Seeders and The ordinary grain drill consists of a long transverse bin with a series of 11 spouts set five inches apart. These spouts furrow the ground as the drill is pulled along, drop the seed in the furrow and cover it to the required depth. Where the soil is so light that it dries out quickly, a pressure wheel may be attached to firm the covering soil over the seed. The feeding gates in the bin of the drill may be adjusted to openings of dif ferent sizes, so as to sow beans and corn, as well as all smaller seeds. In order to space the seeding properly some of the spouts are closed. For example, in sowing mange's, spouts numbered 1, 5 and 9 are allowed to remain open; in sowing beans, spouts 1, 6 and 11 do the work. Beans may be sown in double rows for field culture by allowing spouts 1 and 3, and 9 and 11 to remain open. Corn is usually sown with spouts 2 and 10. There are special corn-planters which sow the grain in hills, five or six grains at a time, but the hand planted cornfield still holds all the records for big crops. Potato-planters are of advantage when more than five acres are to be planted: with less than that the cost of the machine for the very few days in the year when it is at work is prohibitive. Drills are also of great use fulness in the sowing evenly of lime and com mercial fertilizers. The disc drill is a com bination disc plow and seed drill. The discs plow the land sufficiently for grain without other preparation and the grain is sown at the same time.
Cultivators.— The functions of the cultivator are threefold: to prevent the growth of weeds, to the moisture conditions, and to add a dressing of fertilizer to the soil while the crop is growing. A tilting-tooth harrow is an effective form of cultivator when the crop is small. It can be so driven as to straddle the crop rows while it tears up and destroys thou• sands of weeds. As the crop becomes larger the horse weeder comes into use. It resembles the harrow in general make-up, but has very long slender spring tines instead of the stocky teeth of the former. The depth to which these tines penetrate is governed by setting the wheels of the machine. For specific crops there are special types of cultivators, with shovel-teeth, wide scuffle-blades and narrow hoe-blades, miniature plowshares for earthing up the plants, discs for deep stirring, etc., in great variety. In light soils the cultivators are sent into the field after every rain to break up the surface and thus form a mulch to conserve the moisture. Several of these machines are made small and light, for hand use.
Harvesting Machines.— The complicated machines used in harvesting operations are the most expensive in the farms equipment, in spite of the fact that every effort is made by the manufacturers to keep the price down, while producing a machine of the highest efficiency. The great disadvantage attaching to farm machinery is that the use of any particular machine is limited to a few days during the year, and it thus takes on the character of an expensive per diem luxury. Thus the hay making machinery—the mowers, tedders, rakes, loaders, stackers, etc.— must earn their pro rata cost within a very brief period. And the horses to operate them must be at hand when the crop is ready, even if the farm provides insufficient work for them for the remainder of the year. The relative per diem cost of farm machinery depends largely upon the size of the area devoted to a particular crop. For
example, a grain drill used to sow only 20 acres annually, costs $2.97 per day it is in use: if 107 acres are sown the per diem cost is $1.04. Where 15 acres of grain are harvested, the grain-binder's cost annually per day's use figures at $8.15. If, however, the grain-grow ing area is 85 acres, the annual per diem cost is $2.41. The corn-binder is more expensive by 40 per cent, and the corn-shocker by 300 per cent. These high relative figures have the tendency to induce specialization in the main crop for which the machinery must be pro vided. The problem is partially solved by farmers' associations which buy the machinery and distribute its use equitably among the mem- . bers. In this way a traction engine may be economically used to provide power for rapid work. The traction engine cannot be profitably employed on a . farm area of less than 240 acres.
Farm Equipment.—The usual machinery equipment of a well-regulated farm of 160 acres consists of the following: I manure spreader; 1 walking plow; 1 riding gang plow; 1 smoothing harrow; 1 disc harrow; 1 plank drag; 1 land roller; 1 seed drill; 2 cultivators; 1 corn-planter; 1 mowing machine; 1 hay ted der; 1 hay rake; 1 hay loader; 1 corn-binder; 1 grain-binder; 1 potato digger. Two heavy farm wagons and a hay rack will be needed to handle the crops, fertilizer, etc. The cost of this equipment will come near to $900. The annual cost per acre of these tools figures about as follows: walking plow, 7.2 cents; gang plow, 18.3 cents; smoothing harrow, 1.9 cents; disc harrow, 4.9 cents; plank drag, 0.8 cents; roller, 2 cents; cultivator, 4.3 cents; horse-weeder, 3.3 cents; corn-planter, 8.1 cents; seed drill, 13 cents; mowing machine, 10.5 cents; tedder, 16.4 cents; hay rake, 5.5 cents; hay loader, 24.8 cents ; grain-binder, 26.4 cents; corn-binder, 36.9 cents; corn-shocker, 84.2 cents.
Performance.- The per diem performance of farm machinery depends somewhat upon the power used. Many of the machines are of too heavy a draught for two horses to work with steadily, and yet three horses will not accom plish 50 per cent more in a day than will two, and in general require another man. The figures as worked out by the United States Bureau of Agriculture are as follows: Acres 12-inch walking plow, 2 horses I. 7S 14-inch walking plow, 3 horses 2.32 14-inch riding plow, 3 horses 2.49 8-foot spike-tooth harrow, 2 homes 10.80 10-foot spike-tooth harrow, 3 horses 15.30 6-foot disc harrow, 3 horses 7. 50 8-foot disc harrow, 4 horses 12.80 6-foot spring-tooth harrow, 3 hones 8.20 8-foot spring-tooth harrow, 4 horses 13.10 8-foot roller, 2 horses 13.20 6-foot grain drill, 2 horses 8.80 6-foot grain reaper and binder, 3 horses 11.10 Hand corn-planter, 1 man 4.40 1-row corn-planter, 1 horse 6.90 2-row corn-planter, 2 horses 13.60 Cultivator, 1 horse 4.40 Cultivator, 2 horses 6.60 6-foot corn-binder, 3 horses 7.30 5-foot cut mowing machine, 2 horses 8.90 Hay rake, 1 horse 16.30 Hay rake, 2 horses 17.90 Hay tedder, 2 horses 14.50 Bean harvester, 2 horses 7.60 Threshing machine, 10 men, 6 horses 29.50 Manure spreader, 2 horses (13 loads) 1.70 A motor plow will break up from 1.29 to 1.63 acres per hour; a tractor and gang plow, 0.74 to 2.18 acres per hour; two engines and a cable plow, 1.04 to 125 acres per hour.