El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-05-03
H0RSELE55FiRM
IS NOT 4 DREAM
Tractor Is to Be the Saliva
ton of the Farmer of
The Future.
By FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

Washington. D. c.. Nay 3-Travel-
ing through certain parts Of the mid
die west at night you may be aston
ished to see searchlights moving rest
lessly over the fields like giant fire
flies, playing their long white beams
I over burrows and between corn rows.
These are not nivvers gone astray:
| they are tractors. blowing ground OF
eultivating corn by their own lights
or the farm tractor, during the past
/ Few Yeas, has multiplied. especially in
{ the middle west In fact. the rise Of
the tractor is one Of the most striking
ana significant things in present
farming The tractor got late start
II is now in that stage Of rapid growth
and improvement which the automO-
BILE had reached about 1910
During last year alone the numb Der
OF tractors in use more than doubled
or course, this was partly due to the
war Farmers were making money
and labor was scarce
Movement Growing Fast.
You viii probably be surprised TO
learn that the number Of tractors now
IN use is only 10000. In a land Of
100000 farms this is certainly not
many But the movement has Just
started. The manufacturers OF trac-
tors have estimated their production
for 1913 at 31A936. In other words.
they expect again more than to double
in a single year the number OF trac-
tors in use Observers in the employ
Of the government say that with the
price OF steel lowered tractor prices
viii have TO come down by 1920, and
viii probably be down by next fall
Be that as 1t may, the significant
thing is that the application Of the
gasoline motor TO farming is plainly
on the eve Of a great expansion and
development
The HOrseless Farm
The horseIess farm is in prospect. /
and there are said to be horseless /
farms already in California Also the /
nired-manless farm is coming. One I
energetic man can today, with the aid /
Of a tractor, cultivate far more acres ]
than ever two men could cultivate .
before, and there is no telling how
much he may be able to do in the
near future, as he applies internal .
combustion mare and more 10 his pur-
pose.
The giant tractor, according to gov
eminent observers, accomplished one
thing for which IL has never been
given credit II CAME into use just
about the time that the last Of the
wild prairie lands were being put IN
der the pillow and helped TO conquer
them
Many Of the great tractors that con-
luered the last Of the wild prairie
lands were left to rust on the fields
they had won, because their owners
could not afford 10 operate them They
were too big and too expensive.
Small Tractor eArrfves.1
Finding that the big tractor could
not hold a permanent market. the
went 70 the other eI-i
IRENE and put out a little two-plow
tractor that delivered only about
eight horsepower TO the drawba This
type OF machine, somewhat modified
and improved, still holds the field. and
IS the one that promises to play such
Z large part in the future Of American
In power Il varies from
eight to fifteen horsepower at the
lrawbar, and in price from $1,000 70
1000
That price is bound to come down.
L is probable that a workable tractor
viii soon cost no more than a good
cam Of mules cost a few years ago
The "jitney tractor IS the dream OF
he manufacturer. The $500 tractor
nay now confidently be expected
The usefulness OF the tractor is de-
led by no one. II is only the pow
rty Of the average American farmer,
nd the generally decrepit state OF
arming in this country, which pre-
ents a wider use Of the gas engine in
griculture. Eighty-five per cent OF
ne farmers who have used tractors
ave found them satisfactory.