The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1920-06-21
THE DAY OF POWER
FARMING is HERE


work and have it done on time. Sew
en- times $l72 are $1,204, the actual
feed cost of maintaining seven horses
on the farm at the present price of
hay and grain. Add to this the cost
of the care of the horses and you have
more accurae figure. What would
have been the difference in the profits
of the farm had this feed been used to
make beef, milk and pork?
The Savings in Man Power.
Then comes the difference in the cx-
pcnse of man power with the two
methods Of farming. No two farmers
on the same work from a hired man.
but under ordinary conditions to oper-
ate 100 acres of titled land requires one
hired man for the entire year and adj.
dltlonal ones for eight months. We
were fortunate last season in getting
a good man for SOS month. and it
cost us SIS per month to board him.
This made $1,000 for the year. Adding
$40 for the extra man made a total
Tor hired help Of $1,000.
with a good three bottom outfit
and the other necessary tools, one
tractor will do allthe spring ti!line
on 100 acres Of land in thirty DAYS.
and one man can handle that amount
of land alone by the addition of a
motor cultivator to his tractor equip
ment, and also find time to do enough
work for his neighbors to enable him
oget from them the necessary man
labor to help him through his harvest
and save in cost better than $1,000
per year.
The item of depreciation and re,
pairs differ widely with different oper-
ators, but experience has taught that
the depreciation Of tractor does not
dittcr greatly from that which the
tractor replaces.
The third reason why I believe in
power farming is thatit enables the
farmer to get his work done on time
and IN better condition than with
horses. In the spring, as well as all
through the summer, the good days
count. A crop in on time, or one five
days late, sometimes means the differ
ence between good crop and a fail
urc. A crop cultivated on time, or af-
ter the weeds have a start. has the
same difference. The farmer on the
small farm is entirely independent of
the dilatory hired help.
Then the fourth reason why l be-
lievc i'll power farming is the relation
1t has to the best crop on the farm.
How many of the farmer BOYS would
have stayed on the farm had the farm
lie been made more attractive for
them and the drudgery of the bows
who love the country, the live stock
and farm work, but they are com
ing to mature judgment, they some
tunes see conditions in their true
light, but oftentimes they are turned
away from the farm long before this
change comes.
Make Farm Life More Attractive.
Put the average farm boy on a good
tractor, where he sees three burrows
turned behind him instead of one in
front of him. AT the end accomplish
ing as much work in a day as he for
merly did in week There is a throb
OF the machine that goes through
MS VEINS as he leaves it. He sees the
work being done and realize he will
have time to go fishing or to the ball
game, pleasures that his paternal boss
never thought were possible before.
Let the atmosphere of the power
farm prcdominate in other lines as
well as the tractor. Let the engine
grind or turn theg rindstone, saw the |
wood, and hundred other things that
were the bane of the boys existence
and IN nine cases out of ten you will |
ind the boy pulsatnig with energy
and developing ideas in his fertile
brain that do not come to us who
are farther along in life-'s journey.
Apply the same power idea to the
ableweOe--matli sfiofpwelling 40 tao
household. If the g'rl finds the drudg-
cry of the washing, churning and
sweeping taken away, the house has
more charm than it seemed possible
for it to hold for her. The children
on the farm are the farmers best
crop, and there is no one addition to
the farm equipment that will make
these children love the farm home
like the application of power to every
branch of farm operations.
IA -