WORKING THE SOIL 145 



trash below. This is a much quicker way of doing a 

 fairly good job of plowing. Such plows loosen the soil 

 and furnish the conditions required by nature; and 

 they may be operated with much less skill than the old- 

 fashioned narrow-furrowed Scotch plows. 



Good plowing requires first that the soil be in proper 

 condition to plow, neither too dry nor too wet, but no 

 man can do good plowing without the proper kind of 

 plow to fit the soil he is working with. 



PLOWING BY TRACTOR 



Under present conditions farm tractors are not in- 

 tended to replace horse power entirely but to precede 

 horses to smooth the rough places that horses may fol- 

 low with the lighter machines to add the finishing- 

 touches. Light tractors are being made, and they are 

 growing in popularity, but the real business of the 

 farm tractor is to do the heavy lugging the work that 

 kills horses and delays seeding until the growing sea- 

 son has passed. The actual power best suited to the 

 individual farm can only be determined by the nature 

 of the land and the kind of farming. 



In the Middle West where diversified farming is 

 practiced, the 8-16 and the 10-20 sizes seem to be the 

 most satisfactory, and this is without regard to the size 

 of the farm. The preponderance of heavy work will 

 naturally dictate the buying of a tractor heavier than 

 a 10-20. The amount of stationary work is a factor. 

 In certain communities heavy farm tractors are made 

 to earn dividends by running threshing machines after 

 harvest, silo fillers in the fall and limestone crushers 

 in the winter. 



Here is a classified list of jobs the medium size farm 

 tractor is good for : 



