FARM ENGINES. 299 



FARM ENGINES. 



The use of steam on the farm for such purposes as cutting fodder, 

 pumping water, grinding grain and threshing is now quite common, 

 and, as the economy and simplicity of this power is better under- 

 stood, it is certain that its use will be very much extended. The 

 heavier work, such as plowing, harrowing, and especially the deep 

 grubbing of heavy clay and gravelly hard pan soils, will no doubt, 

 before long, be done by steam power, and this more effective work 

 will greatly help to make the farm pay. For as horse power is much 

 cheaper than human power, so steam is cheaper than horses, and it 

 has the advantage that when it is not at work it has not to be fed, 

 nor is an engine subject to disease which shortens the useful life of a 

 horse so much. 



A recent experience in the use of plowing by steam both in Kansas 

 and in Dakota holds out the most sanguine hopes that in such 

 localities and under such conditions as prevail there, steam engines 

 will yet be used for plowing with economy and advantage. The re- 

 quirements are large fields, fairly level ground, and such suitable 

 plows as may be best fitted for the work. The engine here repre- 



ECLIPSE POKTA.BLE ENGINE. 



sented is the one which has been used in both these cases. It has 

 drawn a gang of eight plows, cutting a furrow four inches deep in 

 raw prairie soil, at a cost of one dollar per acre, and plowing twenty- 

 oive acres in ten hours. The saving in cost, although very important, 

 is not so great an item as the rapidity with which the work can be 

 pushed forward in the short seasons, and another great advantage is 

 that a very large force of men and animals are not required to be 



