EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 195 



HOW MUCH DOES GREASING THE AXLES REDUCE THE DRAFT? 



Two trials were made to determine tlie draft of a wagon on the level gravel road 

 with the stated load. The draft on the average was 188 pounds. The wheels were 

 then removed, the grease wiped from the skeins and boxes of the wheels and a 

 little grit added. The wagon was then drawn over the course three times showing 

 an average draft of 2.30 pounds, an increase of 42 pounds, or 22..34 per cent. , 



DRAFT OF SUBSOILERS. 



Late in the fall of 1896 a test was made of the draft of two forms of subsoil 

 plows. In one case the loosening of the subsoil was accomplished by forcing through 

 it a flat tongue-shaped piece of steel. In the other curved teeth stir up the subsoil. 

 Three teeth were used, each approximately an inch in width and so curved as to dig 

 .0 a considerable depth below the bottom of the furrow left by the ordinary plow. 

 Subsoiler No. 1 was provided with a wheel which maintained a uniform depth; No. 

 2, with the curved teeth, and no appliance for regulating the depth, and in practice 

 it was found impossible to lieep it from gouging in deep in the softer places and run- 

 ning somewhat shallower than desired in others. 



The average draft on four trials of each subsoiler at an average depth of ten inches 

 Iielow the bottom of the furrow left by the ordinary plow was for No. 1, 504 pounds 

 and for No. 2, 606 pounds. To draw a subsoil plow is, therefore, very heavy work 

 for a team. 



THE DRAFT OF SPRING TOOTH HARROWS. 



A test, comparative in its nature, was made with a floating spring tooth harrow 

 having fifteen teeth and a riding spring tooth harrow with seventeen teeth. The lat- 

 ter covered a width of five feet and nine inches between the outside teeth; the float 

 harrow was a little narrower. The test was made on a freshly plowed sandy loam, 

 the depth tiiree inches. With the driver riding, the draft of the wheel harrow, 

 average of fottr trials, was 513 potmds; with the driver walking the draft was 346 

 pounds as the average of four trials. The draft of the floating harrow under the 

 same conditions was 402 pounds. 



On an unplowed compact loam, harrowing to a depth of four inches, two trials 

 gave an average draft of 570 pounds with the driver on the seat and 513 pounds 

 as the average with the driver walking. Under the same conditions the average of 

 two trials with the floating harrow was 60S pounds. These tests go to show that 

 the weight of the driver adds very materially to the draft on loose soil, but makes 

 less difference on compact ground. They show also that the wheel harrow, the 

 driver walking, does its work with less draft than the float harrow, the gain being 

 much more appreciable upon compact than upon loose soil. 



It is fair to presume that the draft of these harrows is approximately the same as 

 that of harrows in general. It is no wonder that exerting such a continuous and 

 heavy force in addition to the labor of traveling over soft ground makes harrowing 

 one of the hardest jobs for a team on the farm. In the test of wagons with a gross 

 load of 4,500 pounds, in only a few cases did the draft exceed the average of the 

 harrow test. In plowing to a depth of six inches the draft rarely exceeded 350 

 pounds and the average is probably below 300 pounds. 



The modern harrows pulverize the soil very completely and as a consequence must 

 draw hard. They are suited rather for three or even four horses than for two. 



THE DRAFT OF MOWERS. 



On the 7th of .July a test of the draft of two five-foot cut mowers was made in a 

 field of clover and timothy where the yield of hay was approximately two tons per 

 acre. The machines were unlike in the mechanism adopted to drive the cutter bar. 

 Both machines were new at the beginning of the season and had had practically 

 the same usage previous to the test. The knives were sharp. Each machine was 

 given three trials with the following averages: No. 1, 244 pounds and No. 2, 246 

 pounds. These figures show about the draft required by a five-foot cut mower on 

 reasonably level ground, in medium heavy grass. 



