544 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



S team-Power. For large farms, such as many of the extensive ones in the Western 

 States and other portions of the country, steam can be used to great advantage as a motive 

 power, and a steam-engine becomes one of the necessary farm implements. Steam-engines 

 for such purposes may be stationary or portable, each having their peculiar advantages; the 

 latter for most uses being, of course, the most desirable. 



The past few years have been conspicuously marked by the extensive increase in this 

 country in the use of steam-power in connection with agriculture, and numerous manufac 

 tories of farm engines have sprung up throughout the different sections, showing the largely- 

 increasing demand for such power. The introduction of steam-engines on farms has been 

 greatly facilitated by their cheaper and simpler form, the various improvements made, besides 

 greater ease in their management. 



The smaller and lower-priced engines of two or three horse-power may be used for cut 

 ting or grinding feed, pumping water, sawing wood, driving small threshing-machines, and 

 churning in large dairies, while the larger ones are extensively employed for large threshing- 

 machines, for itinerant work, or for extensive farms. We learn from reliable sources that 

 twenty or more large agricultural engines are in use by Mr. Dalrymple in his operations in 

 wheat farming on his extensive and noted farm, commonly known as the &quot;Dalrymple Farm,&quot; 

 in Dakota, and which contains about a hundred thousand acres. A good stationary engine for 

 farm use can be procured at a comparatively low price, and in those portions of the country 

 where fuel is cheap and abundant they may be used quite extensively as a motive power for 

 driving various farm machines. Of course, it is essential to safety and the successful use of 

 an engine, that the person having it in charge should perfectly understand the business, and 

 use it with discretion and care, to prevent accident. 



Engines may be made nearly self -regulating, and thus less liable to explosions; but in any 

 case, if the manager of it is careless or indifferent, the machine might be soon ruined, and its 

 owner meet with a heavy loss in consequence. Efficient and careful management, in any de 

 partment of the farm, pays best and brings in the end the most satisfactory results. An 

 engine may also be utilized in steaming food for stock, cooking roots, etc., when desired. 



Steam-power has been used, to a considerable extent, as is commonly known, for plow- 

 ing in England, for several years, but to only a limited extent in our own country; yet we 

 predict that the time is not far distant when most of the plowing will be done by steam on 

 the larger farms, such as are found on the extensive prairies of the West, or on the large 

 plantations in many portions of the South. The testimony of large landholders in England 

 who have used steam-power extensively is, that it is less expensive than horse-power; but, of 

 course, it would not prove as economical for a small farm. 



In many localities where the farms are not sufficiently large to warrant each farmer in 

 the purchase of an engine or horse-power, the plan of mutual ownership can be profitably 

 adopted. By this means, a few farmers doing a small business, whose lands are near or 

 adjacent, may purchase the machine in company, and thus, at a comparatively slight expense, 

 each may derive nearly as much benefit from it as though owning it entirely. 



In other cases, a single individual may own a machine and make it very profitable in 

 going from farm to farm doing itinerant work in threshing, etc., for his neighbors. When 

 moving on the road, a self-propelling engine is usually guided by a pair of horses, as shown 

 on the following pages, which represent engines manufactured by C. & G. Cooper & Co., Mt. 

 Vernon, Ohio. It is much cheaper and more convenient to guide or steer an engine on the 

 road by one or two horses, than by any mechanical means; besides, the horses are a reserved 

 force which may be employed to take the engine along in case anything should occur to render 

 such assistance necessary, as, for instance, provided any part of the machinery should get out 

 of repair on the way to the field. 



