Page 1 of 31 May 1917 Issue of Des Moines Iowa Homestead in Des-Moines, Iowa

Des Moines Iowa Homestead May 31, 1917 Page 1 old newspaper archives

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Des Moines Iowa Homestead (Newspaper) - May 31, 1917, Des Moines, IowaBuy a Liberty Bond vol. Lxii. No. 22. Des m01ne8, Iowa May 31, 1917. Whole no. 3112 tractors in farm work the Cost of keeping work horses advances to higher and higher Levels and the Scarcity of hired help daily grows More acute because Many Young men Are enlisting in the army the farm tractor is coming into its own. Out on the farm it is Dis placing More horses than Ever before and in addition it is saving a lot of Man labor. Thou Sands of Farmers have put tractors into the Field this Spring for the first time and from All Indi cations there will be Many More in use before the Harvest is ended. Among the new tractor owners in Iowa Are Charles and Raymond Barrett who farm their father s place of 400 acres in Jasper county. These Brothers. Faced a serious Power problem Early this Spring. The killing out of their Clover crop left them a total of 130 acres to be put in Corn and they were not equipped to handle so Large an acreage As that along with their other work. Of this amount forty acres had been fall slowed which left ninety acres to be slowed this Spring besides disking1 and harrowing the whole area. In addition to this there were forty acres to be put in Oats for which the ground had to be pre pared. With this prob Lem facing them the bar rett Brothers proposed to solve it by purchasing a 6-12 of the two wheel Type in which the implement attached forms the rear wheels. Their solution proved to be a Good one for not Long after the Purchase was made the oat crop was put in in Fine shape and the Corn land was slowed risked and har rowed and ready for the planter As soon As any of the land in their neighbourhood. Charles Barrett handled the tractor on the Corn land. With 1m outfit which included a two Bottom gang plow he slowed the whole area at an average rate of eight acres a Day and the Only expense was for fuel and Oil. A mixture of one half kerosene and one half gasoline was used for fuel and it required about fourteen Gal Lons to do a Day s blowing. The use of Cylinder Oil averaged about one gallon a Day. At this rate or. Barrett figures that the tractor can break ground at less Cost than horses when the present High Price of feed is considered. At risking and harrowing which were done in one operation from Twenty to Twenty five acres were covered in a Day with an eight foot disk and a two Section Harrow. The tractor travels just As fast As horses and can work much longer hours according to or. Barrett. Then it does not re horses do. Have slowed some very Hilly said or. Barrett some of it almost at half pitch but when it comes to turning Corners the tractor does better than a team and it does not have to slow Down for them at Grain Harvest time the Barrett tractor work and since they Are Able to do feed grind ing and other Belt work in addition they Are enthusiastic in declaring that their tractor is a paying investment even though they have had it but a Short time. Another enthusiastic tractor owner is h. C. Strover of Polk county Iowa who purchased a 6-12 tractor this Spring to do his blowing. The soil on the Strover farm is a heavy Gumbo which is exceedingly hard to plow. It used to keep four horses working to the limit to operate a this land was slowed about five inches Dees and the work done at a rate of eight or nine acres a Day. A specially constructed gang plow Belt work keeps the tractor Busy when Field work is Slack. The Binder which every Farmer knows is a try ing Job for horses. In speaking of this work plows being fastened directly under the Back part of the Frame of the tractor. Or. Strover de clares that the tractor is not a bit hard to operate and that with Good soil he could easily plow ten acres a Day. At blowing it required about twelve Gallons of fuel a Day con sisting of a mixture of equal parts of gasoline and kerosene. The con sumption of Cylinder Oil was about a gallon a Day but this amount will be Cut Down after the trac Tor has been in use for a while. So far or. Strover has used his tractor Only for blowing but it has accomplished this task so successfully that he is looking Forward to using it on the Mower and Binder and at Many other tasks that his horses formerly have done. He believes that it can do or bar rpt to r a 1 anime by Nave Aone. Tie believes that it can do time we a lip beat cutting almost All work that horses can even to plow several a v "j6 under ing Corn his tractor is of the two wheeled Type hard on them to St the tas that a Coil plow could be attached to the keen Ohp s Cou d hardly rear part of the Frame and the operator could sit the plow and Havins Clear control the outfit with ease. The tractor Field. For such work As this the tractor looks pretty Good. With it one Man could Cut the crop alone and rather than let Grain spoil we could work with the tractor at noon and in the since the Barrett Brothers have displaced four weighs Only pounds and therefore is Light enough not to pack the soil and it has a vertical clearance of thirty one inches which permits it to go into any Field where Corn is not too High for the cultivator. Since purchasing his tractor or. Strover has u Iago i uni j. I Iii Ivor out vet horses with their tractor and greatly reduced reduced the number of his horses to four and a the amount of Henri in inv Nannar Ofori _ the amount of hand labor connected with Field concluded on Page 7. G 8 Hij. N w Juja i i Ahe 2d with ease by the tractors Here referred to

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