El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-29

: stuffs, which would have taken their
place
American vs.. German Production.
In 1915 We had 60.000.OG0 acres in
wheat, and the bumper crop Of that
year, the largest the nation has ever
known, was a little more than 1000,
. 100000 bushels. Nevertheless, the av
erage yield per acre was only Il
/ bushels. II was II bushels less for
every acre than the Germans raised
that year on their total of something
Ike 100000 acres, and far less than
the crop Of England and France
Had we increased our yield to equal
the production per acre Of Germany
we should have had 66O.000.0 600 bushels
Of a surplus for shipment to Europe,
and that in addition to the 100000.
600 bushels we raised that year. The
surplus would have been greater than
our whole wheat crop Of 1916. We
could, in fact, have lived on the sur
plus, giving a barrel Of flour to every
man, woman and child Of US and set
ting aside 100000, 600 bushels for seed.
have had still one billion bushels Of
wheat for export TO Europe.
Now We Only scratch the Ground.
The crops we raise today are for the
most part planted and harvested by the
use OF horses and mules Much Of the
blowing is but little more than scratch
ing the earth. and very Ertle Of IL goes
TO the depth OF the seven inches easily
ll~-NNAr WIN AllH aeAaA A.Hta-NA %"
labor loss is enormous The most of
the pl0wS have gone over the fields
with man in the furrCW behind holding
the pillow handles According 10 a re-
cent estimate. every time the farmer
DIoHs an acre that way he walks eight
miles and his team does the same sup
pose 1s0 acres ha plowcd on his farm
the distance walked is about as great
as from Chicago 20 New Orleans and
he walking fully as bad on the hun
dred million acres of cornfirlds she mon
and animals have walked SOC. 600. Qo1
miles and worked all the way The num-
Der Of our farms is more than 5000. 600.
and by the last census there were =. 90H
o01 horses and mules. an average Of fo-r
10 each farm The total number used
IN blowing every time the crop is gone
over Is two and three millions. or as 1ue
% the agricultural Statisticiaus figures %. !
So many that II YOU hitched them va
Sile h- side the team would be as wide as
The distance from Phiiade' phis 20 Men I
phis. and tine distance pio~ed would be
longer than from Boston 90 salt Laze .
city
Hands and Animals Scarce.
Since the war broke OUT there has Z
and pillow animals Hundreds Of thou /
sands Of horses and mules have been TAX /
en- from our farms TO the bartlefieids, /
and the fsrmsrs' boys who have been .
that time there has been a large increase J
in the use Of farm tractors but the in ]
iustry is still 10 its infancy. ard the trac-
to- fo- the small farm has not yet come 4
into use Not long ago the department Of
q gricuiture al Washington received re-
ports from COCO Of our farmers who have
been using tractors. and IL was then
stated that the heavy machine could o. !
worked profltahly only on farms OF large
size. IN North Dakota the average size
n the farm upon which the tractor was
used was about 500 acres. and It was sell
dom found on farms OF less than go
-rres. Iowa has many farms as small as
80 acres which are using tractors. but as
rule the owners employ their tractors
also for custom work. renting them out %
'.H7r and rza1 Tor their neiChbors-
Many Of the farmers are using their
FACTORS by night as well as by DAY. AM
his Is especially so OF those who have "a
arge acreage. such as 1000 acres ans
upwards The average life Of a tractor
"a North Dakota IS about six years. and N
,ther states something like eight ye-rs-
The amount OF 1000 working hours. de-
'endinE largely upon the care give tne
Machine while m and out Of use OF 20
ractor owners in Illinois 81 per cent re-
'orted that their outfits were not out Of
commission single day when they were
e=ded during The season. and Of the re-
naming - per cent the average number
[ days lost was only seven
Tractors From $500 TO $1,000
As To the cost OF the tractors. those
SEQ IN Illinois az that time cost from
500 20 upwa I'd Of $1,000. and they ranged
lows TO those which would draw eight
lows a rro-pIow tractor costs $500.
three pillow a little more than $1,000. r ]
i've pillow over $500 and a six plor
lachine a little over $1,000. This was !
be average from reports OF 14S machine ,
Wners- The government investigators ,
-ated that the high priced tractors wee
OF profitable for small farms. and thas
he low priced ones would not do fo-
lrge farms For a farm OF 200 acres o.
IS three pillow tractor is considered the
est, while on farms OF from 500 TO $50
cres the four pillow tractor is the mc-t J
rofita BILE The cost Of running the outfit ,
aries with the size Of the tractor. and
n the average the fuel consumption is /
70 and one-haf gallons Of gasoline per .
ere 20 every five acres The tractors do
etter work than the horses. and they {
over more ground, according to size.
In 1916 there were 1000 tractors IN {
-ansas alone. and thousands have been [
ltroduced into all the states Of the corn {
cit. The number in Kansas has IN {
-eased go per cent IN one year, and the Z
Ugh prices OF farm products will IN
oubtedly encourage the introduction Of
ich machines into all parts Of the United q
,ates. 4
The number OF companies making farm 7
actors is rapidly Increasing There are Z
nd 80 OF these have begun TO build surh 3
achines during the past summer The r
enters or the Industry are I'm the agricuI- q
iral states and especially in the north q
est Minnesota leads with - different 2
ctories making farm tractors. large and ]
nall Illinois comes next with I9 and ] Z
'lsconsin next with Is. The states Of C