262 POWER AND THE PLOW 



firm earth. Instead of acres baking in the sun and air as they 

 await the moisture-saving harrow, there is a swift and easy 

 crumbling of the soil, a quick pressing of the earth back to its 

 place and a protective mantle of dust to guard the treasured 

 moisture. Measured in moisture or in money, the cost is less 

 than by the former methods. 



From the moment spring work begins, moments are precious. 

 The grain which is sown to-day may yield a fourth more than 

 what we sow to-morrow after a day's rapid loss of moisture. 

 Two weeks' difference in time of seeding often spells the dif- 

 ference between glowing success and complete failure. At 

 harvest time the early-cut grain contains a greater percentage 

 of gluten and brings a higher grade and price on the market. 

 Early threshing saves deterioration of the crops through ex- 

 posure, and the early bird at the railway station catches the 

 cars before the annual shortage. The tractor can plow fifty 

 acres in twenty-four hours, disk or seed a hundred, harvest 

 two hundred. It will thresh 10 acres 200 bushels in an 

 hour, and at one trip haul two carloads to the railway. The 

 searchlight of the engine gleams through the dark hours of the 

 night while the tired horse rests in his stall for the work of the 

 morrow. Even threshing, which has been confined to the time 

 between dawn and twilight, may now continue through the 

 darkness under the glare of electric lights. Current from a 

 small motor and a portable lighting plant thus doubles the 

 service of the farmer's equipment and lessens the overhead 

 cost of farming. 



The handling of the drill is work for the four-horse team 

 play for the tractor. Another team must follow the drill to 

 draw the packer, another to harrow three teams and three 

 men. Three times three teams and three men must cross the 

 field to equal the work of a small tractor and two men, with 

 drills, packers, and harrows in tow. Where seeding follows 

 quickly after plowing, a disk ahead of the drill wipes out the 

 wheel tracks of the engine and mellows the soil; the drill drops 



