The Washington herald., 1920-04-25
Modern Agriculturists All
Coming to Tractors, Says
A. Wade Wells.
AN ECONOMIC FAILURE.
Government Reports Show
Keep Costs More Than
Value of Service.

"The horse Is dying hard. but
nevertheless he is surely dying out
as a power unit on the farms of
America. declares A. Wade Wells,
sales manager of the Farm Utilities
Corporation, 1115 Fourteenth street
northwest, distributors of the Mid
, west Utilitor.
Many farmers and more especial
ly horse breeders. are trying to de-
lude themselves into the idea that
the farm horse will never be rele-
gated to the extreme rear. An in
dication of this was brought out at
the recent convention of draft horse
breeders held in Indianapolis. Dur
! ing this convention the president of
bthe association issued an Interview
in the Indianapolis newspapers in
which he asserted. The time will
never come when We can get along
without horses on the farm. They
! still furnish nine-tenths of the farm
power and Will continue to do So.
Good Animals Scarce.
In continuing his interview. this
horse breeder admitted that there is
scarcity OF good farm horses of
the draft type. we have plenty of
inferior animals and those of the
! poorer grades this breeder says,
but there is a noticeable shortage
of good animals and the demand for
good horses is becoming heavy
with the prices rising
Without knowing it." continued
Mr.. Wells, this breeder has pro-
vided the one best argument against
the use of horses on the farm. The
! ri iGin
he admits. And he further admits
that good horses are scarce. He
might well have pointed out facts
shown in government reports that
horses of all grades are more tina n
a million in number less now than
two or three years ago.
This breeder might have learned
from government reports that the
horse has proved to be an economic
failure on the farm. The govern
ment figures compiled before the
war show that it cost $3.50 a year
to keep a horse. and this figure
should be doubled now. And then
this report shows that 40 per cent
of the farmers total working ex-
penses are chargeable to the use of
horses.
"IneHcIency" Middle Name.
'Ineff1ciency is the horses middle
name. too. 1t is commonly. allowed
that the horse can only pun a little
more than his own weight. While
1,2O0-pound horse may possibly
develop power equivalent to four
horses by mechanical test, at the
same time this power can be ex-
erted and applied for only a short
space.
! The horse, -eats--lrhat is -eauiva-
lent to one fourth Of the crops he
produces, and he delivers but from
to , per cent of the energy con-
tanned in the food he consumes
The horse works on an average OF
but 100 days in a year-and has
to be cared for and fed 365 days in
the year.
You may say, What of it? We
always have had horses and al.
ways will have Perhaps; but
am talking about the use of horses
in the laborious task of producing
the great food crops OF the nation
Tractors Less Expensive.
with tractors now recognized n:
efficient and dependable power units
assert that there is no longer al
excuse for keeping horses to rais'
corn to feed horses to raise more
corn for horse .feed. 1t Is an end
less, very expensive and highly in
! efficient cycle that the farmer ha!
already stood for too long.
Concerns like the Midwest En-
gine Company, which has a record o
building dependable power units TO
half a century. cannot afford to mar
ket a product and leave the buye
to his own devices. That is VIII,
we place service really ahead o
! sales-and keep 1t there"
The first transcontinental run from