716 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



States 5.5 bushels of wheat were produced per capita. In 1850 it had fallen 

 to 4.4. About this time improved harvesting and threshing machinery was 

 developed and the production per capita increased rapidly. In 1880 it 

 was 9.16 bushels per capita, and in 1915 it was 10 bushels per capita. 



Although the wage of farm labor has doubled or trebled, the cost of 

 production has decreased. The amount of labor required to produce a 

 bushel of wheat by hand implements was a little over three hours. 

 Improved machinery has reduced it to less than ten minutes. 



Machinery has also improved the quality of farm products. Short- 

 ening the time of operations enables the farmer to plant his crops at the 



proper time, thus 

 insuring full ma- 

 turity. Shorten- 

 ing the harvesting 

 period enables 

 him to gather the 

 crop when fully 

 matured and with 

 the minimum loss. 

 Tillage Ma- 

 chinery. — The 

 plow takes first 

 rank in tillage im- 

 plements. It is 

 estimated that 

 more power is 

 required to plow 

 the fields of North 

 America than is 

 used in all the fac- 

 tories. While the 

 plow is a very old 



implement, the steel plow, the sulky plow and the disk plow are implements 

 of recent development. These are modified in form and construction to 

 adapt them to different kinds of soil and the power available for doing the 

 work. The mold-board plow is most universally used. It should be highly 

 polished and kept reasonably sharp in order to perform its work with the 

 minimum power. Rolling coulters, standing coulters and jointers are 

 attached to more completely cover trash, prevent clogging or reduce the 

 draft. 



Disk plows are adapted to a dry soil and to land heavily covered with 

 vegetation. They have been recently modified so that one disk follows 

 the other in such a way that it increases the depth of plowing to 12 or 14 

 inches and mixes the subsoil with the surface soil. 



One Type of Sulky Plow. 1 



1 Courtesy of The Janesville Machine Company, Janesville, Wis. 



