VOL. L1V.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JAN. 21, 1899.
NO. 3
'gxpzximcz §cpixxt.mv.X.
WIDE OR NARROW TIRES.
Which is Used Most With You?.-Which
do You Think Best and Why?
let Premium—The average width of tires In
this section about two and hall Inches.although
they vary from one to six. But as fast as the narrow tires give out, they are being replaced with
wider ones, the tendency at preeent being
toward four and five inch tires. My wagon is
fitted with five inch tires, and if I were to buy
again, they would be sir inch. On a smooth
road the width of the tires make but little difference to the horses, although in tho tests
made in various places, even on hard roads,
the draft as recorded by a dynamometer, is
lighter with six inch tires than with narrower
ones. But in the field is where the wide tires
are "on top." I hauled manure last spring
when the ground was too wet to plow, without
cutting It up. One can drive over plowed
land to remove stones, trash, etc., easily with
wide tire?. On the harvest field the horses are
saved an unnecessary waste of strength by the
use of wide tires. Thia fall I gathered corn
and wheat several days, when I could not have
gone into the field with my former tires, thus
saving me considerable by getting my corn
out early, and not having to hire much. The
horses sink in it is true, but the wide tires run
over most of their trackB, filling them up.
Again, if the ground is frozen but very little
wide tires will go on top, when others would
go down. As road makers they are hard to
beat, especially when the roads are drying up,
and narrow tires leave them ridgy. Run over
them a few times with wide tirea, and they are
ready for the bicycle. Oar pikesare frequently cut Into holes by log haulers, which could
be prevented by legislation fixing the weight
of the load to correspond to the width of the
tire, when the roads are soft.    0. S. Beahd.
Wayne Oo.        	
2nd Premium.—Although the wide tirea
are making their appearanco in our county,
I fear that our formers do not appreciate
them as they should. The farmers of this
county seem to think that the wide tires make
the wagon run heavier than the narrow ones.
But it seems as though we do net give them
a fair test. My neighber says he is going to
test it. He buys a wide tired wagon say three
Inch tires, and instead of getting three and a
half and four foot whee's as hia old wagon
has, he buys 28 and 32 inch wheels, and drives
out upon our roads where the one and three
fourths inch tires have made ruts hub deep in
the red clay, which has been worked until it
is of the consistency of putty, to test them.
The wheels are only three inches, instead
of six inches, a? they should be; therefore the
three inch tirea are just wide enough to drop
into these ruts and gather mud, and of course
he comes home scolding wide tires. It is not
fair to make such a teet. For hauling manure, fodder, hay, wheat, etc., the wide tire
does not cut our fields full of ruts, to make
Rreat ditches with tho first rain that falls.
Wide tires and good' roads come together.
When we all have six inch tires on our wagons we will have better roads. I just saw in
one of my papers where the wide tiro had
been tested in corn ground, and there was a
difference of nearly 20 per cent in favor of
"x inch tires against one and three-fourths
inch tires; but the greatest difference was in
starting the load. While it required a draft
of 500 pounds to start a load on one and three-
fourths inch tires it only required 230 pounds
to start the same load with six-inch tires on
the same ground. We advocate wide tires for
the benefit of our teams, farms, roads, etc.
Now a word in behalf of low wheels for the
benefit of our poor old backs. How much
better it is to fork manure onto a low wheeled
wagon than It Is to fork it over the moon as
we say. Wo don't know how to appreciate
low wheels for handling corn, fodder, hay,
wheat, etc., until wo try them awhile, and
then go back to tho high wheels. Common
sense teaches us that high wheels will run
lighter than low ones, but isn't horso flesh
cheaper than human flesh? Wo might take
less and go oftenerand not hurt our horses
or ourselves. B. XV.
Corydon.
—t	
3d Premium.—It will fall to me to take the
old fogy side of this question. I had groat
faith in broad tires and some seven or eight
years ago bought a wagon with four inch
tires. When the roads wero good it did very
well and so did our narrow tires, but if tho
roads were muddy it pulled as heavy empty as
our narrow tire with a 1,000 or 1,200 pound
load. Many of our roads are now
improved. It is especially for improved roads that the broad tire is
urged. But] here it ls a nuisance again.
When the road is dry, neither narrow nor
broad tires do harm, but when softened by
heavy raina and especially by a withdrawing
frost, our roads are rendered horrible by
the broad tires. They pick up the gravel or
stone and thua gougo the road full of chuck
holea. Broad tirea are urged for farm uso because they will not cut up our fields so badly.
Generally this is a mistake, sometimes a
broad tire will run on top of a sod when the
narrow would cut through, but generally It
runs nearly as deep as the narrow tire will
generally close in a few days, while that made
by the broad tire can't, and will becomo a
gully. I have two low wheeled farm wagons
with broad tirea I bought broad tiree, first,
because they would be stronger and, second,
because the axles, being already so closo to
the ground, needed to be buoyed up all that
was possible. For a general purpose two-
horse wagon, for all kinds of roads give me a
tire not over two Inches wide. I know you
can refer to some experiments by some of
the station?, in favor of broad tire*, but
they were not made under all the conditions
of general teaming. Joe A. Bi-hton,
Orleans. 	
I have two wagons, one with narrow tires
and high wheels, and one with a set of the
famoua low-down metal wheels, with four inch
tires. For hauling to market or hauling of
any kind out on the rubllc road I liko the
narrowtire m»ch the best. It runs lighter,
hits fewer stones on a gravel road and consequently Is easier on the running gear and bed
because of less jolting. I do not like the
whcls so high as the standard make of high
wheels, but prefer a narrow tiro with wheels
about 40 inches and 50 inches high. I know
that there has been a great deal of experimenting with wide and narrow tires, and that
theory ia always in favor of wide tires, but I
do not believe that the theory will admit of
practice. I like my low-down wide tires for
use about the farm when the ground is dry
and the roads good. When there is rain
enough to make tho road slippery tho wheels
will slide instead of revolving, which makes
the wagon run like a sled and pull hard. On
rough frozen roads the wide tire jolta badly
and is hard on both horses and wagon. In
the uso of my two wagons I cone to this conclusion: that when the wide tire runs well tho
narrow tire will also do the eame, and that
the narrow tire will run fairly well when tho
wide tire is useless. On loose sandy roads the
wide tiro Is the best, but on black prairio mud
roads the narrow tire is best.
Tippecanoe Co. Wilber KoLn.
In our county you will find three narrow
tired wagons where you will find one wide
tire. I think that narrow tires are much tho
best where a man has but one wagon. Narrow
tires run much  lighter  in mud than a broad
tire. Tho wide tiro in mud gathers and holds
the mud. I have often seen the mud roll up
on a wido tired wheel until you could not see
a spoko in tho wheel. That Is when tho
ground Is thawing out after a big freeze.
Narrow tires do not do that. On a solid road
with a broad tired wagon if tho wheel strikes
a loose stono it will not shovo it to ono side
but will pass over it. With a narrow tire If
the wheel strikes a looso stono it will shove it
to one side and that Is better on tho team and
wagon than to pass over it. I think that a
wide tired wagon is all right on tho farm.
Forgathering corn from a wheat field tho
wide tire ia best. They do not cut up tho
ground like a narrow tire. The broad tire ls
aleo better for hauling naanura the out upon
farm when the ground is a little soft. When
it comes to a general purpose wagon to do all
klnda of hauling on all kinds of roads I prefer the high wheels and narrow tires. They
are easier on horses, and the wagons do not
cost as much as horses. D F. S.
Harrison Oo.
I do not agree, however, with my friend
Burton In his conclusions. Vou will notice
that Mr. Williams, of Corydon, says that the
wide tires have not been given a fair trial.
True the low wheeled wagon ia a nuisance ln
the mud, but one should seldom ure lt in the
mud, surely never on plow land. Tho low
wheels are not intended to go off of the farm.
I find If you will put two wagons In a man's
reach ho will uso the low wheeled one most of
tho time, If on tho farm.
We had some :!0 wagone hauling gravel out
of my pit. Only ono of them was a narrow
tread. I mean V}i Inch tire. And the broad
treads would fco.d if it happened to bo ahead
of them. This was so bad that we coaxed him
to leave it at homo and borrow one. It would
cut the outlet to the pit up and the road all the
way to the pike.
Wido tires are used almost entirely in this
section. Only a few years ago about every
farmer used narrow tires. Then, our roads
were all cut up with deop "ruts" aud full of
"chuck-holes." We never could have good
roads in the fall, winter and spring. Even
our best graveled roads would becoma cut up
and rough during somo parte of the year.
Since the wide tires have como into general
use,all thia has changed. Oar roads cin be
kept in good condition with but little labor,
in comparison with what was required before. A great deal of heavy hauling ia done
at all timea of the year without doing serious
damage. With narrow tires, it Is safe to giy,
that not ono-fourth tho hauling could be done
which is done now, and the roads would even
then ba in a wore3 condition than they are
now. If money is paid out for road improvement, it Is foolish to use vehicles which destroy these roads as fast as they can be built
or repaired. These are some of the reasons
why I prefer wide tires. B.
Elkhart Co.       	
Narrow tires are used moet with us but I
think that the ufo of wide tires should be
made compulsory by law. Nothing spoils
roads so much as narrow tires, especially when
roads are eoft. In a recent test made by the
Michigan Station between wido and narrow
tires on plowed land the narrow tire pulled Vi
per cent harder. In sand two inehes deep 25
per cent harder, and on sod 16 per cent harder, therefore can be easily seen the advantage
of wide tires. We have both the wide and narrow tires and there is quite a difference In
draft. We have a piece of land that ie mostly
muck soil acd it ia there that we ute the wide
tires. They are four inches wide, and whenever there iS any teamimg to be done on the
roads we use tho wide tires also. A few tripB
show a marked improvement in the condition
of the road. I think If all fanners had wide
tires roads would be in good condition nearly
all the year round. There is only ono time
when the wide tire pulls harder on roads than
tho narrow and that is when the roads are soft
and slushy, but it Is only for a day or two.
Wayne Co., Ohio. Iha Graiier
No. 151, Jan. 28.—Sanaitary management
of swlne. How do you prevent hog cholera?
How stamp it out?
No. 152, Feb. 4.—The winter management
of breeding ewes. What arc the best methods?
No. 153, Feb. 11.—Agricultural superstitions. Name a number we have outgrown
and a number that still have advocates.
No. 151, Feb. 18.—Name oneor more books,
or persons, or events that havo greatly Impressed and shaped your life.
No. 155, Feb. 25 —What do you mean to
the people who know you? What do you
ttand for? 	
Premiums of $1, 75 and 50 cents will be
given to 1st, 2d and 3d best articles each week.
Let copy bo as practicable as possible and forwarded 10 days before publication to
Lafayette. E. H. Ooixms.
liKVlEW.
Our good friends have been very liberal this
week and we have about 20 lettera. We are
much pleased to see so general interest in the
question. We publieh copy on both Bides so
as to havo a fair hearing. I have noticed that
in the southern counties narrow tread wagons
are very common. Wo ehould remember that
their eoil ie not eo sandy as it is withua. They
are eouth of the drift soil and their eoil is
much more sticky. Also they do not have
pikes as we do. There are sections where wide
tires cannot be used. I have seen mud as big
ae a tub gather on a wheel and slip it.
KI.Nfi CORN" MUST HAVE A FRONT SEAT.
Of the appropriation of $r,50,000 which haa
already been made by the Congress of the
United States for the Paris Exposition, only
$75,000 can be expended for an agricultural
exhibit, including agriculture, the entire
range of food products and beverages. This
appropriation ie altogether inadequate for the
purposes named in the bill, and tho expenses
which will bo involved in the proposed corn
kitchen at the Paris exposition.
An increase in export of corn.cornflourand
corn meal, the cheapest of all food products,
is a matter of groat pecuniary Interest to Its
producers, both In respect to the valne of
their lands and the Income from them.
An increase in these imports will aleo be an
important factor in developing railroad, lake
and ocean commerce, as well ae Influencing
cheaper ocean ratee.
These are cnong tho reasons that have Induced the chamber of commerce of Quincy,
Illinois, to start a movement for securing au
increased appropriation for making a corn
show at tho Paris World's fair. Wo trust the
effort may bo successful and that king corn
may have a placo of honor there in accordance with hie true value among the great cereals of the world.
FAR)! ERS' INSTITUTES FOR 1899.
We have received from Prof. W. 0. Latta, a
copy of the schedule of farmers' Institutes for
the coming winter.
South Hend, St. Joseph county, E. A. Metzger, Granger, Jan. 23d, 24th,—Mre. Stevens,
Babcock.
Crown Point, Lake county, O. B Benjamin,
Leroy, Jan. 25th, 20th,—Mrs. Stevens, McMahan.
Rochester, Fulton county, E. 0. Mercer,
Rochester, Jan. 27th, 28th,—Mra. Stevens, McMahan.
Lagrange. Lagrange county, J. W. Mills,
Lagrange, Jan. 23d, 24th,—McMahan, Huseel-
in>in.
Lafayette, Tippecanoe county, H. Learning,
Jr., Romney, Jan. 25th, 26th,—Mre. Erwin,
Husselman.
Greencastle, Putnam county, J. W. Robe,
Greencastle, Jan. 27th,28th,—Mrs.Erwin,Hue-
eelman.