154  TShe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Farming  in  Europe 
Part  III. 
Fertilizers. — Nearly  all  the  farmers 
keep  live  stock  atul  they  generally  get. 
plenty  of  dung.  Some  of  them  collect 
droppings  on  the  streets  and  roads  and 
also  the  mud  or  dirt  that  accumulates. 
The  latter  is  usually  first  composted  and 
then  applied  to  meadow  land.  In  most 
cases  the  night  soil  also  finds  its  way 
into  the  land.  Most  of  the  farmers  have 
made  arrangements  whereby  it  is  con¬ 
served  and  applied  together  with  the 
farmyard  manure.  The  large  farmers 
spread  commercial  fertilizers  with  the 
fertilizer  spreader,  but  the  small  farmers 
by  hand.  Both  classes  of  farmers,  how¬ 
ever,  with  few  exceptions,  spread,  farm¬ 
yard  manure  with  a  fork.  It  is  first 
piled,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  in 
heaps  about  five  square  meters  apart  and 
then  spread  over  the  land  evenly. 
Machinery. — The  large  farms  in  Ger¬ 
many  are  very  extensively  and  well 
equipped  with  agricultural  machinery 
and  other  farm  conveniences.  The  small 
farms,  however,  (and  these  constitute 
the  bulk  of  the  total  agricultural  area) 
are  very  incompletely  equipped  with 
farm  machinery.  Indeed,  it  can  be  said 
that  the  small  farmers  are  still  behind  in 
the  employment  of  general  agricultural  ( 
implements.  For  instance,  practically 
all  of  them  still  harvest  with  the  sickle, 
spread  manure  by  hand,  and  most  of 
them  still  sow  grain  and  dig  potatoes  by 
hand,  collect  and  spread  hay  with  a  folk, 
thrash  with  the  gopel,  i.e.,  a  thrashing 
machine  run  by  a  lever  with  animals,  etc. 
The  adoption  of  the  machinery,  however, 
is  taking  place  rather  rapidly.  Some  of 
the  more  expensive  machines,  such  as  the 
thrashing,  harvesting  and  even  some¬ 
times  the  seeding  are  being  introduced 
by  cooperative  societies  or  by  private 
concerns,  and  hired  to  individual  farm¬ 
ers.  It  might  be  remarked  here  in  pass¬ 
ing  that  some  of  the  farm  machinery 
used  in  Borniany,  as  well  as  in  France 
and  England,  is  of  American  make.  The 
most  prevalent  pieces  are  the  self-binder 
and  the  mower. 
Hand  Labor. — Since  the  employment 
of  machinery  is  very  limited  on  the 
small  farms,  a  great  amount  of  the  farm 
work  is  necessarily  done  by  hand  and 
animal  labor.  The  hand  labor  is  per¬ 
formed  mostly  by  the  family  and  by  hired 
women.  At  the  busy  parts  of  the  year 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  the  whole 
family  working  in  the  field.  The  female 
hand  labor  is  used  very  extensively.  One 
sees  constantly  women  working  in  the 
field,  and  very  often  in  large  numbers. 
The  writer  has  seen  as  many  as  11 
spreading  hay.  20  digging  potatoes,  and 
over  50  harvesting  sugar  beets.  In  the 
busy  seasons,  when  the  demand  for  hand 
labor  is  high,  large  armies  of  these  women 
come  into  Germany  from  Poland.  The 
price  of  the  hand  labor  varies  with  the 
section  of  the  country,  and  with  the  sea¬ 
son.  In  Slimmer  time,  in  most  sections, 
the  men,  hired  for  the  day,  get  from 
about  75  cents  to  $1.  and  women  some¬ 
what  less.  The  farm  laborer  hired  for 
the  year  may  receive  a  salary  of  about 
$200,  a  house  in  which  to  live,  and  such  i 
provisions  as  milk,  potatoes,  beans,  or 
other  products. 
Work  Animals. — The  animal  labor 
on  the  small  farms  is  done  mainly  by 
cows.  This  included  the  working  of  the 
land,  and  drawing  of  wagons.  In  South¬ 
ern  Germany  it  is  very  common  to  see 
a  plow  pulled  by  one,  two  or  more  cows, 
or  a  combination  of  one  cow  and  a  horse, 
a  mule  or  an  ass.  and  with  one  man  lead¬ 
ing  them  and  one  guiding  the  plow.  On 
the  larger  farms,  and  especially  in  North¬ 
ern  Germany,  the  animal  labor  is  per¬ 
formed  largely  by  horses  and  oxen.  The 
writer  saw  many  fields  in  Northern 
Germany  being  worked  either  exclusively 
by  oxen  or  horses,  or  sometimes  a 
combination  of  the  two.  lie  saw  one  field 
being  plowed  with  six  teams  of  four 
oxen  with  two  men  to  each  team. 
Rotation  in  Germany. — There  is  a 
large  number  of  systems  of  rotation 
practiced  throughout  the  country,  but  the 
two  most  extensielvy  employed  are  (1) 
the  "vers.'berserte  I  heifeldwirtsohaft” 
which  consists  of:  (a)  Root  crops;  (b) 
wheat;  (c)  rye;  (d)  clover;  (e)  wheat; 
(f)  barley,  and  (2)  the  Fruchtwecksel- 
wirtschaft  which  consists  of:  (a)  sugar 
'beets;  (b)  wheat;  (c)  clover;  (d)  rye. 
The  most  important  crops  of  Germany  are 
rye,  oats,  wheat,  barley,  sugar  beets,  and 
potatoes.  The  cereal  crops  arc  cultivated 
practically  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
hut  in  the  South  and  West  wheat  is  pre¬ 
dominant,  and  in  the  North  and  East 
rye,  oats,  and  barley.  In  the  production 
of  sugar  beets,  Germany  holds  the  first 
place  in  the  world,  and  the  sections 
which  are  preeminently  adapted  for  its 
growth  are  Sehlesieu,  Posen.  Anhalt, 
Braunschweig,  etc.  Potatoes  are  grown 
mostly  in  the  provinces  of  Prussia,  and 
in  Bavaria.  The  largest  amount  and 
best  quality  of  wine  is  produced  along 
the  Rhine,  The  table  below  contains  the 
average  yields  per  acre  of  only  those 
crops  which  can  be  used  for  comparison 
with  the  different  countries: 
Average  Yield  Per  Acre. 
Yield  per  acre 
Mean  of  5  yrs. 
Crops.  prior  to  1912. 
Wheat,  bus .  30.01 
Barley,  bus .  85.37 
<  )ats,  bits.  . . .  44.0.8 
Rye,  bus .  25.85 
Potatoes,  tons  .  5.22 
High  Yields. — Considering  the  aver¬ 
age  yields  per  acre  of  the  same  crops  in 
the  world,  it  will  be  concluded  at  once 
that  the  foregoing  yields  are  quite  high. 
This  large  average  production  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  due  to  the  intensive  working 
and  heavy  manuring  and  fertilizing  of 
the  land.  These  high  yields,  combined 
with  great  economy,  tend  to  make  the 
farming  population  of  the  country  quite 
prosperous.  There  are  many  farmers,  of 
course,  who  are  ignorant,  incapable  or 
under  very  unfavorable  circumstances, 
and  manage  to  make  only  a  bare  living; 
but  the  greatest  number  of  them  are 
thrifty.  It  is  true  that  the  majority  of 
the  small  farmers  are  not  obtaining  as 
high  net  returns  from  their  farms  as  they 
should  were  they  practicing  more  econ¬ 
omy  of  time  and  labor.  In  this  respect, 
however,  they  cannot  be  severely  criti¬ 
cised  because  of  the  economic  conditions 
and  unfavorable  circumstances  which 
prevail.  The  average  German  farmer,  is 
capable,  intelligent  and  well  educated  in 
his  business,  and  he  would  practice  a 
better  class  of  farming  if  general  con¬ 
ditions  were  different.  The  large  farm¬ 
ers,  on  the  other  hand,  are  getting  very 
high  returns  for  their  labor  and  invest¬ 
ment  because  they  have  all  the  advan¬ 
tages,  and  as  a  rule,  they  are  university 
graduates,  and  conduct  their  farming  en¬ 
terprises  in  a  very  scientific  manner. 
Many  of  these  large  farms  are  wonderful 
examples  of  a  high  type  of  farming. 
January  29,  1916. 
French  Agrici'i.ti  ue. — France  is  pre¬ 
eminently  an  agricultural  country.  Of 
the  total  population  more  than  57%  is 
rural  or  depends  for  its  livelihood  upon 
the  land,  although  only  about  22%  is 
directly  engaged  upon  the  land.  Of  the 
total  area  more  than  03%  is  classed  pro¬ 
ductive,  of  which  04.80%  was  in  1009 
under  the  plow,  1.04%  in  meadow,  2.09% 
in  herbage  and  pasture,  0.68%  in  vine¬ 
yard,  and  0.40%  in  miscellaneous.  The 
agriculture  in  France  does  not  diff  r  very 
essentially  from  that  of  Germany.  As 
in  the  latter  the  land  is  divided  into  com¬ 
paratively  small  holdings,  with  a  few 
quite  large,  and  the  farming  is  done  on  a 
rather  intensive  scale.  The  following  ta¬ 
ble  shows  the  manner  of  land  division  as 
given  by  the  Minister  of  Finance  in  1008. 
Numln-r  and  HI  up  of  Farms. 
Size  of  Per  Per 
Holdings  rent  of  Total  cent  of 
in  Acres  Number  Total  acreage  Total 
Less  than  25  2,087,851  37,95  3,071,492.5  2.80 
I’m  25  to  23  2,528.718  45,78  28,808,355.0  20.34 
F'tn  23  to  90  745.802  13.50  37.003,245.0  33.79 
F  in  25  to  90  745,802  13.50  37,003,245.0  33.79 
I  ’m  90  to  225  118,497  2.17  40,07(3,390.0  37.07 
More  than  225  29,541  .50  . 
Total  . . .  5,505,404  100.00  109,709,482.5  100.00 
Includes  all  holdings  varying  from  90 
to  225  acres  and  over  G.  B. 
“Hi  Holler  had  to  give  up  his  milk 
route.  Says  he  can’t  supply  his  cus¬ 
tomers.”  “Yass,  his  well’s  dried  up.” 
Specifications: 
WHEELBASE:  120  inch. 
MOTOR:  Four  cylinder,  bore  3  5  a  inch, 
stroke  6  inch,  cylinders  cast  en  bloc 
integral  with  crank  case,  L  Head, 
40-45  B.  H.  P. 
Westinghouse  ignition,  starting,  light¬ 
ing. 
l.ubricatioh— Force  feed  tocrank  shaft 
and  cam  ahoft  bearings;  splash  to 
piston  pins  and  cylinder  walls. 
Carburetor  of  special  design,  with  feed 
by  gravity  from  cowl  tank,  dash  ad¬ 
justment. 
Radiator— Cellular  type,  with  thermo- 
syphon  circulating  system. 
CLUTCH:  Cone. 
TRANSMISSION:  Selective,  three 
speeds  forward  and  one  reverse; 
three  point  suspension,  in  unit  with 
power  plant,  left  hand  drive,  center 
control,  Timken  bearings.  Spicer 
universal  joint. 
AXLES:  Rear- Weston-Mott;  K-float- 
ing,  with  spiral  bevel  gears;  torque 
and  drive  thrust  taken  by  torque  tube 
to  rear  end  of  transmission  through 
a  ball  and  socket  joint;  pinion  shaft 
Erovided  with  two  Bock,  roller  type, 
earing*.  Front  1-hrnm,  designed 
end  built  by  Case;  Timken  bearings; 
I-beam  section,  steering  arms,  steer¬ 
ing  knuckles  and  king  pint  oil  of 
special  chrome  nickel  steel— forged, 
heat  treated  and  machined  in  our 
shops. 
FRAME:  Designed  with  exceptionally 
deep  section,  greatest  depth  at  cen¬ 
ter  where  front  hanger  of  cantilever 
6pring  is  suspended. 
SPRINGS:  Rear  Cantilever.  50  inches 
long,  2%  inches  wide;  attached  to 
rear  axle  by  means  of  universal 
joints,  which  take  all  side  play,  al¬ 
lowing  spring*  to  do  full  spring  duty 
—  an  exclusive  feature  in  construc¬ 
tion. 
WHEELS:  34x4  inch.  Artillery  type, 
with  Goodyear  detachable,  de¬ 
mountable  rims. 
BODY:  All  steel,  with  removable  up¬ 
holstery  of  genuine  grain  leather. 
Front  seats  divided,  and  are  adjust¬ 
able  forward  and  backward,  a*  are 
the  clutch  and  brake-pedals.  Finish 
—Brewster  green,  with  ivory  stripe. 
EQUIPMENT:  One-man  top,  with  dust 
hood  and  quickly  adjustable  side 
curtains.  Stewart- Warner  Speed¬ 
ometer.  Windshield— Rain  vision, 
ventilating.  Tires— Goodyear  34x4 
inch,  non-skid  on  rear.  Motor-driven 
horn.  Regular  tools,  tire  repair  kit, 
etc.,  etc. 
PRICE:  $1090,  f.  o.  b.  Racine. 
Tomorrow’s  Car  Today 
Now  comes  the  new  Case  40.  Born  and  bred  in  the 
midst  of  Case  ideals,  it  looms  forth  as  a  car  that  is  bound 
to  carry  the  Case  Standard  even  higher  and  higher. 
While  quite  different — while  lower  in  price — the  new  Case 
40  is  designed  for  the  substantial  sort  of  man  who  is  not  swayed 
by  passing  innovations — the  man  who  is  cautious  and  wants  a 
tried,  riskless  car.  For  74  years  Case  executives  and  workmen 
have  been  building  according  to  Case  standard — never  leaving 
that  straightaway  path  called  Quality  which  has  brought  such 
world-wide  reputation.  The  Case  Cars  are  built  entirely  by  Case 
trained  workmen  in  the  Case  plants. 
“Friends  of  the  Forty 
tr 
Everywhere  are  men  who  know  the  former  Case  40 — men 
who  found  it  well  worth  $2300.  These  men  particularly  will 
welcome  this  announcement— for  now  they  can  recommend  the 
new  Case  40,  with  its  obvious  improvements,  to  their  friends. 
Owners  will  tell  of  its  serviceability — of  its  modest  upkeep  and 
how  it  resists  depreciation.  The  splendid  service  of  the  former 
Case  40  can  be  expected  of  our  new  40. 
The  refinements  of  this  car  are  individual.  Its  combination  of 
excellencies  is  bound  to  be  appreciated  and  wanted  by  the  motor- 
wise  and  discriminating.  We  predict  a  well-deserved  sensation 
for  this  car. 
An  Ovation  is  Certain 
At  $1090 — over  a  thousand  dollars  less  than  our 
other  40 — we  offer  this  new  Case  40 — knowing  that 
men  who  compare  values  closely  and  who  look  for 
long-lived  cars  will  say,  “Here  is  a  car  I  must  know." 
And  we  say — “The  more  you  know  of  this  hundred 
thousand  mile  car  the  better." 
We  invite  minute  examination  of  this  car.  Then 
you  can  go  over  it  point  by  point.  You  will  find  it 
well  worth  while,  we  believe.  Preliminary  data  we 
shall  send  at  your  request. 
J.  I.  CASE  T.  M.  COMPANY,  INC. 
545  Liberty  St.  (Founded  1842)  Racine,  Wis. 
The  Sign  of 
Mechanical 
Excellence 
the  World  Over 
(359) 
