86 4. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



im 



lands and in going to and from their 

 work. We think this is a good average 

 days' work ; full as much as can be ex- 

 pected of any good team. A team 

 hauling a load on a solid road will travel 

 more miles in a day ; but in plowing 

 we must take into consideration numer- 

 ous stoppages that take in the aggregate 

 no little amount of time. The teams that 

 work the two spaders are no more than 

 a fair average of farm teams, either as 

 to size or speed, and we therefore think 

 the result will prove a fair average of 

 what may be expected of the perform- 

 ance of the spaders. We have seen 

 various figures and estimates in this 

 connection, some of which make the 

 work an acre to the hour. Doubtless 

 thiis can be done for an hour, but we 

 prefer the actual showing of a month's 

 work as above. 



We should have stated that the small 

 spader has worked twenty-six and one- 

 fourth days, doing the same amount of 

 work as the other ; in fact, they both 

 work on the same land and j erform the 

 same number of "bouts" each. Here 

 is three hundred and twenty acres, or 

 half a section, spaded with the use of 

 eight horses and two men. They have 

 but to work eighteen days more at the 

 same rate to save in labor the cost of 

 the two machines, four hundred dollars. 



THE SAVING- OF LABOR. 



We see that one man and four horses 

 spade as much in a day as three men 

 and six horses turn over with the plow, 

 making the saving of one team and two 

 men, which will stand thus : 



1 day team and man $3 00 



1 day team 1 50 



$4 50 



Spading six acres at the cost of sev- 

 enty-five cents per acre : 



8 days team and three men $9 00 



or one dollar and a half per acre ; thus 

 making a saving of one-half in the cost 

 of plowing, without taking into account 

 the extra cost of the spader, but this 

 we offset against the cost of sharpening 

 the plow, which expense is not requir- 

 ed in the spade tines, as they are self 

 sharpening. The three dollars a day 

 cha,rged is intended to cover the use of 

 team, spader and wages of the man. 



The spader pulverizes the soil to the 

 depth of eight inches, while the average 

 of spring plowing for corn is not to ex- 

 ceed four inches. We are not disposed 

 in this connection to speculate on the 

 difference in value of the two modes of 

 preparing the soil, but prefer to leave it 

 to the actual fact of the crop, as seven- 

 ty-five acres hare been plowed and 

 spaded in alternate steps of one hundred 

 and thirty feet wide, an amount suffi- 

 cient for a pretty thorough test. The 

 saving of labor as stated we do not think 

 can be controverted. 



ox TEAM SPADEE8, 



Two other spaders are used with ox 

 teams. One of these is three feet wide, 

 with a diameter of seventeen inches. 

 The speed of the oxen being slow, not 

 exceeding one and a half miles an hour, 

 the motion of the machine must be reg- 

 ulated by a less diameter. To this ma- 

 chine was attached three yoke of oxen, 

 and in fourteen days had averaged four 

 acres a day or fifty-six acres. Neither 

 yoke of these cattle could have handled 

 a common plow to do good work. This 

 spader had eight forks with six tines 

 each. The other spader was made three 

 feet and eight inches wide, intended for 

 the width of a corn row, to which was 

 to be attached a corn planter. This 

 had not been done, though the idea is 

 not abandoned. This spader has also 

 eight forks but no increase of tine^ the 



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