The Oklahoma miner. [volume] (Krebs, Okla.) 1912-192?, 1920-07-01
EFFICIENCY OF ILLINOIS FARMS COMPARED


haul in wagons and spread by hand.
A large majority Of the men ceport.
ing broadcast their small grain, using
endgate seeders attached to the
box of an ordinary wagon. Only about
~ per cent Of the farmers reporting
own grain drills.
The bulletin analyses each field op-
Grafton from the standpoint of man
labor requirements, horse-abor re-
quirements, size of machine, etc. The
manner in which the data on blowing
have been summarized is typical of the
way in which several subjects are
treated. About 80 per cent of the
farmers reported the use of sulky
plows, about 80 per cent stated that
they use horse-drawn gang plows, and
II per cent reported the use of tractors
for plowing.
16-Inch Sulky Pows Popular.
A large majority of the farmers use
1G-inch sulky plows, nearly all Of
them with three horses in the spring.
Three acres is an average days work
for this outfit For the comparatively
few farmers using 14-inch sulky plows
with three horses I'm spring blowing
about three acres is an average days
work. While theoretically the 1G-inch
plow should cover about Is per cent
more ground IN the same length Of
time, this apparently has not been
found true i'm practice.
Four-Horse Teams Preferred.
The greater number Of four-horse
teams and even some five-horse teams
on 14-inch sulky plows for fall plow-
Ing Is accounted for by the fact that
plowing in the fall is usually about one
inch deeper than in the spring, and
also by the fact that the ground is gen.
orally dry and hard to turn. On an
average, outfits of the same size cover
about a half acre less per day in the
fall than In the spring, due not only
to the more difficult conditions men
toned above, but also to the fact that
the time spent in the field is about two
thirds of an hour less per day in the
fall.
AS is the case in spring plowlng, the
| cally as much ground per day as the
16-inch size, provided both are drawn
by the same number Of horses. The
addition of the fourth horse increases
the efficiency Of the unit by about 10
per cent and the addition of the fifth
horse to the 16-inch plow results in
similar increase. Excepting under
20
seems to be somewhat of an overload
for three horses Of the size and type
used on these farms
Many Gang Plows Used.
Over 450 men reported using horse
drawn gang plows on their farms.
About so per cent Of these pIows have
! 14-inch bottoms. Most of the remain
! ing plOws have 12-inch bottoms Some
| plOws with 13-inch bottoms were re-
! ported, but the number was so small
| that no figures on their performance
are given. Over three-fOurths of the
men who use gang plows also reported
the use of sulky plOws.
A comparison of an average days
work for 16-inCh sulky plows and o.
! inch gang plOws shows that so far as
horse labor is concerned the gang plow
drawn by four horses is the most eff
cient unit in both spring and fall. In
the spring this outfit covers one and a
quarter acres per day per horse, while
! both the sulky plow drawn by three
horses and the gang plow drawn by five
! horses cover one acre per day per
horse.
In the fall four horses with the gang
plOw cover 1.02 acres per horse, while
three horses on the sulky plow and
! FIVE horses on the gang plow cover sc
acre and 81 acre per horse, respec
lively. -Four horses on the sulky plOw
and six horses on the gang plow cover
70 and rs acre per horse, respectively
! The 2S-nch gang plow IS a somewhat
heavier load for six horses, the most
popular-sized team used in the fall
than is the 16-inch sulky for -four
horses but Is a lighter load than the
16inch sulky for three horses.