350 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



said that too many farmers do not buy things, but things 

 are sold to them. This is too true. Some clever salesmen 

 talk farmers into buying machines that they do not need. 

 The remedy is to realize that farming is a real business and 

 that as much business ability is required to operate a farm 

 as to operate a bank. 



The amount of machinery we have is a fair measure of 

 our civilization. The savage had only his two hands or 

 very crude tools with which to work, but now we not only 

 have learned to make and use tools, but to accumulate their 

 products. 



Questions: 



1. Give some of the reasons why- boys are interested in farm 

 machinery. 



2. Have the inventors and manufacturers of farm machinery 

 r^ndered a real service? If so, in what way? 



3. What can you say of the danger of buying too much machin- 

 ery? 



Arithmetic: 



1. If 26 hours of man labor are required to produce an acre of 

 corn yielding 40 bushels, how much man labor is required to produce 

 1 bushel of corn? How much is the labor cost of producing 1 bushel 

 of corn if man's labor is worth 25c per hour? 



2. If a boy turns a grindstone twice each week for 20 minutes 

 each time, how many hours would be spend per year turning a grind- 

 stone? How much would that time be worth at 15c per hour? 



KINDS OP POWER MACHINERY 



Horse power or other animal power was the first and is 

 the most general power used to lighten and make more 

 efficient the work of the farm. Horses have been used to 

 haul machines, as plows, harrows, mowers, etc., to trans- 

 port crops and other products to market, and to furnish 

 belt power for threshing grain, grinding feed and sawing 

 wood. Horses furnish power for running machines, by 

 working in tread-power machines or on sweep (horse power) 

 machines. Horses for furnishing belt power are now quite 

 generally displaced in favor of gas or steam engines or 

 electric motors. 



Wind mills have long been a source of farm power, par- 

 ticularly for pumping water and to some extent for grind- 

 ing feed. The fact that the wind may not blow just when 

 power is wanted has led many to prefer, at least temporarily, 



