The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-04-02
USE OF THE TRACTOR.


With the Products OIL the Land IN
great demand and Labor scarce and
commanding high wage it is not a
matter of wonder that the Small
Farmer Of the East has turned his
eyes toward the machine that for
some years has been the. Big Farm
Hand" of his Western brother. For
this demand for his crops has been
real in fact the farmer has been
made to feel that in feeding asingle
pound of grain to an animal that is
not absolutely necessary to the carry
ing on of his farming operations or
that does not contribute in a eco
nomical manner to the feeding Of the
people he commits a wrong and so,
/ say, it is small wonder that his at
tention has been directed toward a
machine that develops power, energy,
work from a substance unfit for, food
and at a cheaper rate than it can
possibly be developed from the use
of his grains.
Then too, the Labor Problem has
given an impetus as create greater
toward this same line of thought, for
not only has Labor become more
scarce with each succeeding month
but the rate of wage increase has
also been so rapid as to be far in adj
vance of any increase in the price Of
farm products; and that the tractor
is capable of supplanting an eaor-
nous amount of man-power is easily
Susceptible Of proof.
AS an illustration of this let us
consider a few of the operations
necessary ON every farm: one man
operating 8 bottom outfit should in
working day of 10 hrs. turn at
least s acres of land this is q days
work equivalent to the work of 4
men operating the ordinary horse
drawn plows for the same length of
time. One man with the. tractor
used above will disc and harrow as
much ground as 8 men using the
same tools but drawn by horses.
And so it is in all those operations
where the character of the work
itself makes it slow process neces-
sating an amount of man and horse
power uncalled for in the work that
is to follow. This is worth your
consideration. Turn back TO the
Illustrations Just given-in the first
instance theS tractor is doing the
work of IL horses and in the second
the work of at least TO-. for bear IN
mind please, that a tractor will, dur.
ing the entire day, move at greater
and more uniform speed than the
horses and will for this reason do
more work with an implement than
can be accomplished with them. It
is the old fight of Steel VS.. Stamina
and, as usual, in this case Steel wins.
What farmer is not keeping horses
to pillow and fit his ground that are
not really necessary when this work
is done?
You know the answer to that
question and it is this wo.k, this
slow expensive work, thisswork that
is so extravagant in the use of horse
and man power that the tractor is
prominently fitted to do.
To the farmer filling from 100
$50 acres of land l would say--the
tractor will not, in your case, show
such a saving of horse and man
power because you would not actual
ly employ the number of either that
the machine is capable of supplant-
ing. but with a tractor you will do
the work of aTnumber of horses and
mon that your farm can not support
at profit. Your work will be done
when you want it done, promptly
and we'll and you will be free to take
up the next task in order.
Then too there is a psychological
side to this Power-Farming that I
cannot overlook when considering
with you the problem of man power
for our farms-to the drudge, who
sees no farther than the clod he
brushes, it will mean nothing but to
the man of keen mind and willing
and capable hands the man ;ou
need and want--this wonderful ma
chine which, enables him to do the
work of numbers is great attrac-
ton. He likes to work with it; it
is accomplishing, it is doing because
he is operating it, his is the master
hand and mind because there is in
men of this kind a great admiration
for the ability to do" you will be
enabled to employ higher class OF
labor and keep it.
have said that the tractor does
it's work at cheaper rate than it
can possibly be done by horses and
men and that is true, for returning
to illustration number one. given
above. we find that in plQwing the s
acres of land in the working day Of
10 hrs. we have used, approximately
20 gals. of kerosene at 16 cents per
gallon, " gal. of gasoline at 26
cents per gallon, gal. of lubricating
Oil at So cents per gallon, 10 cents
worth of.hard grease, l plowshare at
81, wear and tear on machine at
$1.5O. to which must be added the