The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-10-30
FARMLAND REFLECTIONS.
The Cost Of Farm Labor May Be
Reduced by Making Each Mans
Work More ERectua1 by
the Use of Machinery.


His method could easily be adapted to
Florida farming The use of one and
two horse implements when three and
four horse tools could be used to bet
ter advantage is antiquated, out Of date
farming. Read the article carefully and
see if you cannot arrange to save your
self some money on labor bills.
Farm labor wages are now higher,
measured in farm products, than any
previous year within my memory. The
employer can meet the condition he
must face in only one way; that is, to
make the labor he employs more eff
Gent Several elements enter. Insur
ance must be taken against crop failure
through drowning by thorough under
draining; all titled land must be made
more productive; more care must be
taken in selection of seeds; more intel
ligent tillage must be given; better
classes of stock must be kept and
more accurate feeding done. But the
way which [ wish to speak of more par
ticularly at this time, as it has not been
emphasized so much, is by increasing
the actual output Of each mans labor
by providing him with more efficient
machinery. True, there have been vast
strides made in introduction of farm
machinery during past generations,
but there yet remain many chances for
doubling the efficiency of the farm
labor. Whenever [ see a man follow
ing only two horses and turning a
single furrow think of the scythe and
the fail. He may just as we'll drive
four horses and turn two burrows. The
tWo-horse team for field work has al
most been abandoned at Falkland. A
three section harrow is drawn by four
bosses, or if roller is used two sec
tons are attached to it, four horses
abreast are put to the roller and the
driver rides. The disk harrow has Six
teen disks, requiring four horses.
Sometimes the scantling drag and har-
row are combined for one driver. A
six-foOt cut mower is used; when a new
one is purchased it will be either seven
or eight. A tWo-horse tedder and rake
are employed, or loader and sings for
unloading
A two-row cultivator and a two-horse
weeder are used Forty acres day are
possible with the Weeder, and last year
one man cultivated twenty acres of
corn in one day with the two-rOW i'm
P1CIIClII. IL Is 1ldlUlGu DIS we'll DIS ally
riding cultivatOr
The manure spreader is another OF
the labor saving implements not yet
fully appreciated, and when I buy again
I shall get the largest size with three
horse hitch.
l want to- mention another way in
which We~encourage labor. Neither
horse nor COW stables are cleansed TN
til we are ready to spread directly upon
the fields. This may shock the sense
OF propriety of some horse and dairy
men, but Our animals are as clean as
anybody's, and after four years ex,
perience of keeping COWS loose I think
1t the best yet conceived.
The manure product Of the farm is
very important one. We cannot afford
to lose any part of it for mere matter
OF sentiment. Plenty of bedding is
stored directly above the stock and
floats are generally used in addition
Under this management a COW makes
manure during the winter season to
half the value of the food consumed,
estimated on the findings of the Ohio
Experiment Station, where a ton of
manure made in this way gave an in
crease OF crops in three years, worth
over IS at present prices of corn, wheat
and hay
With plenty Of bedding and an oc-
cas1onal sprinkling of floats the horses
do not suffer from the accumulation
under them tor week, or even two,
under usual conditions that prevent
oil