, but none has ever
been devised which can be successfully
applied TO the small farms of the east.
Proving, dragging, or narrowing,
drilling. hauling hay and grain from
the field TO the barn, and other similar
agricultural work will tax the in
genuity of inventors who may try to
solve this problem.
BUTT would be absurd to declare that
it cannot be done. When the moving
machine first appeared it was thought
that no machine could be devised that
would do the farmers grain harvest
ing. But the harvester speedily fol-
lowed, though at first no one thought
OF binding the grain by machinery as
it was cut. Two men were stationed on
the first machines, one to drive and the
other to rake off the bundles. Then
others followed TO bind up the sheaves
in the old-fashioned way. Later came
the machine binder, and now self
binders" as they have been called, are
in universal use. Farmers used to do
all their seed sowing by hand; now
every farm has its grain drill. Long
after the thrashing machine came into
common use beans and buckwheat were
thrashed with the fail, or, in the case
of the former, were trodden out of the
pods by horses. Now beans also are
thrashed and potatoes are dug by ma
chinery.
lit would be impossible within the
limits of a brief article to enumerate
the numberless machines adapted to
farm uses by the ingenuity of inventors
within the past so years. And it is o be
noticed that the American farmer
gives every useful invention a cordial
welcome. However slow he may have
been to see the value of good roads, he
has been quick ard generous in re-
spending to the efforts of inventive
genius. There is every reason to be-
lievc. therefore, hat motor wagons and
carriages and some motor power other
than horses would find a market among
the farmers of the country as soon as
they could demonstrate their practical
value.
The value of good roads rs an object
lesson will be greatly increased by the
appearance Of the motor carriage and
wagon upon them. When farmers see
how much more economical as well as
more speedy and pleasant the new We
hiclcs are upon suitable roads than
horses the more liberal and cnterpris-
ing among them will be eager to make
7 he ution.-Rochester (N. W
Democrat.