VOL. LXVI
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 20, 1011.
NO. 20
UP-TO-DATE FARMING.
Advantages of Farming With Gas Traction Power.
With all the world's advancement in
industrial methods, it was not until the
last decade that any practical improvement over horses for pulling farm implements    was    devised.     Farm imple-
of the uncut grain and the binders following after, each one cutting its
swath, without any side draft. This
binder hitch completed the all-around
service of the engine, making it possible for the farmer almost entirely to
dispense with horses. The gas traction
engine thus emancipates the farmer
from a very large part of his troubles
with horses and hired help. It does
the work of    thirty first    class    draft
favorable, and it is just here that the
gas traction engine most effectively
demonstrates its great economy and efficiency. By freeing the farmer from
his dependence on horses and farm
laborers it proves itself indispensable.
It will be noticed that our illustration shows the gang plows at work on
the Gray farms in Davies county, Indiana, whero this new power is becoming very popular on large farms.
How best to get rid of the hedge
fence. Pull or grub up in dark of moon
in August when the sign is in heart. I
got rid of 80 rods this way without any
trouble from sprouts coming up afterwards. My neighbor grubbed up 80
rods about four years ago in the spring
and the next spring had twice as many
sprouts as at first, and I was past his
farm two weeks ago and he is now
grubbing  the     third  time.    Now     you
Big Four Traction Gang Plowing on the Gray Farms, Daviess County, Indiana.
ments themselves were invented and
improved—the  binder,  the  gang  plow
and the drill but the practical value
and utility of each was necessarily limited by the limitations of the power
"wi to pull it. Ever since it was invented, each of these- machines has
been capable of doing a great deal
more work than horses could get out of
"■ The development of the gas traction engine enormously increased the
%alue of every farm implement drawn
°y horses.
Gas Traction Engines.
The great advantage of the gas trac-
n engine lies in the all-around ser-
;   e  which   it  performs  on   the   farm.
" hile it has ample power for the heav-
r work, such as    breaking,     plowing
and  threshing,   it  is  light  enough     to
'r»vel easily over soft ground  in drill-
84 discing, harrowing and harvesting.
.     one investment in the engine proles the farmer with a portable power
' -tnt with which he can do practically
his farm work.      It is not necessary
r him to have his money invested in
• engine and at the same time keep
arse number of horses with which to
' th© lighter work.
ven the gas traction engine did not
, jWPletely take the place of horses un-
^ he invention of the Hansman  bin-
hitch, which enables the engine to
mil four
or five binders down the field,
engine  running along at  the  side
horses, at about one-third the expense.
It reduces the number of hired help
by two-thirds and relieves the farmer
of four-fifths of the irksome tasks and
petty annoyances connected with the
old-fashioned way of farming with
horses.
Greater Efficiency.
The gas traction engine not only effects these striking economies, but also
multiplies the efficiency of every machine and implement on the farm formerly pulled by horses. The binder,
the drill, the mower, the harrow, the
disc and gang plow—the usefulness of
each is limited by the cost and efficiency of the power used to operate
it. Attached to a powerful, fast and
cheaply operated gas traction engine,
the utility and value of each as a
piece of mechanism is immediately and
greatly  increased.
Cheaper Than Horses.
While the cost of breaking, plowing,
harvesting, threshing and doing other
kinds of work with a gas traction engine is much less than the cost of doing the same work with horses, it is not
in this particular that the engine is of
the greatest value. It Is worth everything to the farmer to get his plowing,
his threshing and his harvesting done
just when he wants to do them and in
the shortest possible time, while the
soil and  weather conditions are most
A  BATCH  OF  QUESTION  ANSWERED BY AN OIiD MAN.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Having been a subscriber to your
most excellent paper for over 40 years
and having received much valuable information. I would like to answer a
few questions made by enquiring
friends, from personal experience. A
subscriber wants to know how and
when is the best way to kill locusts and
willow trees. Deaden the locusts in
the dark of moon in June they will die,
decay and rot Deaden them in dark
of moon in August, they will soon
break off at deadening and fall down,
but will not decay but will He on the
ground  a long time and remain solid.
Girdle the willow in dark of moon
in June, and peel the bark down, and
they are done for. I have peeled a
great many small ones with a pocket
knife. I have no willows now. There
is one day in the year when you can
kill a tree with one lick with an axe, it
is in June when the sign is in the heart.
To prevent moles taking corn after
planting run a deep furrow with a
shovel plow as soon as corn is planted,
between the rows; you will have no
farther trouble.
I_ Marshall wants a remedy for a
horse with heaves. Feed him oats
straw grain, but don't allow him to run
on pasture; he will eat too much and
will be almost worthless when hot
weather comes.
will say I am a moon farmer. Not so
I neither sow, plant or make hay in the
moon, but such things as I have described I do in the sign with good results, and now while I am on the verge
of three score and ten I give them to
any one free, who wants to proflt by
them. I. D.  Reed.
Clinton  Co.
—We thank our old friend for the
results he gives us from his experience.
Nevertheless we must say that we have
no faith in his moon and sign theories.
He never got Ihem from reading the
Farmer. If he had deadened his locusts in the light of the moon In June
they would have decayed and rotted
just the same. That one day in the
season theory, any one can prove ita
falsity by simply trying it. We wish
Mr. Reed would do it, and give us the
result. It seems so absurd to us that
we would be ashamed to be seen trying
it, but will do so for Mr. R's. sake if
he will tell us what day in June to
strike the lick.
The U. S. Crop Reporter gives tho
condition of the wheat crop May lst as
85.7 per cent of the average of the past
five years. During this period the average yield of the country has been only
16.5 bushels. According to that the
yield this year promises less than 13
bushels. Our guess is that Marion Co.
will do much better than, we would say,
20 bushels.