. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. GEAIN" FARMING IN NORTH DAKOTA. 23 cominiinit}' OAvn a thrashing rig jointl}^ and do their own thrashing as well as some outside work. In some cases rigs are owned and oper- ated by men who are not farmers but who make thrashing a busi- ness. Steam engines cost from $1,500 to $3,000 (1914) and separa- tors cost from $750 to $1,200. The cost usually depends on the size more than any other factor. An engine lasts from 12 to 20 years, according to the use and care given it. The life of a separator is not so long, bei
. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. GEAIN" FARMING IN NORTH DAKOTA. 23 cominiinit}' OAvn a thrashing rig jointl}^ and do their own thrashing as well as some outside work. In some cases rigs are owned and oper- ated by men who are not farmers but who make thrashing a busi- ness. Steam engines cost from $1,500 to $3,000 (1914) and separa- tors cost from $750 to $1,200. The cost usually depends on the size more than any other factor. An engine lasts from 12 to 20 years, according to the use and care given it. The life of a separator is not so long, being from 7 to 15 years. It was formerly the practice to use straw for fuel, flax straw be- ing the best for this purpose. During the last five years this practice has been almost entirely discontinued, and now coal is the fuel com-. FiG. 15.—Buck-rake and hay-stacker commonly used where a consideraWe acreage ot prairie hay is cut. monly used. An ordinary 25 to 30 horsepower engine consumes from to 2,000 pounds of soft coal per day. It was suggested that during the shortage of coal (1918) the former practice of burning straw be revived. The use of straw as fuel involves the use of a larger amount of labor than where coal is used, as a fireman is required to feed the straw to the fire box almost continuously, and it is necessary to keep one man and team hauling the straw from stack to engine. Further- more, the risk from fire is great, on account of the proximity of a load of straw to the engine and the danger from flying sparks. Improvements and simplifications of the gas tractor have made it possible for many more farmers to use it now than formerly. No data are available- as to the number of tractors on farms in North Dakota at present (1918), l>iii among ;'>7 representative farmers in the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations ma
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