Spreading Manure and Plowing With Tractor, Nebraska

Farmers have learned that is pays to fertilize their ground each year. Many plants do this-plants such as clover. The long roots of clover bring much nitrogen to the soil. This is the reason a field that has been in clover grows good corn. But besides the fertilization by plants it pays to add manures to soil. Rotten straw, manures from animals, bone dust and other prepared fertilizers are much used. The man here is spreading manure from barns where animals have been sheltered. The manure is pitched into the box and hauled to the field. The spreader is then thrown in gear. This spreader throws the manure out in tiny bunches so that it is evenly scattered. Hence the name, "spreader." This spreader is driven by a chain fastened to a sprocket on one of the hind wheels of the wagon. The tractor is a new machine on farms. It is more and more taking the place of horses for heavy work such as plowing. All day long the tractor works without getting tired. In tough sod a team of three horses finds a small breaking plow a heavy load. A tractor can easily draw in the same sod a plow that cuts several furrows at once. One plow sets just back of another on gangs. The depth is adjusted by levers. Much of the work on the farm is now done by machinery. There are engines to grind feed and to pump water; tractors to pull plows and other farm implements; mowers, binders, hay-loaders-the list is endless. Formerly farmers did most of their work by hand. Now machinery takes a large part of the farmer's burden. Keystone ID: 16735 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.