The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-05-23
SAVING MAN POWER WITH FARM
MACHINERY
tBy ]. o. Traxler. Farm Help spe-
cialist).

breaking pillow is in general use. III
this time of high priced labor, TINS
is a wasteful practice. BY the use
of two horse plows man can break
double the amount of land that he
can with a one horse implement and
can at the same time do much bet
ter work in preparing seed bed
With the use of three and four horse
ulows the amount of breaking is in
creased corresp0ndingly. with still no
increase in man power
Farmers too often fail to avail
themselves of the use of peg or
spike tooth harrow. This is very
important farm implement and will
help materially in conserving mois'
ture and fertility of the soil One
section covers about four feet of sur
face and is drawn by one horse. Two
require two horses and the more Sec
lions used the more horses requir
ed CORRESPONDENCE. Where breaking
is done with four horses it is advis-
able to have a four section harrow
thereby utilizing the horse power
and conserving man power.
In the cultivation of crops the one
horse implement is also used in
many sections of the state. This
method has also proven to be expen-
ND mi n
many cases. Where general farm
crops are being raised usually the
method can be improved upon by the
use of a spike tooth harrow or weed.
er when the crop is young and later
by the use of two horse one row
or possibly three horse two row
cultivator, on which Sweeps and
scooters may be attached, as well
as ordinary shovels or discs Where
this change can be made it will be
found that much greater acreages
can be cultivated and the work will
be found more satisfactory with great
conservation of man power.
The weeder is labor saving inn
plement because it covers a larger
area and on account of its light
weight is usually drawn by one horse.
1t is desirable for cultivating peanuts
and in loosening the top soil on win
ter crops such as oats, rye, barley
and rape.
All farmers cannot afford TO buy
extra horses and larger implements
and before doing SO should consid-
er the cost and probable gain. If
the cost is more than the gain it
would be unwise to make the invest
ment. However, q good practice is
for farmers to cooperate in purchas-
ing larger implements and double
up their teams to operate them.
This would bring good results and
save man power A tractor would
often prove to be more profitable on
the average southern farm if oper-
ated by several on a cooperative bas,
is Much work can be done with +
the tractor that is impractical with
horses and mules and these machines
are becoming more popular as farm
ers acquaint themselves with their
proper use. It has been clearly dem
onstrated that a tractor is a labor
saver and an efficient and economi.
cal machine when properly operated.
In some localities it is now being
used successfully under the opera
ton of one man, working over an
entire community with the one ma
chine. In cases where large acrea.
ges are handled by single farmer.
one or more tractors are often found
profitable. /,
This plan has been used success,
fully with other large and expensive
farm equipment, such as threshing !
machines. peanut pickers, potato
diggers, manure spreaders, etc. The
use of the manure spreader has been
demon strated to be profitable is more
than one way. Practically the same
time is required to load and haul
manure spreader to the field as for,
an ordinary wagon, but the spreader
viii unload in one-third the time re.
Quired to do so by hand. The
spreader distributes the load uni
formly. This is almost impossible bv /
nand work and for this reason alone
It has been shown that as much as
forty per cent of the value of man
ure has been wasted through uneven
distribution by hand labor. Where
there is no spreader in community
it is recommended that one be pur-
rhocod oud ,,rnd I.