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Either a traction engine or a stationary engine is 

 used. The former is run back and forth across the 

 field dragging behind it a gang plow with six to 

 twelve plows. A 25 -horse-power engine is commonly 

 used. A steam plow outfit complete costs from 

 $2,000 to $4,000. It is run by two men and plow- 

 ing usually costs about 50 cents an acre as against 

 75 cents to $1 by team. The stationary engine 

 runs the gang plow by means of wire cables. The 

 traction engine has been found more practicable 

 in this country than the stationary engine, but the 

 latter is used more commonly in Europe. There, 

 too, electricity is used as a power for plowing. 

 Some German fields are plowed with power se- 

 cured from an electric trolley which is stretched 

 above the field, giving, it is claimed, a cheaper 

 and more satisfactory power than steam. 



Steam, electricity or any other machinery power 

 will not become a very important feature in Amer- 

 ican plowing for many years to come, except 

 in the West. It is solely a question of economics 

 what kind of power is cheapest. Horses and 

 mules are the cheapest power at present on the 

 majority of American farms. We would naturally 

 expect that machine power will first become 

 practicable in this country where farming is done 

 on a very large scale, and where the land is suffi- 

 ciently level to make machine plowing feasible. 

 The great farms of the western plains furnish these 

 conditions and here steam plows are becoming 

 common. However, in view of the recent astonish- 

 ing developments in farm machinery, it would not 

 be surprising to see within a quarter of a century 

 some kind of a small power plow adapted for the 

 farmer who tills less tnan a mmdred acres. One 

 can even imagine the small farmer of fifty years 



