Arizona republican., 1899-03-18
THE MOTOR WAGON.
Improved Roads May Bring 1t in
 Use in the Country.
Automobiles Are Rapidly Displac- ing the Horse in the Cities, But the Animal Will 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 ve-
 hicle when its practical value has once
 been demonstrated.
 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 that these motor vehicles can be driven fairly up to their best speed There would not be much en- arrangement 10 farmers for investme mt 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 proftably em- ployed on the farm itself is a question hereafter to be solved. There are some forms of farm work now done by horses 10 which it would be difficult to apply any other power known. Steam blows 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. Flowing, 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.
 Butit 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 he sheaves III tuC W La 'NA (dlIS 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.
 It 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 50 years. And it is to 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 and generous in re bonding to the efforts of inventive yenius. There is every reason to be- ieve, therefore, hat motor wagons and | carriages and some motor power other han horses would find a market among l he farmers of the country as soon a s hey could demonstrate their practical l 7aIue.
 The value of good roads as an object | esson will be greatly increased by the | appearance of the motor carriage and | wagon upon them. When farmers see | LOW much more economical as we'll as nore speedy and pleasant the new ve- licles are upon suitable roads than lorses. the more liberal and enterpris ng among them will be eager to make he itution.-Rochester (N. Y.) | Democrat.
 WESTERN CAMPAIGN