102 
COOPERATIVE CULTIVATION. 
As some large tracts of land have been, and in future probably 
more will be, parceled out in homesteads, the question of coopera- 
tion in the larger cultivating and harvesting operations must come 
to be an important one among each community of neighboring 
homesteaders. If machinery in common is not procured, the end 
will be attained through the enterprise of individuals who will 
procure outfits for themselves which they will be able to hire out 
at reasonable rates. In the latter case the owner would reim- 
burse himself for the original outlay and the upkeep, when the 
amount of work he had to do for himself alone might hardly be 
great enough to justify the expense of the machinery. In the 
big wheat countries either way has been found profitable to the 
farmers. 
In a recent bulletin of the U. S. Department of x\griculture, 
much general information is given in regard to traction plowing, 
its economy and practicability being discussed. From a press notice 
of this bulletin sent out by the Department the following sum- 
mary is taken, the pamphlet itself containing 35 pages of subject 
matter : 
On the large farms of the great plains and the ranches of Cali- 
fornia, traction engines — both steam and gasoline — are used to 
an increasing extent in farming operations, especially in plowing 
land. The makeshift outfits formerly used for this purpose have 
been largely replaced by heavier and stronger engines and gang 
plows especially designed for this use. 
The advantages of traction plowing are ( 1 ) that the work can 
be rushed when conditions are favorable; (2) that the work can 
be done with a smaller force of hands, and fewer horses have to 
be kept; (3) in hot dry weather engines can be used when horses 
could not stand the work; (4) with an engine it is possible to 
plow very difficult soils, and also to plow deeper tfian with horses ; 
and (5) under favorable conditions, the cost of traction plowing 
has been brought lower than that of plowing with horses. 
The steam engines weigh from 7 to 20 tons, range from 20 
to 50 horsepower, cost from $1,500 to $6,000, and will plow from 
15 to 50 acres a day. 
A traction plowing outfit consists of (1) an engine; (2) the 
plows or disks arranged in gangs ; and (3) miscellaneous con- 
veniences for carrying supplies, making repairs, etc. The size 
and cost of the outfit and the amount of work it will do depend 
largely on the number of plows operated.' 
