4 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
by the man who is strongly prejudiced in favor of some particular 
make or so-called “line” of implements. 
Size .—When the correct type of machine has been selected, 
its size should be carefully considered. By the use of sufficiently 
large and strong implements, with large capacity, a great deal of 
time and labor is saved and the life of the machine is greatly 
lengthened. 
For example, on a fair sized field, a three section harrow will 
do one-half more work with the same amount of man labor. The 
teeth, having to travel less distance in harrowing the field, will re¬ 
main sharp longer, and, consequently, the efficiency of the harrow is 
increased, while the time required for the work is decreased. 
Three section harrows were found in operation on one-third of 
the enumerated farms of 80 acres and over. Three section harrows 
were used on but one-half of the enumerated farms of 160 acres 
and over, the remaining one-half using nothing larger than the two 
section harrow. In no case was a farmer found who had used a 
three section harrow and was willing to discard it for one of two 
sections. 
A man of ordinary ability can handle a two bottom gang plow 
nearly as easily as a sulky, or one bottom plow. By the use of the 
gang the capacity of man and plow are doubled, while the wear 
on each plow is only one-half what it would be on the single plow, 
were it made to cover the same number of acres as the gang. Then 
too, time is saved in case the shares must be taken to a shop for 
sharpening, as only one-half as many trips are necessary for the 
gang as with the single plow, for a field of equal size. 
Gang plows, ranging from two to four bottoms, are now being 
used on less than nine per cent of the farms of 80 acres or more 
which have been investigated. In communities where suitable gang 
plows have been tried, the demand for them is increasing. 
In some cases, such as gardening, special farming deep work, 
etc., it is often not advisable to try to cover too much ground at 
once. Again, some of our special implements are made only 
m single units, such as the modern two-way plow. This plow has 
many advantages that will often justify its use in place of the two 
and four bottom gang plows. 
Accessibility to Repairs .—In selecting machinery, it is usuallv 
advisable to consider the matter of securing repairs. Repairs or 
new parts must be secured for nearly every farm implement some 
time, or perhaps several times, during the life of it Usually, the 
repairs are not ordered until the implement will not run any longer 
without them and then they must be secured in a hurry. For ex¬ 
ample, the binder, mower, or other important implements or ma¬ 
chines must be repaired at once, or the farmer may lose part of his 
