The suburban citizen., 1902-12-20
The NEW FARMER
\ Nearly Everything Now 4
Being Done by
6EN Machinery. 1WN
EnIlnnE HaAnHaIllEE ny AlnRn
.YHE tired city man who turns

Bkfixazs5 A11 a7kk2 A,Ei1tRnzD
TTHE tired city man who turns
longingly to thoughts Of "the
old farm" of his boyish mem.
orles and Is impelled to go
there or to some place as nearly re-
sembling it as may be that, like Anita
Gus, of the classic fable, he may recup-
crate his wasted energies by once
more touching Mother Earth, would do
well TO forget all traditions Of pastoral
life or prepare himself for the shock
OF a great disappointment,
The man with the hoe, the sturdy
artist Of the scythe and cradle, the
sower who went forth to SOW with
bag Of seed aroung his neck, the mus
cular plowman, whose strong hands
keep the implement from turning flip
flaps when It's point struck root, the
tripping milk maid carolling song
all these and many other familiar OBJ
jects which the city man inseparably
associates with the old farm bear
about the same relation to the modern
farm that the traditional sailorman OF
the days of wind-propelling craft bears
to the coal passer or the oiler in the
shaft alley of the modern steamship.
The best education for the up-to-date
farmer is a course in mechanical engi-
neerlng. His barn is no longer the
barn Of the poets, with great wind
swept floor spaces under fragrant
mows. 1t more resembles a store house
for miscellaneous machinery. Its per-
vading odor Is the smell of machine
oil, and one makes his way about with
circumspection lnless Indifferent to
torn clothing and abraded cuticle.
EXIT THE OLD PLow.
In breaking the soil for planting the
familiar plow which gave even
strong man plenty to do in managing 1t
and his team, has largely given place
to the reversible sulky plow, on which
the farmer rides as comfortably as on
wagon seat, and which he controls
by levers actuated by his foot, leaving
his hands free to manage his horses,
his cob pipe, or his cigarette, If he
prefers
His plowing finished. the farmer pro-
ceeds to pulveriZe and smooth the
land. Time was when he dragged it
with a harrow Of scrap iron.
The farmer now mounts the seat of
the sulky harrow, fiicks fly off the
flank Of his off horse and away he goes.
The machine pulverizes and smooths
the soil much better than 1t was for
merly done. Here, too, the horse is
menaced with displacement as a prime
motor. AS mechanical proposition
oats and hay are even less economical
as fuel than anthracite in strike time.
In fertilizing his land the modern
farmer has the advantage Of the work
Of the chemist who provides just what
it needs in the form most convenient
for application by machinery. The un-
speakable operations connected with |
the hand distribution of barn yard COM
post are no longer necessary.
THE NEW MANURE.
If this material is used the labor Of |
spreading it is performed automatically |
by machine which effects a desicca- |
tion and distribution unattainable by
hand implements. The quarter acre
of reeking quagmire, once known as
the barn yard through which one must
wade ankle deep in crossing it. has
from the modern farm.
for which every one having occasion
to visit it, and who brings with him
f1 el, 4 |
voutly give thanks. Composing and
nnsilage conserve the heterogeneous COM
ponents OF barn yard ooze much better
than was done when they were left
to weather.
For planting there is n machine for
9very kind Of seed, cunnlngly designed.
well built and perfectly adapted to the
work for which It is intended. 1t
makes no mistakes. never skips an
nch, sows no more thlclly in one place
han in another, and does its "stunt"
With an intelligence which even the
impossible Jonas of the Rollo book
'ould not have displayed
For grain and grass the broadcast
eeder' Is used. This is attached to
IN ordinary wagon. and the only hui
nan cooperation it requires is keep
ng its hopper full. 1t will distribute
III kinds Of dry commercial fertilizers
md will put them just where they
will do most good. +
A mechanical grain drill is provided {
or such grains as need to be planted '
in rows or hills. It Is e
nfalible in its operation and would
liant corn, for example, in the middle
Il a macad0m road, If this was re-
uired Of it. Among other attachments 4
has land measure, something like a o
yclometer, which records the acreage L
tainted and would calculate the yield 4
we're II not for the element of 1ncnr. L