The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-09
(praCtiC;tl Farmer.l


The New York Central Railway
spent years surveying to get route
through this section. They finally set
tied on q line that crossed the corner
Of our farm. Money was poured out
like water to get very low grades.
direct line, to do away with grade
crossings, etc. They bought farms
outright at the owners prices, rather
than to allow farm crossings. The
largest part of "a million was spent on
a. mile of swamp filling in near us. 1t
took years to finish this mile. And
now what? Train after train passes,
with one enormous locomotive drawing
half a mile or more Of freight cars
with apparently no effort. Thus they
arc able to move the heavy coal and
iron orc freight between Cleveland
and Pittsburgh more directly and far
cneapcr than they could on thelr
old line. I he amount of traffic over
this nov line day and night is some
thing wonderful 1t is supposed TO
belong to two great systems, the Penn
sylvania and New York Central. l
enjoy watching the trains pass on this
splendid up-to-date road. Why, |
have seen the section men carried
whizzinc past 80 miles an hour from
one point to another on Il ear propeli-
ed by a gasoline motor. Thus they
could get around and do much more
than in the old way. Ent YOU ask
what all this has TO do With farming.
!. Very much.
I'VE Mu~s Improve Our Methods,
same as railways do. How? Oh, in
several ways In the Eastern and Cen
iral States there are thousands Oh
farms where the fields for cultivation
and moving are entirely too small, or
are ill-shaped We are now at the
beginning Of :; new year. And YOU
have time probably to study over such
matters We would like to encour-
age YOU to look into this one matter
in particular. Cannot your fields
be arranged better for fast work (! Ou
can do far more ploWing. narrowing
etc, in a long, rectangular held IMAM
YOU can in q number Of square or r.
regular shaped ones. cannot you tdht
up some fences, or perhaps stone
walls, and make two or three helds
into one? If there are stones in tht
way not so many us to make 1t I'M
practical to do anything with them
why not draw away all you can nan
die? Take them to some side hill
where you can dump them Off easily
and cover them with earth later, uslnt
a ,craper to do the job. Sink thOs'
that are too large to handle. Dig {
hole partly under the rock and pr.
or blow it into its grave. BE sure tt
get ii deep enough. Is there a SWal
or some wet land between two field
which makes you have to piOW etcl
one separately? Don't waste time 81
any longer. Drain the place. 1t viii
Day YOU In fact. you cannot affOr'
TO do otherwise. Are there some tree
on the line between fields? Dig arOun
them, cut off the outside roots. hltcl
chain in top Of tree. Add on othe
chains, or q heavy rope, put you
steadeSt teams on at distance ava
and pull the tree over, Wnen srouh
is soft. Thus You get out the STUN
at the same time. ! have done TIN
way time and again. If you have pul
ley blocks YOU can draw trees owe
that way. Don't cut them off an
leave the stumps. Take them out
Get Ready for Fast Work.
All these things mentioned are en-
tireiy practical. They will cost SOM
time and Il little money, perhaps. bu
will ray q big dividend steadily in tn
future, if the work is followed II
with good farming. l told q farmc
once that he could clean his fields c
trees, stumpS and stones ready fo
fast work. in shape to do sOmethil
worth while, for So an acre. II
studied a while, and then said: 1e
] think | could. but | rather have tn
So" Alas. there are some who fes
this way. IT is not busincss-lik,
Farming will pay fer needed improve
r1cntS the same railways will. an
q larger percentage of nrOfit. Goo
people, if your farms are not in pei
feet shape for fast work, make tn
needed charges before spring wor
comes on. Much OF it can be don
mild days during winter. Then whe
you have the land ready get q gan
plow perhaps. wider harrows etc
and arrange to drive three or for