14 POWER AND THE PLOW 



and in Asia Minor, the "Ship of the Desert" is made to turn 

 the inland soil. 



The ox is the major source of power in Mexico, Central and 

 South America, and in many of the rough and stony portions 

 of the coast countries. We find him often on the Western 

 plains, relieving the shortage of power. The ox is still better 

 adapted to some conditions of work than the horse. He 

 is deservedly popular among the rocky hills of New England, 

 where docility, slow but powerful movement, and a sure foot 

 are valuable characteristics. On the other hand, the steer 

 at work moves at about two thirds the speed of the ordinary 

 farm horse, and pulls only an equal load. He is not adapted 

 to a faster pace for quick transportation, and was long ago 

 dethroned by the swifter horse. South of Mason and Dixon's 

 line the mule and the ox probably equal the horse in numbers. 

 However, in the United States as a whole, the horse far out- 

 numbers all other beasts of burden and may be considered as 

 the standard draft animal. 



After a struggle of forty years the traction engine has found 

 a permanent place in the plowing field. We now find American 

 traction engines plowing large areas in our own West, in Canada, 

 Russia, and the Argentine. English steam tractors have long 

 been in use in all parts of the world. Steam engines in use 

 for plowing undoubtedly outnumber gas tractors, even in North 

 America, where the latter have been increasing jnost rapidly 

 in numbers. But the internal combustion, or gas, tractor is 

 coming rapidly into favor, and possibly this year, for the first 

 time, its sale will surpass that of the steam tractor in the 

 plowing field. The majority of gas tractors built are now used 

 for plowing, whereas many small steam tractors are built sim- 

 ply for threshing in the Central and Eastern states. The use 

 of the electric motor for plowing is as yet confined to a few iso- 

 lated localities in Europe, notably in Germany and Italy. 



