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and the rate of speed at which they moved were dependent 

 on the endurance and speed of the horse. The horse's upper 

 limit was about two and a half miles per hour for about ten 

 hours a day. 



The farmer produced food first for himself, second for his 

 horses, and third for market. With the advent of the internal- 

 combustion engine, the farmer produced some food for him- 

 self, and the rest of it went to the city. The horses were dis- 

 posed of or, if kept, were put on reduced rations. As far 

 as feed is concerned, horses have become the "submerged 

 tenth," the animal contemporary of the downtrodden human 

 third. 



Modern Machinery Revolutionized Farming 



With the coming of the tractor, truck, and automobile, 

 farm work was speeded up. The number of plows and the size 

 of the cultivators were increased. The grain binder gave way 

 to the combine. The factor that limited speed and working 

 hours was no longer the endurance of the horse ; it was work- 

 ing conditions and the endurance of the farmer and his fam- 

 ily. Working with lights and operated in shifts, the modern 

 tractor pulls a gang plow at four miles per hour for twenty- 

 two hours a day. 



By improving his equipment the farmer greatly increased 

 the production of food per farm worker. In fact, the machines 

 made the farmer so efficient and made his time so valuable 

 during the growing season that he produced less for himself 

 and began to eat out of tin cans and off the meat counters 

 and grocery shelves and out of the baker's ovens just like his 

 city cousin. 



These increases in efficiency are rather different, in point 

 of fact, from what they appear. A common fallacy is to com- 

 pare the amount of wheat that a farmer can raise with a trac- 

 tor and combine with the amount he can raise with horses 



