The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-10-02
rF's'F'FFFT
The Farm Hand
Is Disappearing.

y
The farm hands finish is i'm plain
sight and the farm horse Is headed
down the same pike, says man VINO
has Just returned from the West. In
their stead is coming the traction en-
CINE.
Out in the prairie region the tendency
is all toward big farms. The agricui-
tural unit out there has been the quar-
ter section. or 100 acres.
Few of the farmers are satisfied now
with such small bunch of land. and
they are reaching out all the time for
more. Wheat and corn have been top
ping the market at such prices that
nearly every fellow is crazy to go into
raising them on a big scale. And they
have the money and the intelligence to
do it, and do it protitably.
Right here is where invention comes
In. On the ordinary farm, where two
or three men with the same number OF
teams of horses can do all the work, IL
isn't really necessary to call on the ma
chine man for artificial aid, but when
the farming is done on a big scale 1t
pays better to buy a traction engine.
These are not the ordinary big, clumsy
attachments to thrashing outfits, but
compactly built little fellows. with gas
olne as the motive power.
With them there Is no need of getting
out at ungodly hours in the morning to
feed and water lot of animals. Five
minutes work fills the tank and makes
the machine ready to do your blowing,
narrowing, or cultivating.
The first cost of these engines Is
pretty steep, from $1,000 up, but 1t
costs less to run them than 1t does to
feed horses, and they never get balky
They last longer than the average work
horse and they do ten times as much
work in a day.
Out in Nebraska l ran across fellow
with gang plow, five in row. hitched
to one of these little engines, and it was
steadily moving across the 1OO-acre
field and tearing up the sod at a lively
rate. This same man told me that
when it came to narrowing he tackled
on two or three big ones and did the
job in fourth of the former time.
Potatoes are planted and dug up with
these engines. In planting large drop
per is used. and in digging them spe-
cial kind Of plow is employed.
When it comes time in the fall to
thresh, the engine is coupled to a sep
arator and the job Is done in short
order If it Is necessary during the
winter to grind feed for the cattle it is
the work of but few minutes to fire it
up and start the mill. When grain is
to be hauled to market several farm
wagons are attached and the procession
moves off.
There is scarcely a thing about farm
work that these machines will not do.
and they are growing more popular ev-
cry year The average farmer thought
the acme Of comfort and perfection had
been reached in the sulky plow and the
riding cultivator, which saved him
many weary steps, and it has not been
without considerable trouble that he
has been induced to take up the trac-
ton engine. Hundreds of these are
now being manufactured and sold ev-
cry year.
Sixty-cent wheat and 50-cent corn
are making western farmers, where 30
bushels of wheat and 90 Of corn is an
average yield, independently rich. A
hundred acres of wheat is an ordinary
yield, and this alone is enough to net a
good income on the investment.
A bunch of cattle will pay the ex-
penses, and his other crops are velvet.
The result has been to run up the price
Of land. Tracts that sold for $50 two
years ago bring $40 and $45 and $50
land of past years Is easily marketa-
BILE at $50 and $50. The life is much
easier, the work is not nearly so hard,
nor the hours so long.
This has the good effect of making
the farmers sons more content with
life on the farm, and many of them go
down to the State Agricultural Schools
and take course in scientific agricul-
ture. returning better farmers and bet
ter citizens.
Gastronomic Feat.