VOL. LXVI
INDIANAPOLIS, AUG. 26, 1911.
NO. 34
TRACTION FARMING.
Tractors  for  Intensive  Farming  Com-
Ine Into General Use Tor Rapid
Work.
The average farmer thinks of the
traction engine as being adapted only
to the extensive wheat farming practiced in the Western States. As a matter of fact, since the coming of the gas
tractor, traction farming is becoming
more and more intensive and is now
rapidly being introduced into the Central States. The photographs which
accompany this article show some of
the uses of the small tractor, which is
being sold in the corn belt by various
manufacturers. These machines are
being used right here in our corn state
to pull gangs of four or five plows, harvest the grain, haul products to market, do the seeding, run an individual
threshing outfit, and accomplish other
tasks to which a small flexible machine
is adapted.
Traction farming should be synonymous with Intensive farming, and is
swiftly coming to be so. The tractor
now is in very much the same relation
to the farm as the cream separator
was 8 or 10 years ago. The average
farmer at that time knew little about
the separator, though one was installed
in every creamery. It was soon demonstrated that 6 cows would make a
hand separator pay, and many farmers
with fewer cows than that now have
such machines. In the West every
large farmer has a tractor; many small
farmers regard their small tractor as
indispensable; and now the owner of
160 acres in the corn belt is asking
whether or not the tractor would not
hL profitable for him.
The Age of Power.
We must look at the matter in a
broad way. This is an age of power.
The Industries which develop most rapidly are those which use a large a-
mount of power for every employe.
These are the railroads, steamship
companies, and large manufacturing
establishments. Indiana is more prosperous agriculturally than Alabama,
and largely because we use a great
many more work animals to run our
m«hinery than are given to each farm
ha"<i ln the South. The question Is
*nether we would not be more prosperous if we used more power to each
a"e and made our farming more intensive.
For Plowing Deeper.
6 n°w plow  our  corn  ground,  on
6 av"erage, only    four or five  inches
eep, though  practically every farmer
* leveg he    is plowing    deeper.    Our
Jtperiment Station    tells us    that we
hould Pi0w from 6 lnchea to g lnches
ln*h f°r C°rn" That extra two or three
ches  takes  power.    The   problem   of
wer at plowing time is already soou*. Every farmer must use all his
•ses, young and old, and, coming as
tl0ey d° rlght °ut of the wlnter's lna°-
"' they run down rapidly in plowing
•to ir     iS  difflcuIt   t0   keeP   th«   work
den h'n shape-    If we add to the bur-
" °y doing the    deep plowing    that
er m? US better ylelds the only farm"
tlon Wi" be able to meet the condl-
the g WiU be the one who ls keeping
-   urpius of work stock In the shape
of brood mares. Many a farmer solves
the plowing problem and makes good
money on the side by doing this very
thing, but, of course, not every farmer
can expect to market a surplus of colts
with all the teams on the farm, unless Its durability and capacity for
heavy work are sacrificed in designing
It. But it will cut down the horses to
about a fourth of what were formerly
The Tractor and   Gang Plows.
Tho Tractor  in     Harvest Field.
Tractors and Gen eral Farm Work.
as there must be somebody to buy.
Doing  Other  Heavy  Work  With Tractors.
The tractors take care of the heavy
work during rush seasons and do it
more cheaply than horses will do it.
The tractor is needed for threshing,
and just as surely as it displaced the
horse for this Job, It will some day do
the same for plowing and heavy
hauling.    The tractor will not do away
used, and will allow them to be used
at easy work all day long every day In
the year. The surplus power required
for doing thoroughly the work of plow-
lug, preparing the seed bed, etc. will
come from the tractor which costs less
than the horse at work and nothing at
all when idle. Every farmer knows
that thorough pulverization before the
seed Is planted is worth more than cultivation afterward, but with his present
iack of power he must slight the work
of preparation and make up for it by
cultivating over a long period after the
crop ls ln.
Tractors    Reduce    the  Cost    of Farm
Work.
We must not get the Idea of horseless farming until we have given Inventors a chance to develop motors which
will do such widely separated tasks as
cultivating, plowing and threshing, for
instance, besides all the other tasks.
But we can begin to figure that If the
big industries of manufacturing and
transportation make profits on their
investment in power, the farmer who
has: until now had to make his way
without artificial power will also be
able to profit by making a start in that
direction.
Ir the wheat states they save 10
cents a bushel by using a tractor to supply the power instead of horses. Some
corn belt farmers are cutting the cost
of plowing an acre 50 cents and keeping their tractors busy more hours in
the year than the average horse works,
doing dozens of jobs to which only a
little ingenuity is required to adapt
the tractor.
The fact is, agriculture is now rapidly coming to its own. Farm work is
keeping up with factory work in the
use of machinery. Like factory, the
farm is sometimes put to it hard for
good labor, and so this is supplemented with more and more labor-saving
farm machinery and therefore doing
the farm work more rapidly also, and
thus increasing production to keep up
with greater population and world
movements.
VAIAJK OF ORCHARD GRASS.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Does orchard grass make a good
forage or pasture crop? When is the
best time to sow this grass, and what
method of seeding is best?
Johnson Co. T. S. J.
Answer: If properly cared for orchard grass will make good forag*
and pasture crop. This grass has a
tendency to become coarse with rank
atems and leaves, which makes it less,
palatable and digestible than other
grasses used for similar purposes. If,
however, it is cut for hay at the period
of blooming, or even earlier, the stems
are tender and a greater amount of digestible feed is obtained. The stems
are also kept tender if the grass is
thick, for then the stems and leaves
are smaller. It is recommended to
sow at the rate of twenty-eight pounds
per acre to ensure a thick stand. For
pasture or orchard grass good if kept
eaten close and not allowed to become
coarse and dry. One of the chief advantages of this variety of grass is that
it is ready to use two or three weeks
earlier than the other grasses that are
commonly sown, and care should be
taken not to let it become too heavy
or coarse before the stock are turned In
upon it. It should be sown on well
pulverized soil In the middle of August,
or not later than the middle of September. Fall frosts are not so apt to
cause Injury as early "spring frosts."
To guard against the latter a top dressing of manure in the spring greatly
protects it and is beneficial to the yield.
Orchard grass also endures shade well,
and shade aids In preventing frost injury. The manner of seeding Is similar to that of timothy.