STEAM IMPLEMENTS FOR DRY-FARMING 323 



dous weight that they press down the soil very com- 

 pactly along their path and in that way defeat one of 

 the important purposes of tillage. Another objection 

 to them is that at present their construction is such as 

 to result in continual breakages. While these break- 

 ages in themselves are small and inexpensiA^e, they 

 mean the cessation of all farming operations during 

 the hour or day required for repairs. A large crew 

 of men is thus left more or less idle, to the serious in- 

 jury of the work and to the great expense of the 

 owner. Undoubtedly, the traction engine has a 

 place in dry-farming, but it has not yet been perfected 

 to such a degree as to make it satisfactory. On heavy 

 soils it is much more useful than on light soils. When 

 the traction engine works satisfactorily, plowing may 

 be done at a cost considerably lower than when 

 horses are employed. (See Fig. 72.) 



In England, Germany, and other European coun- 

 tries some of the difficulties connected with plowing 

 have been overcome by using two engines on the two 

 opposite sides of a field. These engines move syn- 

 chronously together and, by means of large cables, 

 plows, harrows, or seeders, are pulled back and forth 

 over the field. This method seems to give good satis- 

 faction on many large estates of the old world. Mac- 

 donald reports that such a system is in successful 

 operation in the Transvaal in South Africa and is 

 doing work there at a very low cost. The large initial 

 cost of such a system will, of course, prohibit its use 



