XXIX 

 TRACTION FARMING IN THE CORN BELT 



IN THE great Northwest it is now conceded that 

 the large grower of cereals must rely on the tractor 

 to keep abreast of his fellows and the world's demand 

 for bread. But down in the corn belt, where 

 grandfather's methods are modified but slowly, the economy 

 of the tractor and its wonderful message to humanity are being 

 appreciated less fully. It is the corn belt farmer with from a 

 quarter to a half section of land who is backward in adopting 

 mechanical traction. 



Even now, on some corn belt farms, stationary and traction 

 motors of myriad kinds are performing nearly every sort of 

 farm labor plowing, seeding, harrowing, rolling, reaping, 

 binding, threshing grain, grinding corn, filling the silo. They 

 are hauling manure, shredding fodder, loading hay, unloading 

 grain, milking cows, shearing sheep, drilling wells, grading roads, 

 running spray-pumps to protect the fruit trees even doing 

 chores by carrying water and sawing wood. The gasoline 

 engine adds electric light to the conveniences of the farm, and 

 an automatic water-system instantly brings fresh water 

 sparkling from the well with a pressure equal to that of the 

 city main. 



The farmer's wife on such a farm needs but to turn a wheel, 

 throw a switch, twist a stop-cock, and be saved her hardest 

 work. Butter is again made on the farm and not in the factory. 

 The motor runs the cream separator and churn, dispensing 

 with the labor of the milk cellar and its endless array of pans 



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