THE  IOWA  FARMSTEAD

    1920

    The manufacture and use of gas tractors has increased by leaps and bounds during the last three years.  On many Iowa farms the automobile has replaced the driving horses.  When visiting and Iowa farm recently, the writer noticed that a reasonably good surrey was housed in the same building with the automobile.  He remarked, “I suppose you don’t use the surrey much any more.”  The reply was, “The old surrey hasn’t been hitched to since we got the Ford three years ago.”
    It has been found that light road work can be done much more quickly and comfortably with the automobile than with horses, and the cost is moderate.  A great number of progressive farmers have looked to the tractor as a possible means of working a similar revolution in the field work of the farm.
    The use of animal power for the work of the farm brings up a good many problems.  The cost of keeping a horse is high.  On the average farm it takes 20 to 25 percent of the field products to feed the work animals.  Caring for the work animals morning, noon and night takes from 10 to 15 percent of the working time of the men on the farm.  Harness is costly, and still going up.  In addition to high cost, the animal   has the disadvantages of being “soft” in the spring so that he cannot stand hard work and is likely to develop sore shoulders and neck.  Then in the summer, when the hardest work comes, the hot  weather cuts down his capacity.  These things, in addition to sickness, wire cuts and runaways, make    the horse or mule a rather unsatisfactory source of these disadvantages, because we have become accustomed to them and have learned to make the best of them.

   Why, then, has not the tractor replaced farm work horses to the extent that the automobile has replaced driving horses?  The chief reason is this: The work horse does a great variety of work under a great variety of conditions.  It is a hard matter to design a tractor to do all of the work done by horses.  The tractor has proven satisfactory for plowing, discing, seeding and belt work, with the exceptions that on a clay soil it gives some trouble about packing when the soil is wet, and it will not work well on hilly land. There are some tractors designed to use in cultivating corn.  Most tractors can be used for pulling mowers and grain binders.  The trouble in using the tractor for harvesting usually is that one man is required on the tractor and one on the binder.  Then when there is no work for it to do, it will not be eating its head off.  The tractor will be expected to reduce both horse and man labor.  On most of the farms where it has been used successfully, it has replaced two or more horses.

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Explorations in Iowa History Project
Malcolm Price Laboratory School
University Of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa
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Documents courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa

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