The Washington herald., 1913-10-26
Wonderful Mechanical De-
vices to Tighten Labor and
Hasten Processes Agri-
cultural Machinery Is Inn
proving Constantly.

Inventions are now in the making that
viii radically modify the economic status
of the farmer. Many agricultural prob
lens viii be solved by new machinery
that is at the present time in process of
development
ious and most expensive OF all agricui-
tural operations, II uses up more OF the
farmers time than any other work he
has to do. The question naturally sus-
gests itself, Cannot we find some easier
way to turn the soil over and stir II up?
An Omaha man. named Jardine. himself
a farmer. claims to have solved
this problem by the invention of an en-
tireIy new contrivance for the purpose.
which. according to the inventor, requires
less than half the power used By the
mold-board plow. So important does II ap-
pear that the president of the Union
Pacific Railroad, after seeing a rough
homemade model At work, turned over
to the inventor the facilities Of his great
shops at Omaha, and placed at his dis
posal the services Of his chief engineer.
in order that the device might be per-
fected.
The plow is an automobile. Its princi-
pal feature Is a big cylinder, eight feet
long, five feet in diameter. and weighing
six or seven tons, which forms the hind
wheel Of the machine. The cylinder Is
covered with sharp pointed steel teeth,
six. eight. or ten inches in length. AS 1t
rolls over the ground. the teeth stick
into the soil and carry the latter up over
the cylinder. A second cylinder. close
behind. likewise provided with teeth.
rakes the earth OF and drops il back in
a finely pulveriZed condition.
Now. a team Of horses engaged In
plowing travels a mile and a half. or
possibly as much as two miles. an Eonr.
A traction power plow covers ground at
rate Of two and a quarter miles an
hour, perhaps. But 1t is claimed for this
new automobile pIow that IL runs so
light that II travels from four to five
miles an hour. and does a better job.
All things considered. the evolution IF
the plow has been very slow. In the
days of Moses pIowing was done with
forked stick, dragged by an OK. and
this method Is still in use over something
like half the world. II Is employed an
the Philippines. in parts Of Spain, IN
Africa, and in nearly all OF Asia The
first improvement was made about fifteen
hundred years ago, by putting a steel
point on the stick. In Daniel Webster's
day another improvement was adopted
Slttl Huuluk
board" attached to the bottom OF the
plow. Within recent years. :or certain
kinds of soils, We have taken to using
disk plows.
Psychological Moment in Flowing.
The Omaha mans invention may reduce
the cost of plowing to one-half Of what
il has been hitherto. But, IL 1t comes
up to expectations, its rapid work should
,I 80 fa r,ln AgF.a
when he wants il done. II he can plow
at the right time, and when his land is
in the right condition. he gets much
larger crop-in the case OF wheat for
instance. possibly twice as much. Early
pIowing gives the soil time to settle
down, and the organic matter to rot.
so that the young wheat comes along
wonderfully.
Already during the lifetime of the
present generation agricultural ma
chinery has undergone a development
little short Of the miraculous. Yet other
contrivances for wholly different pur-
poses are badly needed. and it is gratify-
ing to know that the efforts which in
genious minds are even now making TO
create them give excellent promise of
success in the near future.
Take the potato digger for Illustration
The major part Of the work involved in
the production of potatoes is in the gath
ering of the crop. There are potato
digging machines, but they are ex-
pensive. and il is necessary to hire n
lot of people to pick the potatoes up.
What is needed Is a machine that will
dig the potatoes, pick them up, knock the
dirt OF them. and sort them into sizes,
automatically. Sooner or later we shall
have such a contrivance. which will save
an enormous amount OF labor and will
increase proportionately the acreage of
potatoes a given number of men can
cultivate.
The way % make the farmer a richer
man is to place in his hands such ma
chinery as will increase the output Of