The farmer and mechanic., 1915-05-04
THE RISE OF THE
AGRICULTURAL WEST.


Of agricultural products at land snow
held in Omaha, Neb.. cannot out
forcibly impress one with the fact tha'
these were, in most instances pro-
duced from soil that once was coh-
sidered worthlcss-either because OF
its remoteness from transportation IA
cilities, lack of fertility or absence oi
moisture; and 1.nce these western
farmers have thus surmounted the
various difficulties confronting them'
every farmer in other and more laF
ored communities well may reao' IN
vestigate and apply as much aS pos
possible TO his own soil conditions the
methods through which these mar
velous successes have been achleVed
BY so doing, results ntnefio uh
dreamed Of may be realized.
Aside from the application OF lrrl-
cation in supplying moisture to ara
portions of the western country thls
magic transformation Is due very
largely to four conditions
First coping with droughts pecu-
liar to this section by pracuclng melh-
ods i'm line with dustmulchln8 or dry
farming for the conservation of the
soil moisture Second, the lntroduc-
ton and successful growing of legum-
inous crops, which not only reJuVenate
and build up the SOIL but at the same
time supply a world or the most nour-
ishing feed that has served as an
added stimulant to the production OF
meat, poultry and the dairy products
by cutting down the cost of that pro-
duction For example: Alfalfa has
demonstrated it's excellence as a ra-
ton for every living thing on the
farm, from horses to chickens.
Third the advent of the silO, which
is especially adapted to these regions
of drought. hot winds and uncertain
crop conditions. This modern monu-
place for the storage of feed that
enables the farmer to save four tunes
as much from the same amount OF
land as he used to by the old corn
ment of agriculture economy offers a
fodder method. In case of a short
corn crop the western farmer now
turns it all to a good profit by con-
verting it into silage. Should his
pasturage grow short and dry he has
: but to turn to his SilO which contains
plenty Of green feed, to tide him over
till grass again becomes good; II
hot wind strikes his corn after it has
begun to ear out he can save every
spear and grain of it by whisking it
into the silo, where IL will yield him
a far greater profit than it formerly
would had it ripened and he been
able to husk and crib it or cut it al
up into fodder.
Fourth, the using of modern ma.
chinery that has lessened the neeC
of so much horsepower, thus saw
ing the expense of feeding and keep
ing these animals, also enabling tn
farmer to dispense with the cost o
hiring hands to do the various piece
of work that now are performed b,
motive power, or by machinery S
i'm proved that it requires less atten
ton and costs less to manipulate thar
formerly.
Perhaps the greatest of all thes
demonstrations at the show wer
those of the traction engine and tn
auto-plow. The tractor p1oWed frOr
six to ten feet of lar each time
crossed the field. In the seeding {
large wheat fields common to man
Of these western sections, the tracto
again demonstrated it's wOnderfl
power by drawing three or four ord
nary grain drills. At harvest time
performs such feats as drawing fly
binders; does the threShing an
handles the straw by the blower a
tachment and finally will draw or
thousand bushels of grain to ma
ket
Then there was the autO-plO
demonstration. While it plowed on
about four feet at a time, it was rig
off at a clipping gait going enous
faster that it equalled and probab
surpassed the stirring capacity of Il
tractor-plow. Besides, it was SO CO
structed that it could be instant
utilized for various purposes abo
the farm, such as saving wood, ru
ming water, grinding corn, etc. Tt
put the auto-plow in place by it's
"a machine that can be proftat
used on practically every farm in
common agricultural country.