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Show PLOWS FOR THE WEST Two-Furrow Gang Implement Most Popular for Horses. Percentage of Work Done by Mechanic cal Power Is Rapidly Increasing Each Year Greater Variety of Equipment Required. The walking plow Is not a practical Implement for regular use on the average av-erage farm In the west, owing to its waste of human labor. The large area cultivated makes the two-furrow gang plows the most generally popular when pulled by horses. The large area of level land, free from obstructions, has created a remarkable field for the engine gang plow, and the percetnage of plowing done by mechanical power Is rapidly increasing each year. In this section the mold-board plow is by far the most popular, writes L. W. Ellis in the Denver Field and Farm. The disk plow Is used considerably in land which has first been subdued by the use of the moldboard. When the soil contains much clay or gypsum and lime, the steel moldboard scours better than the chilled. Cast shares can be used with either moldboard in all but a few soils, and are cheaper than the steel lays. The use of larger animals has been accompanied by s gradual increase in the average size of plows, even in the last decade. On the irrigated farms the two-way sulky plow is growing in favor, owing to the fact that no dead furrows are left to interfere with the distribution of water. This is a curious and unpremeditated un-premeditated adaptation of a plow originally designed especially for hilly ground in New England, and it is about the only thing we had back in the Pennsylvania mountains. Disk plows are used to subdue much of the sage brush prairie found in the west and increases in favor toward the southern latitudes. The topography and size of our grain farms in Colorado, Colo-rado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico Mex-ico favor the use of mechanical power and engine gang plows. Probably four-fifths four-fifths of the traction outfits include the disk engine gang. Conditions in our western states require a greater variety of farm equipment than in any other section and practically every type of plow found elsewhere in the United' States is used. Here the land varies from level to mountainous, the farms from tiny patches of highly valuable val-uable fruit and truck crops to immense im-mense grain ranches. We have all climates and altitudes The great diversity of crops, the variation varia-tion in kind and depth of soil, make the depths of plowing widely different s. In different sections. Not only are the conditions varied in the extreme, but much more severe than those prevailing prevail-ing east of the Rocky mountain plateaus pla-teaus and the demand for any particular particu-lar type of plow Is limited. Neither machinery nor agriculture Is standardized. standard-ized. It is therefore difficult to interest inter-est eastern manufacturers in providing provid-ing plows fully adapted to our local needs. The same conditions discourage discour-age the establishment of factories on the western coast, although many circumstances cir-cumstances are favorable. Buildings are cheaper than in the eat and labor Dften as cheap. Crude oil furnishes ckeap fuel and freight rates on raw material from eastern mines are less f than on finished products. Only local manufacture or closer study by' eastern east-ern makers will result in plows satisfactory satis-factory for every condition. The plows must be made heavier, stronger, Df better material and more simple. The sand and gravel in the soil call for chilled, rather than soft center, steel in plow bottoms, and in dry land the disk plow is popular. It allows plowing to be done in the fall. The pumice in volcanic ash soils necessitates necessi-tates the use of a chilled plow. The Boil Is more easily pulverized, hence a lower, straighter and less sarply corved moldboard is used than in the heavy soils. Prairie breakers are not extensively used. |