CHAPTER XV. 



POWER ON THE FARM. 



The use of some form of power upon farms has fre- 

 quently been recommended in the past, but never before 

 has its use been more urgent than at the present time. 

 The increasing scarcity of labor, the rapid increase of 

 hand separators and silos, and the general convenience 

 it affords, have made power an actual necessity upon 

 progressive dairy farms. 



The kind of power needed upon a dairy farm depends 

 upon certain conditions. If a tread power is used for 

 exercising the bull, this will serve satisfactorily for sep- 

 arating milk, pumping water, and doing other light work. 

 Where a milk house is used and butter is made upon the 

 farm a small steam engine may be made to do any light 

 work economically. But the use of either the tread power 

 or the small steam engine fails to provide the necessary 

 power for cutting corn for the silo, sawing wood, grind- 

 ing feed, or doing other heavy work. 



Every modern dairy farm must have a silo, and it is 

 at silo filling time that we usually experience the great- 

 est need for some form of power. With none of our own 

 we are obliged to hire or borrow, a practice which often 

 compels us to wait till the corn is past its prime. More- 

 over it is frequently impossible to hire power, no matter 

 how much we may wish to do so. Where good silage is 

 desired it should be made at the proper time, and this 

 can be done with certainty only when we own the power. 



Where power for the heavier work can not be con- 



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