The chronicle=news., 1913-11-05
FLOWING BY STEAM
BANS 5000 HORSES

The Kansas ~hea; acreage ihts
year would have brcu less than D..
"oo. 600 acres had not the prari.ra.
bili,y Of the traction cnxinc NJ =
PROV puilrr been established. says
the Kansas City Star. Kansas could
not possibly have piowcd and own
the usual 1000. 900 acres Of wheat
In 1914 u IL had no, hccn for the
power piowin. outfits. There w~r-
No, sufficient horses TO do the pio~-
ins when tho rains came.
The development Of the motor
truck and Its utility on the farm l.
driving the Kansas work hors~s to
the delivery work In the cities. and
even this may not last long. The
traction engine Il doing tho plowiaR
In the hi. Kansas wheat fields and
the motor truck 4. ioias tho hauling.
Horses must remain to do the rulti-
waiting. hut the work hnrsr1 are dis.
appearing NJ the rate Of 10000 q
year. as the driving horse asd ear
riaxcs and bu ;xicS are disappearing 4
from the Kansas tax rolls. The mo-
torcar for pleasure and husincss and
the traction engine To do tho piow-
Ing and ih" motor truck To do the
hauling sr" supcrsctiag the horSc
aud mule teams 70 RAPIDLY that with
In the mex; two years there will b~
but an average Of three horses for
each farm In the state. whereas five
ycars uEo the average was five
irausht animals for each farm.
The traction engine and the motor
truck are now dotnx the work for
merry handled by 10000 horses and
mulcs on the Kansas wheat farms.
Ia eastern knnsas. where the farm !
are small and the fields are limiscd.
the traction engine !s rot n success.
bu, the motor truck ~ a farm utility
wagon ix success and Is rapidly re-
placing the horses in hauling tho
farm produce to market.
Early In September the rains came
that broke the longest drought Kan
sas ever had. and with the rains mp
pcarei The traction eaginc In the
wheat fields. The ground had been
80 dry that plows could not turn IL.
When the rains came the farmers
found them selves with u serious
problem on their hands. There were
not enough horses In Kansas to pull
the piows and get the ground ready
for the wheat seeding. which must
come between September Is and De-
80.
One manufacturer of traction en-
pines for Flowing sold 61 engines
and plows In Kansas within n period
OF ten days. and had to charter u
special train to bring part OF the
outfits to Kansas In time. Other
makers sold almost AS many outfits
and dozens Of threshins engines were
taken from the wheat stacks aud put
to wark plowing for next years crop
OF wheat. Last year II was cstimat-
cd that onc-third the wheat acreage
Of Kansas was plowed by engine
pcwcr, and this year 1t is estimated
that more than half the 100000
ac,es expected to he sown In wheat
have been plowei by the big Tractors.
and two thirds of the plowing Of all
this vast acreage has been plowed
within 80 days.
In July and August. when the
plowin; is ordinarily completed. III
tie or no blowing was done this. year
because the ground was so dry the
plows could not turn 1t. except b,
turning up big clods as largs us tho
moldboards of the plows wo,ilh hnn'
die. and leaving the ground rous!
and making very pool, seed bed. 81
the farmers had to wait until the
rains came and then they had to do
quick work to get the soil rehdy for
the seed.
The traction plows vary In cost
from $1,000 to $4,000. according te
the size Of the engines and the aum-
ber of plows. The engines vary from
30 to 40 horsepower and the plova
vary from six to twelve discs, each
turning IL furrow IA inches wide and
from four to seven inches deep. 81. A
40 horse power engine and eight