The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-10-31


there is no Clicking" nor cracks Of the
whip. The engineer merely pulls his
lever, and then, with both hands TO the
wheel, increases or decreases the steam
pressure. Very slowly the great driving
wheels rev0ye at first, until the motor
man gets an idea OF the resistance from
the stiffness OF the soil II he puts on
too much steam, he may jerk the. plows
out OF the ground and drag them along
the surface. As it is, the big chunks Of
steel are thrown several feet into the air
II they happen to get into bed of loose
earth or sand that the engineer did not
notice.
SO by degrees tlrs whole surface is
turned. Faster and faster the plow
points move through the earth and
stubble, each implement cutting
straight furrow A strip from twenty
to thirty feet wide is plowed as the trac-
tor moves across the field. There may
be obstacles in the way-hummocks and
stumps and stone piles, perhaps the bed
of a creek The sherman guides the big
front wheel around them. Steam steer
ing gear somewhat similar To that
which controls the rudder OF an ocean
steamship, makes his task an easy one.
OF course the plows cannot be steered, so,
when one reaches the stump or stone
pile, the tractor stops until the imple-
ment is lifted around it,
When a creek is reached, motion ceases
while the crew calculate the grade down
the side Of the banks, and see il the bed
Of the stream is hard enough to sustain
the weight. II they think it is, the engine
is detached from the plows and started
slowly down the bank, across the bed,
and up the opposite side. BY means OF
another lever, power is cut of from the
motor mechanism, and isused to pull the
plows across by ropes, like a stationary
engine.
The man with three horses was glad
to dig up three-quarters OF an acre in an
average day. The farmer witha tractor
thinks it is slow work il he does fewer
than fifty acres. SO hundred acre field
is ready for seeding in twodays. But the
tractors work does not stop here. Plow-
ing is easy compared to narrowing.
Think of a weight Of fifteen to twenty
tons being rolled over soft, freshly turned
earth at a rate of two hundred and fifty
acres in day?
NARROWING AND HARVESTING By STEAM.
The tractor rolls over ground so soft
that the men walking besideitsink above
their ankles in the loan or mud. The
harrows it pulls are made especially Tor
it. They are usually fifty feet square,
ten times the ordinary horse size, and
two or three are operated alta time, each
covering two hundred and fifty square
feet of ground, into which their teeth go
to depth of six inches. Yet they are
dragged over twenty and twenty-five
acres in an hour. Seed drills may be at
tached to the harrows, so that at one
process the hundred acre lot is planted
and cultivated.
When harvest time is at hand, the trac-
tor again steams into the field, dragging
machines that cut the grain, extract the
kernels from the sheaves, bind the straw
in bundles, and pour the wheatinto bags.
All of this is performed right on the spot
and by the same power. Apart IRON
running the engine, no human assistants
are needed except a man to hold the bags
as the grain is poured into them, and
two to sew their mouths and pile them
I'D. In twelve hours a hundred and fifty
acres of wheat or oats are stripped OF
every sheaf and left a stubble field. In
the old days, using the scythe, it required
a score OF men to cut and bind ten acres
OF grain. TO say nothing of the extra
labor of cleaning, threshing, and storing.
THE TRACTOR FOR ROAD HAULING.
With its great tires gripping the road
bed, it pulls itself up and down what are
little better than mountain paths, haul
ing behind it half a dozen trucks, or
more. loaded with logs or lumber. Many
of the so-called highways in the lumber
districts have becomeroute for carrying
timber to the nearest railroad, and some
of these routes are fifty and sixty miles
long. The road may be dug out of the
side Of a hill, and just wide enough to al
low passage of the engine and freight.
Such thing as paving is, OF course, un-
known. The ordinary lumber string"
OF eight, ten, and twelve animals could
not pull a single log along some OF these
routes, yet the tractor haulsfrom twenty
five thousand to forty thousand feet OF
lumber at a speed OF three to five miles
an.hour.
In some places where companies have
built saw mills in the pine country, the
tractor is used to snake" logs to the
mill. Two or three or four trunks, each
fifty or more feet long, are cheined to-
eether. fastened to the engine, and
dragged across the country by the near
est available route. The lumbermen do
not stop to build skid roads or tram
ways, or even to cut a passage in the
underground, but go over the ground
Just as nature made it. Underbrush and
even young trees five and six feet high
make no difference % them; the tractor