THE USES OF WOOD 



155 



machinery solved the labor problem, made farming profit- 

 able, and opened the way for the utilization of the 

 abundance of cheap lands. 



It would be interesting to follow in detail the develop- 

 ment of farming due to the invention of machines, but 

 it is not necessary to do so. The remarkable results are 

 well known. The farmer once did well to plow an acre a 

 day, and now the largest power plows will do a hundred 

 acres a day. The farmer once harvested half an acre a 

 day with a sickle. The combined harvester now does a 

 hundred times as much. Similar improvements are found 

 along the whole line of farming. Implements are respon- 



f or the scrap pile in four or five years ; but it is due to 

 no fault or failure of the machine. Lack of protection 

 against rain and sun is responsible. The machine is 

 often left exposed to weather for days or weeks while 

 not in service, and the metal parts become pitted with 

 rust and the wood is attacked by decay. After that 

 happens, a little time is all that is needed to complete the 

 destruction. On some farms the aggregation of machines 

 in the barnyard or elsewhere looks like an accumulation 

 of junk. That is unprofitable farming and is on a par 

 with the habit of leaving, horses, cattle, and sheep with- 

 out shelter in winter. When machines are thus neglected, 



THREE IMPORTANT MACHINES 



This picture shows three important machines a mower, a windrower and a loader and some of the best wood in America appears in their 

 construction. They have replaced the scythe, hand rake and pitchfork, and have done it within the past century. Photograph by courtesy of the 

 International Harvester Company, Chicago. 



sible for the change, and it is interesting to note wood's 

 part in the great agricultural implement industry. It is 

 safe to affirm that the development of this industry could 

 never have occurred in the treeless regions of Mesopo- 

 tamia, Argentina, or China, though the land, the people, 

 and the necessity are there. The lack of suitable woods 

 for machines would have hindered invention and dis- 

 couraged manufacture, though iron might have been 

 abundant. Conditions and resources were just right in 

 the United States, with the result that we have out- 

 stripped all the rest of the world in the invention and 

 manufacture of agricultural implements. 



More farm machines are destroyed by rust and rot 

 than by wear and work. With protection and care, im- 

 plements should serve twenty years, with only an occa- 

 sional replacement of those parts subject to excessive 

 wear. Instead of twenty years, the average life of a 

 binder is twelve years, and of drills, seeders, and rakes 

 ten years. In many instances such a machine is ready 



it becomes an even race between the wooden parts and 

 the metal to determine which will be ruined first. 



Too many farmers take poor care of machinery even 

 when they do the best they know, because they under- 

 stand few of the principles on which machines are built. 

 They do not know how to keep the correlated parts in 

 order or properly adjusted. That condition is slowly 

 passing, however; largely because agricultural colleges 

 are giving instruction in the care and operation of ma- 

 chines, and the conditions on farms are improving. 

 Implements are giving better and longer service, and 

 profitable use is leading to greater use. 



When farmers have a better understanding of the 

 good points of machines, manufacturers will make better 

 machines. The tendency is to furnish the best that farm- 

 ers will buy and use. It has always been the rule that 

 manufacturers have given more thought to the making 

 of implements than farmers to using them. 



