52 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



of engineers and two sets of water-haulers, and from seven o'clock ont 

 morning to seven o'clock the next morning, for a number of successive 

 days, right along, w^e turned over at least eighty acres a day, and we re- 

 duced the cost of plowing that land. And I want to say it was plowed 

 well. It was plowed down from seven to eleven inches deep. And we 

 reduced the cost of plowing to less than fifty cents per acre. (Applause.) 



That engine wasn't used alone for plowing. I might say that we 

 bought the engine for the purpose of running a combined harvester and 

 thresher. We believed in handling these large tracts of land it was ab- 

 solutel}'- essential to get some method of harvesting our crops by means 

 of which we could reduce the expense of labor. 



In this state it has been absolutely impossible to procure enough labor 

 during the past two years to get enough on our farms to handle the grain 

 b}^ the old method. We purchased a large combined harvester and 

 threshers — one of those California machines — and this engine was pur- 

 chased with the idea of pulling that thresher. This combined outfit con- 

 tains a separate engine, a little auxiliarj^ engine, which is fastened onto 

 the separator, and receives its steam from the main engine. This little 

 engine furnishes the power to keep the separator and header in continuous 

 motion. Before beginning the cutting at all this little engine is set in 

 operation, and it runs the thresher and header. The large engine moves 

 across the field at any rate 3'ou desire. On heavy grain that you want to 

 cut thoroughl}^, you run the engine slowdy, and where the grain is ver}^ 

 thin, you can let it run faster than a team can walk. Oftentimes the teams 

 followed along on a trot, so rapidly would the machine go through the 

 field. 



I want to say in addition to this, in connection with this machine, we 

 succeeded in cutting and threshing our grain and putting it in sacks, ready 

 for market, at a cost of sixty cents per acre. The average cost in this 

 state for cutting and. heading grain and putting it in the stack, before 

 threshing at all, is something like $1.25 per acre. So you can see there is 

 a great reduction in the price by this method. 



In conclusion I want to say that the engine has proven satisfactory 

 in every respect. We have in cultivation, in wheat 1.850 acres, and in 

 addition to that 1,850 acres plowed after the first day of September 150 

 acres that we have not planted yet that we expect to plant this spring. 

 During the time of plowing nearly two thousand acres and cutting and 

 harvesting one thousand acres we never had one dollar's worth of re- 

 pairs on the engine or harvester. (Applause.) 



A DELEGATE: • I would like to ask what kind of plows you use with 

 this engine. 



]\IR. MERRILL: I don't like to say, because it would not be fair. 

 There are so many manufacturers of plows around here it would not be 

 safe to live here after telling you. However, we are using disc plows al- 

 together. We have tried the mold board plows without success. 



MR. OLSEN (Utah): I would like to ask the dimensions of the piece 

 of ground you are working. 



