244 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



cess. Until something breaks or gives out, one of 

 these plows does its appointed work better and 

 cheaper than such work is or can be done by animal 

 power ; but all the steam-plows whereof I have any 

 knowledge seem too bulky, too complicated, too 

 costly, ever to win their way into general use. I 

 value them only as hints and incitements toward 

 something better suited to the purpose. 



What our farmers need is not a steam-plow as a 

 specialty, but a locomotive that can travel with fa- 

 cility, not only on common wagon-roads, but across 

 even freshly-plowed fields, without embarrassment, 

 and prove as docile to its manager's touch as an aver- 

 age span of horses. Such a locomotive should not 

 cost more then $500, nor weigh more than a tun 

 when laden with fuel and water for a half-hour's 

 steady work. It should be so contrived that it may 

 be hitched in a minute to a plow, a harrow, a wagon, 

 or cart, a saw or grist-mill, a mower or reaper, a 

 thresher or stalk-cutter, a stump or rock-puller, and 

 made useful in pumping and draining operations, 

 digging a cellar or laying up a wall, as also in ditch- 

 ing or trenching. We may have to wait some years 

 yet for a servant so dexterous and docile, yet I feel 

 confident that our children will enjoy and appreciate 

 his handiwork. 



The farmer often needs far more power at one sea- 

 son than at another, and is compelled to retain and 

 subsist working animals at high cost through months 

 in which he has no use for them, because he must 



