Fergus County Democrat., 1915-04-22
THE TRACTOR A NECESSITY.

THE TRACTOR A NeCESSIlV.
There have been a number Of rea.
sons why tractors are not more popu-
lar in Montana today. Chief OF these
may be cited that too many farmers
bought tractors when they had no
right to own one. Men who had little
capital bought tractors on time with
the expectation of making fortune
with them. In their anxiety to do
commercial work they neglected their
own farms and first thing they knew
they were at the end of their re-
sources These oldtime tractors cost
too much, were too expensive for the
work that the average farmer had for
them to do.
With the coming of the newer type
of machine that is most in vogue to-
day the matter of purchasing a trac-
tor assumes a different aspect. Small
tractors are now put out by many COM
panies, machines which are fitted to
the size of the farm and the nature of
the work expected. The old type of
machines were in most cases an eco
nomic impossibility, the new ones are
getting to be universal necessity.
1t has been my observation that the
farmer who uses gas engine for
few seasons is about the first man in
the community to be convinced that
a tractor would be big advantage to
him in his work. He has found that
while horsefesh furnishes a reliable
power, horse-keep costs something all
the year around. After running his
pumps, his churns and his shelters and
threshers for a season or two by means
OF the gas engine he begins to wonder
If he can't operate his plOws, his har.
rows, his seeders and his drills by the
same meanus.
Just what value has tractor of the
smaller types on the average farm?
The question is not very hard to an
swer since SO many of the power man.
ufacturers have turned their attention
to making machines of size small
enough to be operated in fields of 40
and 80 acre farms. In brief. may say
that a farm tractor will do nearly any
of the work now done by the station.
ary gas engine and great deal more
work that the stationary engine can
not do.
The usefulness of the farm tractor
is most varied than that of any other
farm implement. 1t will run the plows
more economically than you can pull
them with mules or horses, and it will
pull a disk harrow just as smoothly
and as easily as it will handle plow.
On two or three farms in this region
the tractor breaks the ground, pulls a
disk over it for the first smoothing,
pulls both the disk and the harrow at
the same time for the second smooth
ing, operates packers and rollers and
drags, and when the seed-bed is ready
it pulls the drill for the seeding.
1t pulls the binder when the grain is
cut and pulls the grain sheaves up to
the stacks when the stacy-yard begins
to take shape. Later it does the
threshing, pulling the separator, and
when the wheat or oats is ready for
the market it drags the laden wagons
to the railroad siding or the elevator
Nor does this list of labors include all
the heavy work that will be done by
this tireless machine. At the present
time tractor is hauling the lumber
for barn pattern past my place
In road building the tractor has a
place all of its own. A good many
years ago we used the traction enigne
of the thresher type for this work, but
the later models are even more salts
factory for the work
Most tractors can be used as sta
tionary engines. The belt-and-pulley
arrangement will operate threshers,
shredders. Shelters pumps, wood saws,
churns. lathes. separators and most
any other machine that is used on the
farm. The tractor can run a dozen of
the lighter machines at the same time
and keep them running as they ought
to run. Just connect the main drive
to line shaft and you will have pow-
er and to spare.
The farm tractor is an all.the.year-
around, 12-months-at-a-time machine.
This spring 1t will pull the plows and
the seed drills. All summer long it
can be used on the roads and in haul.
ing supplies. In the autumn it will run
the thresher and haul the grain to the
market When winter comes it can be
worked every day as the motive power
of saving outfit, or in running a
husker, a threshing machine or a
shredding outfit
In the meanwhile it is always avail
able for heavy hauling. pumping, hay
baling, manure hauling, churning,
spraying, ditch digging and a hundred
other hard jobs. B., in Montana
Farmer
BARLEY PRODUCES BEST PORK.
In Great Britain and northern Eu.
rope barley takes the place of corn for
pork production, leading all grains in
producing pork of fina quality, both as
l.