Vol. LXVII. No. 3048. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 27, 1908 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE QUESTION OF FARM MACHINERY. 
Substitutes for the Hired Man. 
With help scarce, high-priced and unreliable, the 
farmer is, to use a little modern phraseology, sitting 
up and taking notice. Sometimes he is at a loss to 
know where to find help at any price. Occasionally 
he finds it, but does not know how to use it profit¬ 
ably. In many cases there is no profit to be had, but 
the crops must have' attention, so the farmer shuts 
his eyes and digs up the price, and trusts to a kind 
Providence for results. There is a rumor afloat 
that the farmer is trying to emancipate himself from 
this condition. The rumor has it that he is buying 
labor-saving implements which will enable him to do 
his own work to a great extent at least. We also 
hear how the farmers in certain sections by the use 
of such implements are actually doing away with a 
great deal of hired help. How this is being done 
in this section and for the purpose of giving some 
possible helpful hints to others similarly situated is 
the object of this article. In mentioning our line 
accomplish twice as much as ordinarily. With the 
memory of late planting and of perhaps the usual 
scarcity of help just at the right time, the farmer 
should be in a very receptive mood for any hint at 
anything that gives promise of helping him to a way 
of doing his work expeditiously at such critical times. 
In the East where the help problem is more serious 
than with us, the small land-owner by cooperating 
with his neighbors, can use labor-saving devices as 
advantageously as his western brother. If two far¬ 
mers do not wish to buy jointly a piece of machinery, 
let one, for instance, buy a grain binder and the 
other a corn harvester, then, by fixing a price for the 
use of each machine, each can handle his own as 
well as his neighbor’s crops. 
Not the least of the labor-saving implements is the 
gang plow. With this one man can do as much as 
two with single plows. We' use the disk plow and 
find where it can be used it draws 20 per cent easier 
than the mould-board plow. At least a neighbor uses 
five horses, while we use but four in cutting two 
12-inch furrows. The disk plow is not adapted to 
of tools I shall omit 
the more common, and 
confine myself to those 
which enable the far¬ 
mer to do his work ex¬ 
peditiously and with as 
little help as possible, 
and such as are not com¬ 
monly found except up¬ 
on large farms. No 
one, however, can hope 
to possess the best of 
everything and keep 
himself right (down to 
date, but it is quite pos¬ 
sible to get out of some 
of the old ruts. 
Anyone who contem¬ 
plates buying an imple¬ 
ment should, as a rule, 
get what his own judg¬ 
ment tells him is best 
suited to his conditions, 
and not take any single 
agent’s word for it, as, 
of course, each sells the 
best line of goods made. 
Examine a number of 
the most popular makes 
and select the one that A TRIO OF BELTED HAMPSHIRE SWINE. Fig. 238. 
most nearly approaches 
« tt • , • . niten nan ot a spring- 
... c iowever, in buying an implement with tough sod or wet heavy soil. If the soil is in proper tooth harrow behind one gang of the disk. As we 
! ° ne . ha ® ha d no experience it is quite easy to condition the work of the disk plow surpasses that lap a half in using the disk the spring-tooth covers 
make a mistake An implement may seem to be a of the mould-board plow. Can the average farmer all the ground. Then by going over the field diag- 
" larVC ° S1I11 P mity and efficiency just because the afford such a plow? To plow 40 acres ordinarily onally with the spring-tooth or spike-tooth, which- 
piospectiye buyer has never had his attention called will require 20 days, while with the gang plow only ever may seem advisable, we have the field in pretty 
llng better> 11 ls wel1 enou &h to have the 10 days will be required. Counting $1.25 as the value good shape. At what angle to set the gangs of the 
wnr L ' en 1 a§ .f! tS e * p ain the good 9 uahties of their of a man for a day a saving of $12.50 is effected, and disk and whether to ride or walk depends upon the 
whn l i 1S Sh f ettCr t0 g ° nght t0 . the farmers in tllree y ears the plow is about paid for. Two condition of the soil. We set the gang to which the 
n , 0W . y act , ua use tlle good q^ities as well farmers can buy such a plow, and by joining teams half section of spring-tooth is hitched one notch 
•. • K . a( ‘ Don t bu } r a piece of machinery while one man can plow while the other may be doing straighter than the other to avoid sidedraft 
IS in the exner, mental stacre Monv —11^ some of the many odd jobs always waiting to be ’ ' - ~ 
done. In this way the plowing will be done just as 
quickly as though each farmer had taken his team 
and plow and worked singly. 
Rv tfie .i* , , , _ How often we see two farmers in adjoining fields l wisn to call attention to the value of the two- 
N.-Y about nfi ti” 6 reaCieS -,!\ e r . eaders of 1HE R - each driving a single team hitched to a harrow. How horse corn planter. In the corn belt no one thinks 
ence to method* nf ^ C m ’ an , a ” y f efer ‘ much more consistent it would seem for one man of planting corn by any other means. There are 
crops mav seem ^ groun d for Spring to be following both teams. We sometimes fasten sections though where this most valuable implement 
writer the most nnnrr G • ? r r ” d ' Seenis t0 , the tw ° s P rin g- tooth harrows side by side and hitch a is little known. The superior quality of the work 
been so backward th f ^ ° V G season has team to each > a «d one man easily handles both. An- done and the saving of time are the two points in 
enough to drv* off th W ^ , K> sun does slline lon g ? ther wa y we have of doing away with one man its favor. Both of these advantages are not very 
farmers to or, on th ,'; nOUg \ *° ^ nable . the ls t0 llgch a spring-tooth harrow behind the roller, frequently combined to the degree found in this im- 
& e e s, iey wish they might If these immediately follow the plow we take the four- plement. How many of us remember how, when just 
horse team right from the plow during the after¬ 
noon in time to go over what has been plowed during 
the day. This usually requires us to stop the plow 
about three p. m. When the spring-tooth and roller 
have done their work and we wish to add a few 
finishing touches we hitch the four-horse team to 
the 15-foot spike-tooth with the teeth slanting slightly 
forward sometimes and soon the job is done. It is 
surprising how comparatively few farmers appreciate 
the value of the spring-tooth harrow. It seems to 
me that there is no comparison between the work of 
it and the common spike-tooth. Since the recent 
heavy rains the spike-tooth does little good, and it 
seems little short of folly for one to drive repeatedly 
over a field with a common harrow, while twice 
over with the spring-tooth would put the ground in 
good condition to a depth of three or four inches. 
This of course takes for granted that the soil had 
not been hard and lumpy. In the latter case the 
roller would play an important part. Except in 
rare cases the roller and spring-tooth will fit a hard, 
lumpy field in one-half the time usually required. 
There are times when 
the disk may be used to 
good advantage in place 
of the spring - tooth. 
When one has three or 
four kinds of harrows 
it requires keen fore¬ 
sight to know which 
will be most efficient. 1 
do not wish to go upon 
record as condemning 
the common harrow in 
toto. While it makes 
the work of the spring- 
tooth look crude, the 
work is deceptive. It 
has scratched a little 
dirt from the top and 
worked it down among 
the lumps. Now let the 
roller-spring-tooth man 
go at the field and the 
first time over and when 
the latter has begun to 
dig up the clods the 
other fellow hid the 
field will look rough. 
Sometimes in fitting 
sod ground where the 
roller is not used we 
hitch half of a spring- 
is in the experimental stage. Many so-called 
wonderful improvements are a positive curse. This 
L quite important, as so many times these great im¬ 
provements (?) fail to work properly and are short 
lived. 
half _ jr _ o 
It is 
best with this outfit to harrow the same way as the 
plowing was done, as it will not be so apt to tear 
up the sod. Of course we use four horses with this 
outfit. 
I wish to call attention to the value of the two- 
