The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 12, 1917, Page 12

It Rivals the Automobile The Handy Little Tractor Never Lacks a Farmer Audience ROPHETS have been busy predicting that some sort of machine would soon be in- vented that would put the automobile in the shade as a popular vehicle, and speculwating on ‘what form it would take. The farm- ers have given their share of the answer. It is the tractor—the ilttle tractor that will do chores around the farm. The gas tractor today is more popular with farmers than the auto- mobile, and they have a lot more time 1o work it than they do to work auto- mobiles. The day of the huge 20-gang tractors that crawled Wway across the pioneer sod at a pace that would “wind” a driving team was but a prelude to the day when every little farm would have a hankering for the same kind of a machine with a disposition to do just what v wanted done on the S0-acre farm or even in the garden. That day has now dawned and before it is over there are going to be some wonderful advances in motor machinery making. You can't keep the farmers from being interested in tractors. The na- tional tractor circuit tried out on a gi- gantic scale last year proved that from Texas to Wisconsin., Its eight big cir- drew the same kind of crowds as Barnum and Bailey's, crowds from the farms eager to see something new. The 50 or 60 different’ types of tractors were viewed with even greater inter- est than feeding the animals after the first performance. TRACTOR SHOWS BETTER THAN CIRCUSES These were circuses that affected the bread and butter question, and they were more than circuses. They re- sembled the latter only in the wide- spread and intense interest they aroused. There was a lot of thinking going on in the heads that followed across the hot, dusty fields behind the snorting machines. How deep a fur- row would they ' plow, how would they travel over powdery, plowed land, would they survive or perish on rocky hillsides, and could they be made to work on swamp land?—this latter question at the Madison, Wisconsin, show after tractors had given a good account of themselves throughout the semi arid and big-area regions. It is the same this summer, although unfortunately there will be no national circuit this year. The big tractor show of the country, and that means of the world, will be at Fremont, Nebraska. But everywhere that tractors are put on exhibition they draw a crowd be- cause they mean so much to agricul- ture. The kind that mean most is the adaptable kind. A little machine that one man can handle with two or three- plow bottoms, that can be hitched onto a corn planter, that will cultivate the corn, that,will swing around the corn- ers easily, and can be put exactly in the spot one wants it, is the kind that the farmers look at longingly. They want that sort of a machine, and a farmer will leave his team standing in the field with necessary work to be- done to follow that kind of a tractor. There are many questions to be asked and answered, and the farmers hit at vital points of construction and main- tenance in putting them up to the ma- chinery men. THEY LIKE THE SMALL HANDY KIND With gasoline becoming more and more expensive they want to know how much it will take to do a certain amount of work. They want to know whether the transmission is sure and will handle the machine in any kind of a spot that may be met on a field that varies all the way from bowlders to sloughs. It must be able to do more than one kind of work, for the tractor's success lies in the direction of becom- ing both hired man and team.to a cer- tain degree. ' A little demonstration of some medi- um size and small tractors in Clay county, Minnesota, last week, not far out of Moorhead brought together a lot of farmers for the one day it was in operation. It was a showing of what the small farm machine will do. There was not a large machine on the ground, and if there had been it would not have drawn the interest of the men who wanted something that would take the place of two to six horses. What does the average farm- er care about the excellent achieve- ments of tractors so large that they would plow up his whole farm in a few trips across it? Two methods—ahove the new tractar corn cultivator at work on young corn, and the crowd of farmers watching it work; below, the two-horse cultivator deserted in the field by the farmer while he followed the tractor. These pictures were taken at a demonstration of the Avery Tractor company in Clay county, Minnesota, a short time ago. One machine in particular appealed to all who saw it as indicating a line for development, and as having ac- complished a good deal already. It was a three-wheeled tractor built on the lines of an ordinary corn cultivator but of course much larger and wider. It was the first machine of this type seen in the Red River valley. Its driver put it through all its paces with equip- ment for cultivating two rows of corn at one time. It could swing the corners faster than a plow team, and walk off across the field at a better speed than horses. Plowing with three and four bottoms was also done with machines of light weight and handy movements by other Good Farmers will be able to make use of the newly installed North Dakota state board of electricians by demand- ing that electricians who do work for them show a license, in the opinion of J. S. McDonald, of Fargo, member of the board. The law went into effect July 1 and Governor Frazier has ap- pointed the board and the latter has organized by naming W. S. Hewlet of Minot chairman. It is comprised of one electrical engineer, one journeyman electrician and one master electrician. Mr. McDonald is the journeyman mem- ber and was recommended for the ap- pointment by the North Dakota Fed. eration of Labor. The law compels electricians to be licensed only in cities of 1000 inhabi- tants or more, and thus leaves the small towns and the farmers outside. But by demanding that electricians who make installations on the farms show a license, farmers will assure themselves of better workmen, and the influence of the law for improving electrical work will be greatly extend- ed. Mr. McDonald said the board be-. lieves the law must eventually be amended to require all electricians to be licensed upon proper examination, and thus bring all who have such work done within the protection ‘it aims to give. “Farmers are entitled to just as good work on their farms as the people who live in the cities of more than 1000 in- habitants” said Mr. McDonald in the Leadenr office the other day. “It will cost them no more to have a licensed man than an unlicensed one, and they will be certain to get more competent workmen than they are getting in many cases. The examinations which the board prepared at its first meeting- in Bismarck, July 2, can not be passed by any but competent electricians. It will undoubtedly eliminate some who have been doing that kind of work. “For instance I went out to do a job on a farm a short time ago and had as helper a man who did not know the use of rubber tape in wiring. His work was so unsatisfactory that I had to report him when we got back. He was sent out with another electrician a little later, and again reported for in- competence. .Then his employers sent him out alone. He did a job for a farmer at a small town not far from Fargo and it is almost certain that types of machine, but this corn culti- vator type itself has the power to haul two plows, and its even balance on two wheels set wide apart make it adapt- able to short furrows and frequent turns. It can back up like a team without getting far out of its tracks, and these features seemed to appeal to the men who chased it‘across the field. ; Wiring for Farmers that farmer's job will have to be done .over again and cost him double what it should have cost him. If farmers will hereafter demand that their elec- tricians show license cards they will avoid such. useless expense as this. There is a great deal of poor workgdone in the electrical installation on farms simply' because farmers live where there are no' regulations. “The law to be most effective ought to have included small towns and the rural districts. Cities generally have thorough inspection of electric work, but even without compulsory, inspec- tion by the state authorities, farmers canrget the same results by simply de- manding that the men who work on their jobs be licensed.” Examinations ‘will be conducted in a few weeks for the issuance of the first licenses. The law authorizes the board to make the examinations, Mem- bers are paid $10 a day and traveling expenses but not to exceed $100 in any one fiscal year. The whole cost of the law is not to exceed $1,500 for the first year. Licenses range from $2 for special . electricians (persons under 21 years of age) to $5 for master elec- tricians, and examination fees are $1. BRAZIL NEEDS MACHINERY - The present prosperity of Brazil hag led to a renewed interest in modern agricultural methods and to a demand for all sorts of American farm machine: ery and implements. It is.expected that the industrial and agricultural re-" vival that has taken place. in Brazil since the first period of depression that followed the outbreak of the war ‘will’ make itself felt for many years to come, Agricultural conditions in each of the Brazilian states is described at length in the report, to the U, S. department of commerce, which is entitled, “Mar< kets for Agricultural Implements and Machinery in Brazil,” Special Agents Series No. 140, and the point is made that small farms and intensive cultiva~ tion are the rule rather than very: large farms. and extensive methods such as exist in Argentina. The Most Wonderful Plants Alfalfa, clover, beans, peas and the rest of this family are the most wond- erful plants. They produce the most nutritious food and at the same time add more nitrogen, the most important plant food, to the soil than they re-- move. These plants- come nearer to giving something for nothing than any other plants. There is nothing mys- terious about these plants. ‘They have formed @ partnership with some bac- teria that live on their roots. Thesa bacteria in return for being given a home (nodules) on the plant roots and for food from the plant take nitrogen from the air and leave it in the soil for the plant's use. There is eleven million dollars worth of this nitrogen over each acre, so the bacteria have an almost endless supply to draw on. The way to tap this great wealth is to grow these plants that have these wonderful bacteria on their roots. These plants do not do well without the bacteria. ‘When alfalfa, clover, peas, beans or any of the other of these legume plants are sown on a piece of land for the first time it is usually necessary to sow the bacteria as well ay tha plant t PAGE TWELVE seed. In these days when plant fooq Is so important the greatest possible use should be made of the legumes, the greatest food producers for man and beast—Agr. Ext. Dept. N. Age, College. £ ) SWARMING BEEyY The skill of the beekeeper can usual« 1y be measured by the results of hig work in curbing swarming. The poetry which others see in issuing swarms ig entirely lost on a good beekeeper. The methods of swarm control are given in Farmers’ Bulletin 503, “Comb Honey,” which may be obtained on request from the United States department of agriculture. HOW TO SPOIL EGGS Approximately 5,016,000 dozen eges spoil needlessly every year in cold storage simply because some one hag let clean eggs get wet or has washed dirty eggs before sending them 0 market, according to the specialists 3 the United States department of agrie culture, x States Saue this Wi countr; sons 1 househ these & like ac cannin plus I useful. the m has be teriolo who h proces The are P nonme sealed wise I ment acid, been 1 Whet! for su in Eu inves find t SPIC DO T Wa into or Cr place mixe and ¢ barre add ¢ used, be re the has the t jal—