The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 17, 1920, Page 8

Power Plants Care of Silo Central Power Plants Labor-Saving Devices Increasingly Neces- sary on the Farm HE high cost of farm labor is making #| it increasingly necessary to use power- driven labor-saving devices so far as is practical. Electric power from large central stations is rarely avail- able and even gasoline power is be- coming prohibitive in cost. The average up-to-date farm often has several gasoline engines for va-’ rious purposes, and a few more years will probably see such farms equipped with small central power plants which will furnish power for electric lights about the place and for electric motors connected to the various farm machines, pumps, wood cutters and the like. In this day of milking machines, cream separa- tors, silo cutters, irrigation and other mechanical activities on the farm the central plant becomes more and more necessary so that the various small units can be electric and require the minimum at- tention and upkeep. Furthermore a central station plant can furnish hot water for the house and dairy; the exhaust can be used for house heating in the winter and electricity is available for fans in the summer. Some old pioneers will always pride themselves on how they lived without such luxuries and refer dis- paragingly to the decadence of the modern age, but such talk does not keep boys at home on the farm. Such talk fills our cities with men who know when their -day’s work is ended. Such talk drives youngsters out into the world to follow paths of discontent and salaried tragedy, when a little patience and effort to make the farm interesting would have -kept them there. It is not the hard work that most of us fear. It is the monotony of ceaseless toil that leads nowhere except to keep one or two jumps ahead of the mortgage interest. Boys who can not be kept at plowing or hoeing will work their young heads off to keep a tractor going and take the keenest kind of interest in a practical agricultural school. The same boy who refused to spend his life working 16 hours a day on a dairy farm has, by hard work, risen to be foreman of a gas engine shop; but the work was more interesting. Boys who hate to milk couldn’t be kept away from a milking machine. The farms of our country are gradually falling into the hands of large corporations or aliens, be- cause they are so unattractive to our own boys; yet these same corporations employ young fellows who are graduates of agricultural schools, expert mechanics, ete., but the hours of work are fixed, the duties classified and the equipment modern and complete. The young men get salaries and bonuses and are able to make domestic plans. All. this is made possible by the use of machinery of a labor-saving character. OIL ENGINES SOLVING THE PROBLEM ON SOME FARMS It is getting so that the larger farms using traec- tors, threshing machines, ete., can no longer afford to use gasoline engines. Some have put in central station steam plants using coal or crude oil. Others are putting in Diesel or “semi-Diesel” engines. Any plant using low-grade fuel must put in storage tanks holding at least a carload, because low-grade fuel is not delivered in amounts smaller than a tank car of 6,000 to 10,000 gallons. If it were de- livered in barrels or cans the cost would not be much below that of higher grade fuels sold in less quantity. . “Semi-Diesel” generating sets can be purchased as low as 10 horsepower in very reliable makes at an average cost of $100 a horsepower for the engine and about $100 a kilowatt for the generator. They burn an oil that costs one-fifth as much and burns about half as much to run as a gasoline engine. Full Diesel engines can be purchased as low as 50 horsepower at the rate of $150 a horsepower and cost about one-twentieth as much as a gaso- line engine to operate. Small “semi-Diesel” engines up to 50 or 100 horsepower will, if of reliable well-known make, run day and night continually with only occasional attention, supplying power for all desired purposes, as well as hot water and heat from the exhaust. ' Such engines have a hot ball which is first heated with a torch. The engine is then started and the torch extinguished. The engine will run indefinite- ly until the fuel is cut off. They are less compli- ° cated than a gasoline engine and much easier to run, although a gas engine man would have sev- eral things to learn before he could successfully start one. A The time is near when the larger tractors will have “semi-Diesel” engines if not full Diesel, and reap the benefits of low-priced fuel. Many pump- ing plants in the West are now equipped with “semi-Diesel” engines. In some districts of the East, perhaps, gas en- gines operated with coal producer gas would be preferable. In Europe successful producers have been built to operate in peat, stubble or straw. Of course machinery costs money, but it should be figured on a labor-saving basis. A power-driven wood saw will pay for itself in one season as com- pared to a bucksaw, and that much labor is released for other-work. It takes thought, foresight, management and a very careful planning to develop a small hand- operated farm into a large machine-operated one, without outside assistance, but it can be done and has been done by thousands. Some farmers are naturally born to get ahead and others just to work hard without progress. Waynesboro, Va. F. H. SWEET. Tighten Stave Silo Don’t Wait Until Fall to Get Ready—Delay Means Loss As soon as the stave silo is empty it is time to think about putting it in shape for next fall. If left until a few days before filling the chances are that the work will be done hurriedly. At the last minute something may prevent it being done at all. It A silo left like this soon develops large cracks. It should be put in shape at once. is important to have the silo tight if spoilage of its contents is to be prevented. No amount of tight packing of the silage will prevent mould if the structure has sagged or gotten out of plumb. This means crevices and cracks between the staves which let in air. Defects of this kind can be elim- inated only by tightening the hoops and making everything straight and true. It is possible, of course, to keep a wooden silo in repair and make it do duty for a long period of years. The fact that so many such structures today give mute evidence of lack of care is sufficient commentary upon man’s habit of procrastination. It is better to “tune up” the silo in the early sum- men than in the early fall, for when the structure stands perfectly true and tight, summer winds will have less effect upon it, while rain and sun will have less opportunity to cause it to warp further during the mid-summer months. ; - Wheaton, Il1. ORIN CROOKER. PAGE EIGHT PROBLEMS IN FARM MECHANICS T Wheat Litter Watch Truck Loading Better Be Safe Than Sorry, Says California Expert N THE old days when “Old Dobbin” did the trucking, every farmer was careful about loading his. wagon, so the weight was well balanced. Every- thing was carefully considered and the load so placed that there was the least possible strain on horse, wagon or harness. , The coming of the power wagon seems to have ' changed this. Farmers who would not have trust- ed their 20-year-old sons ‘with a span of draft horses are sending boys of 16 or younger out with trucks to haul loads requiring care and knowl- edge to arrange with safety. These boys, appar- ently, have been given little or no advice about loading, the result being many unneeded accidents. Last week, flivvering along the local highway, our party came upon an overturned truck. The driver, a boy of 16, was lying senseless—crushed by the machine. A few hours before we had seen him loading in front of a hardware store and happened to notice that his load of extra long heavy iron pipes was very carelessly placed and that he had too big a load for the small truck. I noted that one of the pipes had dropped down at the back and dragged a distance along the ground, finally strik- ing a boulder by the roadside, causing the truck to turtle. The pipes had been tied together with a piece of cotton rope and this rope wore out when the load was only a mile from town. I afterward found it and had it-identified by the storekeeper. Any farmer having more boys than he needs can easily get rid of them by not showing them how to load a ‘truck for safety of themselves and machines. Why not use a little care or time in loading a truck? Wrongly placed loads injure machinery, shorten the life of the truck and run up needless repair bills. There is no more need for a truck to “turtle” than for the horse and wagon—not half so much, in fact, since a well cared for machine is not skittish or subject to nerves as horses are. When a truck or flivver becomes fractious the driv- er or owner is always to blame. When a.truck turtles it is carelessness in loading or driving, or both—it is not IN the machine. I have heard farmers claim that a small truck turtles easier than a large one, but in my expe- rience this is because farmers are more apt to overload the smaller trucks, or to load without re- gard for safety either of themselves or the ma- chine. Safety first in trucking includes both lives and pocketbooks. C. CHAPMAN TOMEK. Lakeport, Cal. A WHEAT LIFTER A device for lifting fallen wheat so that it can be cut by the binder knives is now on the market and the manufacturers guarantee 95 per cent effec- tiveness in overcoming this kind of loss. The invention consists of a set of 10 guards, at- tachable to the platform of the binder, which run under the fallen grain. A rod sloping backward and up from the point of the guard gradually lifts the grain to a position where it can be cut. .Losses from fallen wheat due to high winds, heavy rains, marauding animals and other causes are heavy in the United States every year. PROSPECTS FOR WHEAT PRICES The world’s visible supply of wheat is 200,000, 000 bushels less than a year ago. Elevator stocks in “Minneapolis and Duluth are nearly 40,000,000 less than a year ago. The acreage sown to winter wheat is 12,000,000 less than a year ago and its condition at the present time is less than three- fourths of normal. Unless spring wheat produces sufficiently to overcome this shortage higher prices are in prospect on anything like a free market. PIT SILO CONSTRUCTION Farmers who can not afford the construction of an expensive silo can obtain full information about the construction and operation of pit silos by ad- dressing the North Dakota Agricultural college and asking for the publication entitled “The Pit Silo for North Dakota.” ' The pit silo has the advantage of cheapness of construction, lower cost for ensilage cutting and requires less power for operation. <