July, 1 9 10 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



269 



have had the horseless street car for twenty years, the Coupled to a two-furrow, 14-inch gang plow, it turned over 



"horseless carriage" for ten, and now we have the horse- 1.06 acres in i hour 25 minutes on a consumption equiva- 



less farm. May we hope some day for the horseless city? lent to 3.36 gallons of gasoline per acre. This would 



While the foregoing examples are isolated cases and amount to about 50 cents an acre for fuel. In a ten-hour 



apply to farming on an ex- 

 tensive scale with ample 

 capital, they point to great 

 possibilities for the future 

 use of self-propelled ve- 

 hicles in farm work, utiliz- 

 ing gasoline, kerosene, or 

 denatured alcohol as fuel. 

 The farmer with a small 

 acreage who would not be 

 justified in buying a motor 

 tractor for his own use, will 

 be able to hire his plowing 

 and threshing done by com- 

 panies operating motor 

 tractors, as for many years 

 he has had his threshing 

 done by itinerant steam 

 threshing outfits. And, in- 

 cidentally, the work will be 

 done cheaper, there will be 

 no danger of fire from fly- 

 ing sparks, there will be 



[<f> 



A high-wheeled farm wagon on the road 



day, J j/j acres could be 

 plowed for about S3.25, 

 not including labor. 



This wagon tractor is a 

 very interesting vehicle. It 

 was designed particularly 

 for farm purposes by men 

 who are familiar with the 

 peculiar requirements, and 

 combines in one machine a 

 truck for carrying loads on 

 its own body, a tractor for 

 drawing plows and other 

 farm machinery, and a 

 power plant for driving 

 threshing machines, hay 

 balers and other stationary 

 machinery by belt. It wjll 

 take the place of several 

 teams and wagons on the 

 farm. 



Nowadays, on the farm 

 as well as in the manufac- 



little or no water to haul, and there will be fewer men tory, it is necessary to do the largest amount of work m 



to feed. the shortest time in order to make an undertaking sue- 



In this country, as well as in England and France, there cessful. This is recognized by the progressive farmer and 



are large companies that make a specialty of building small farm machinery builders, and to a large extent the advan- 



farm tractors for universal tractive and stationary power tages of the motor car and motor tractor are appreciated 



work. A company in Minneapolis makes an 8-horse-power- by builders of farm wagons and buggies. Most of the 



tractor weighing 5,500 pounds for such work as operating 



hay presses, corn shellers, etc., and for drawing wagons 



and portable machines of this class on the road. In York, 



Pa., is another large company that makes motor tractors 



and traction engines in ten sizes, from 1,000 to 36,000 



pounds in weight. The smallest is rated at i^ to 2 



horse-power, and is intended for all sorts of farm 



work, such as hauling the stone-boat, churning, pump- 

 ing, feed cutting, etc. 



American motor tractors used for plowing and 



threshing usually develop from 12 to 35 horse-power 



and weigh from 5,000 to 20,000 pounds. They haul 



gang plows 



turning 

 from two to 

 eight f u r- 

 rows at a 

 time. One 

 of these — a 

 I 5 - horse - 

 power trac- 

 tor built by 

 the largest 

 h a r vesting 

 mac hinery 

 company in 

 the w^orld — 

 plowed 1.09 

 acres of 

 "gum b o" 

 soil with a 

 three - f u r- 



Half a dozen cases of milk are carried to the creamery and the 

 empty cans are quickly returned 



row, 1 2-inch bottom plow in an hour and a quarter on a 

 consumption of i >4 gallons of gasoline per acre at an in- 

 ternational competition held in Winnipeg last July. 



A "wagon tractor," built in Peoria by a great agricul- 

 tural implement works for general utility purposes in the transmission, etc., besides which it is a very speedy and a 

 field and on the road, was tested at the same trials, powerful car 



leaders in these fields are now offering their customers a 

 motor buggy, a motor car, a motor wagon, or a motor 

 tractor. 



While all the above-mentioned machines are driven by 



gasoline en- 

 gines, men- 

 tion should 

 be made of 

 a steam au- 

 t o mob i 1 e 

 produced by 

 a firm that 

 used to build 

 sewing ma- 

 chines, but 

 which has 

 made an un- 

 excelled rep- 

 utation i n 

 the steam 

 motor ve- 

 hicle line 

 during the 

 past decade. The power plant of this com- 

 pany's $2,000 touring car consists of a com- 

 pound steam engine, the steam for which is 

 supplied by a "flash" boiler heated by a liquid- 

 fuel burner. In place &f gasoline, kerosene oil 

 is now used for fuel with success, and as the lat- 

 ter Is universally used for lighting purposes in 

 the country districts, fuel for the auto is always 

 available. For the use of those farmers who 

 know nothing about a gasoline engine, but who are familiar 

 with steam machinery, the above-mentioned car will prob- 

 ably be preferable. It has all the improvements of the 

 up-to-date gasoline machines, such as shaft drive, two-speed 



With a reel of wire and a box of tools, the 

 pasture fence is quickly repaired 



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