was racing down the field so as to catch up to the tractor before it
reached the corner. Then he stopped the machine until Bob came up.
"Now, this is how it's done, Bob. You see this self-steering device
down here in the furrow. Well, I set this lever and clamp it over fast
and this self-steering device rubs along the edge of the furrow and
keeps the plow following the furrow. In big fields in the West, where
there's plenty of room and the ground is comparatively level, we
always plow around a circle. There's where we use our big fellers," he
said smiling. "Fourteen plows in a gang and one man can operate all of
them at once."
"You don't mean it," said Bob. "Three or four plows going at once, and
each one plowing fourteen furrows. Why, you would plow a field like
this in less than a day."
"Less than a day," said the agent. "How long will it take you to
finish this field with your team, Bob?"
[Illustration with caption: THE TRACTOR WILL DO THE WORK OF FIVE MEN
AND FIVE TEAMS AND ONLY EATS WHEN IT'S WORKING]
"Well, I expect to get through by noon on Saturday," he replied.
"Well, what do you say if we finish it up by six o'clock tonight?"
"But you couldn't do that, Mr. Patterson!"
"We can't! Well, you just wait till I show you. I want you to get into
the seat and run it yourself, Bob; then you can see how it goes."
The boy climbed awkwardly into the machine and adjusted the levers
according to instructions.
"I'm sure I won't be able to handle it, Mr. Patterson," he said, as he
opened the throttle and the engine started.
"Won't be able to handle it? All you need to do is to sit on the seat
and let it go. Now shove this lever and throw in the clutch,"
suggested the agent, and off the plow started.
"It does run easy," said Bob, as the tractor moved rapidly ahead, the
agent walking alongside, talking to Bob as they went.
"Easy!" remarked the agent. "Why, you can run this machine all day,
Bob, and it won't make you as tired in a whole day as doing your
chores. Now, when you get to the corner put your throttle down and
I'll show you how to make the turn."
Bob was a bit awkward, but finally made the adjustment and got the
plow to a standstill at the corner.
"You see, Bob," said Mr. Patterson, "when you use a gang plow you
don't cut the corners square as you do with a team of horses. You
round them off a bit, then you don't need to take the trouble to turn.
Now, while you plow around, I'll take your team and plow off the
corners."
"You aren't going to let me go around myself, Mr. Patterson?" asked
Bob.
"Certainly, you can run it yourself just as well as anybody," replied
the agent. "After I finish with the team, Mr. White and I have some
business to do. By the way, can we use your telephone, Bob?"
"Sorry, Mr. Patterson, we haven't a telephone yet," stammered Bob. "I
think Uncle Joe'll put one in though when he gets back from his
wedding. You see, he's getting married to-day."
"I know he is," said the agent grinning. "That's why we brought the
tractor out to-day. We wanted to have a good chance when your uncle
wasn't home. When he gets back with his bride, we're going to show him
what power can do to a farm."
"Well, I'll take the car," said Mr. White, "and drive over to the
Wallace farm and use their 'phone. You see, Bob, we're going to have a
little party on your farm. We're going to sort of take possession of
the place and have invited some of your neighbors to see the tractor
work."
"All right," said Bob. "I'll try it out myself, but if I smash this
thing, it won't be my fault."
"Don't worry about smashing it, Bob. Just give her kerosene and keep
her going," said the agent.
After the first round or two, Bob became confident of his ability to
handle the tractor, and began to realize how quickly and easily
plowing could be done by power.
He noticed Mr. White drive back to the barnyard, and as soon as Mr.
Patterson had finished with the team, he unhitched them and took them
over and put them into the barn, then they sat down in the auto and
began to talk, leaving Bob to manage the tractor alone.
When dinner time came he brought the machine to a standstill on the
west side of the field nearest to the barn, and, shutting down the
motor, came quickly over the freshly plowed ground to the barnyard.
"That's certainly a fine way to plow, Mr. White," said Bob, his eyes
sparkling as he contemplated the amount of work done in a quarter of a
day.
"Sure is, Bob," said the banker. "The greatest thing I've ever seen.
Power certainly does beat horse flesh, and you notice, Bob, we only
feed the engine when it is working."
"I can't give you very much of a dinner," said Bob, apologetically,
"for everybody's away at Uncle Joe's wedding, but if you'll be
satisfied with cold victuals, I guess I can fit you out."
"Bread and butter and a glass of milk is good enough for me, Bob,"
laughed the banker, as they started for the house.
Bob's grandmother had left him well supplied with food--several apple
pies, a boiled ham and a weekly baking of bread had been finished the
day before. She had also left the fire in the kitchen stove and the
tea-kettle on, so it didn't take Bob very long to make a pot of
coffee. He brought some butter and milk from the milk cellar and they
were soon enjoying the simple food.
"Bob," said the banker, as he helped himself to a large heel off the
loaf and spread it thick with butter and apple butter, "we thought
we'd give your Uncle Joe a wedding present by doing his spring plowing
for him. We want to surprise him when he comes back, so I arranged
with Mr. Patterson to give a demonstration of his tractor on your
farm. We sent out some invitations last week to a number of farmers
around here, asking them to come here this afternoon, but told them to
keep it quiet so your uncle wouldn't find out anything about it. We're
going to spend the rest of the afternoon giving each fellow a chance
to run the tractor, but to-morrow, just to show you what the tractor
can do, Mr. Patterson is going to take it and disk and harrow your
ten-acre field back of the cider mill, and then the next day we want
you to plow your west bottom field, where your Uncle Joe said he was
going to plant his spring wheat this year."
"When you take charge of the tractor, Bob," said the agent, "we're
going to let you start with the machine in the barnyard, take it to
the field, do the plowing and bring it back again yourself, and unless
you have some bad luck, I don't think I'll have to lay a hand on it.
Of course, I'll be here in case you need me, but I've a notion the
machine will do the trick, without my touching it."
"Why," said Bob a moment later, realizing for the first time what it
would mean to have that much plowing done, "our three fields will all
be finished before Uncle Joe gets back."
"Not three, Bob," corrected the banker, "four, for we're going to plow
your north field, too."
"Isn't that field too hilly for the tractor?" asked Bob.
"No," replied the agent. "I've been looking at it and feel sure we can
manage it, although it's a little steeper than we usually recommend
for tractors, but we want to demonstrate that our machine will take
care of all the fields you have on the farm, with the exception, of
course, of 'Round Top,' which ought to be planted in fruit or
something instead of trying to raise a grain crop."
"When does your Uncle Joe expect to get back, Bob?" asked the banker a
moment later, helping himself to a second piece of pie.
"Thursday afternoon, I think," replied Bob. "They're planning to be
back for Sunday."
"Come to think of it, that's right," said the banker. "I overheard him
tell Henry Smith, who sold him his automobile, to have the car up at
the station to meet the three o'clock train on Thursday. He's
evidently going to bring his bride out in style."
"Can Uncle Joe drive the car already?" asked Bob.
"No, I don't think he's going to try to drive out, not on the first
trip with his bride," replied the banker, "but I think you can look
for them about three-thirty."
"I'd like to be hanging on behind," said Bob, "about the time they
come around the bend in the road by the Wallace Farm, and he sees his
spring plowing all done."
"That's a joke," laughed the banker, "in which we'd all like to share,
Bob, but it won't do him any harm to ride the rest of the distance
home wondering how you managed to get it all done."
When they came out from their dinner they found two farmers had
already arrived and others kept dropping in by ones and twos, so that
before the afternoon was over there were almost two dozen rigs and
automobiles standing around in the barnyard.
Much to his delight, Bob was allowed to drive the tractor, while the
agent stood among the men and explained its workings.
After a round or two, Bob gave up the seat to a neighboring farmer,
who in turn gave way to another, so one by one they tried the tractor.
"Wish he had picked out our farm to demonstrate his plow on," remarked
Alex Wallace, as he watched the space in the center of the field
rapidly getting smaller. "By the time he's through demonstrating he'll
have your field plowed."
"Maybe you could get him to do it for you, Alex," said Bob. "Why don't
you ask him?"
"I've already done that," replied Alex, "but he wants to sell us one."
"Well, are you going to buy one?" asked Bob, as they watched the
tractor work.
"I don't know what father'll do," replied Alex. "Suppose we'll have to
think it over."
When the afternoon sun got low, the banker called the men together in
the barnyard and said:
"There's something I want to say to you men. I know that some of you
are pretty hard pressed for money just now, and don't feel much like
investing in new equipment, but I've recently made a careful survey of
the farming conditions in our county and have taken a trip west to
look over what they're doing out in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and the
Dakotas. In fact, I was gone for four weeks last summer, looking over
the situation generally, and I've come to the conclusion that we've
just as good farms right here in Pennsylvania as they have in any of
the western states--only they've gotten ahead of us out there by
adopting many modern methods. There isn't a thing they do out there,
though, that we can't do right here. Another thing I discovered, and
that was that the banks in the West are very much more liberal to the
farmers than the banks have been in the East. I don't mind telling
you," he said smiling, "that I picked up a number of pointers myself
on how to run a bank and when I got back I talked the matter over with
our board of directors.
"From now on the First National is going to be run on different
principles than we have ever run it before. We're going to do
'Constructive Banking,' which means in plain English that we're going
to help you farmers with liberal loans wherever we find a man who's
progressive and working intelligently. We're fitting up a special room
in the bank that we're going to call our 'Bureau of Farm Information';
we're going to put a capable man in charge of it to answer questions;
we're sending down to the Bureau of Agriculture at Washington for a
lot of farm bulletins on every subject of interest to you men, also to
manufacturers of farm machinery and other appliances that can be used
on the farm. The manufacturers of Portland Cement are fitting us up
with a complete line of literature on farm buildings and how to build
them. In fact, there won't be any information connected with a farm,
its equipment or the construction of farm buildings that we won't be
able to give you. There's some of you men here who don't do your
banking with us--you're just as welcome to the information as the
others. We want you to make this your room when you come to town--it
will be open every day from eight o'clock in the morning until six
o'clock in the evening. There'll be tables there where you can do any
writing you want, and a billboard to stick up notices of anything
you've got for sale. I hope you'll make good use of the Bureau. Tell
your wives we're going to have a special lot of literature for them on
canning and evaporation of fruits and vegetables, raising poultry and
dairy work and bees. Tell them to come in and use the room as much as
they like. We've provided for their comforts."
"Well, it sounds pretty fine, Mr. White," said Billy Waterson,
"especially the loans. I'll be in to see you myself on Saturday."
"Yes, come in, Billy, and tell me about your needs," invited the
banker. "We'll no doubt be able to help you."
The last of the farmers had scarcely gone when Bob's grandparents came
driving up the lane.
"Has any one died, Bob?" asked his grandfather, as soon as he got near
enough to be heard.
"Why?" asked Bob smiling.
"Well, I saw many rigs going down the road as we came by the Wallace
farm. One or two of them, I thought, came out of our lane."
"No," said Bob, "no one's dead, but," with a wave of his hand toward
the newly plowed field, "the old method of plowing with horse flesh
passed away this afternoon."
"I noticed, Bob, as soon as I came around the bend in the road that
the field was plowed, and I was going to ask you about it. How did you
get it done so quickly? Were some of the neighbors over here with
their teams helping you?"
"No," said Bob, "come here a minute and I'll show you something," and
he took his grandfather, who had alighted from the buggy, over to the
wagon shed in which the tractor stood.
"Where'd that come from?" asked his grandfather, looking at it
curiously. "Has Joe gone and bought a tractor, too?"
"No, not yet," laughed Bob, "but I guess he will when he gets back and
sees how much work it can do."
"They must cost a lot of money, Bob," said his grandfather.
"Not as much as you might think," replied Bob, using the phrase he
heard Mr. Patterson use in talking to the farmers that afternoon. "Not
when you take into account how much they can do."
"I should like to have seen it work," said his grandfather interested.
"Well, you'll see it, all right," said Bob, "because Mr. Patterson's
going to plow the other three fields before he leaves."
"How long does he calculate it'll take him to finish, Bob?" inquired
his grandfather.
"He expects to get done by noon on Thursday."
"It can't be done," said his grandfather incredulously.
"Well, he says it can," laughed Bob, "and to-morrow morning you'll
see."
X
RUNNING WATER
Bob was up bright and early the next morning and had his chores all
done by the time Mr. Patterson came back from town, where he had gone
the night before for a supply of kerosene.
As soon as breakfast was over the tractor was driven out to the field
back of the cider mill, and, with the agent in the seat, started off
on its rounds. In this field corn had been raised the year before, and
it would be planted in oats this year, so the plow was omitted and the
double disk and spike-toothed harrow used. Bob and his grandfather
stood for a half hour watching it work, then Bob went to the barn and
got out the team and began plowing the garden, which adjoined the
field in which the tractor was working.
When they knocked off at noon, the relative amount of work done by
each was very apparent, for the ten-acre field was more than half
finished in the same time it had taken Bob to finish less than an acre
of garden patch, and by six o'clock the entire field was completed.
The next day Bob took charge of the tractor and succeeded in doing
almost as well in plowing their west bottom field as Mr. Patterson had
done the day before, although it took him until seven o'clock in the
evening to finish the entire ten acres.
Thursday morning everything on the farm was excitement. Bob started to
clean up the corners of the west field with the plow and team, while
Mr. Patterson started plowing the hilly north field, so that
everything would be finished by the time Bob's uncle arrived. It
seemed to Bob, as he watched the tractor work, that the hilly field
was requiring more time to complete than they had figured, for by noon
the field was not much more than half done, so he asked Mr. Patterson
at dinner if the plow worked slower on hilly ground.
"Of course, Bob, we can't make the time there that we can on the
level, but I've been taking it kind of easy, loafing a little this
morning so the tractor would be working when your uncle comes home
this afternoon."
In this, however, he was disappointed, for the automobile did not
arrive until after five o'clock, an hour after the tractor had been
run into the barnyard, where the agent left it and drove to town in
his auto.
Bob was in the barnyard waiting to greet his aunt and uncle when Henry
Smith drove up. His uncle, however, did not wait until they had
alighted to ask Bob the question which was uppermost in his mind, but
shouted to him as soon as the car swung up the hill into the yard.
"How in the world did you ever get the plowing all done so soon, Bob?"
he called.
Without replying, Bob waved his hand toward the tractor.
"Where'd that come from?" asked his uncle, as he helped his bride from
the auto.
"Oh," laughed Bob, as he stepped forward to shake hands with them,
"that's another of John White's jokes. He's had nearly everybody in
the county out here on the farm while you were away, showing them how
easy it is to plow with power."
"Well, Bob, I don't want your Uncle Joe to get married again soon,"
laughed his new aunt, "but it does seem to have been lucky for him
this time, for you've certainly got more plowing done while he was
away getting married than he'd have gotten if he stayed at home," as,
much to Bob's embarrassment, she suddenly bent over and kissed him.
"Things seem to be moving faster on the farm, Bob, since you and your
Uncle Joe started working together," she laughed, as they all started
for the house.
Bob could not remember any time in his life when he had been quite so
happy as he was that night at supper, sitting in silence opposite his
new aunt, listening to the story of the wedding and honeymoon. There
was something about the frank open smile that she bestowed upon him
from time to time which established her in his confidence, and made
him feel that the coming summer was going to be a very pleasant one.
He wondered what shape the first suggestion for improvement by his
aunt might take, but he didn't have long to wait, for the very next
morning at breakfast she turned to her husband and said:
"Have you figured out yet, Joe, how much pipe it will take to bring
the water from the spring into the house? I think we should arrange
for running water in the kitchen and put in a bathroom, and I have
also been thinking that, instead of using the small room beyond the
kitchen as a pantry, we could do away with that and fit up a washroom,
with a toilet and shower for the men. A farmer is just as much
entitled to a shower after his day's work as a golf player and is even
more benefited by its use. We could easily make a cellar under it for
the hot-water heater and supply hot water to the kitchen, washroom and
the bathroom on the second floor, as well as the laundry. I've been
looking up the cost of plumbing and don't think the whole thing would
cost more than five or six hundred dollars, exclusive of digging the
trench."
When his aunt began to speak, Bob scanned the face of his uncle, and
he noticed that while his uncle smiled and said he would have to look
into the matter, Bob noticed his brow contract in a way that spoke ill
of the project being carried out--at least at the present time.
Now that the plowing had been done, it was decided that they would
spend a few days in cleaning out the fence rows and repairing fences,
and as they were leaving for this work shortly after breakfast, Bob
made a discovery. His aunt came into the woodshed where they were
getting out their mattocks and brush hooks and said:
"There are a few things I wanted to get in town to-day, Joe, so I'll
take the car and drive in."
"Why, you can't drive yet, Bettie," declared her astonished husband.
"Oh, yes, I can," she laughed. "I have my license, too. I learned last
summer. While I'm in town, I'll speak to a plumber about the work, and
I think, too, we should also have a telephone put in. It will be quite
awkward getting along without one."
"All right, Bettie," said her husband. "It will do no harm to get a
price on them, even though we won't get them until fall," and he
kissed her good-by and started for the field.
She certainly doesn't let her ideas get cold, thought Bob, as he
walked along with his uncle, and, after all, it would not cost any
more to put the water in now than it would in the fall, and besides
they'd have the use of it all summer.
That night after the chores were finished and the supper dishes were
put away, his uncle and aunt adjourned to the sitting room, where Bob
noticed a fine reading lamp, surrounded by magazines and farm
bulletins, had been placed in the center of a large oak table.
"Come into the sitting room, Bob," called his aunt, when he returned
to the kitchen after doing his chores. "I want to show you the
pictures of our new bathroom fixtures I got from the plumber to-day."
It was only natural that Bob should have wondered just how far his
aunt and uncle would take him into their confidence in the planning of
the work on the farm, and he was not only relieved but very much
pleased at her early invitation to their conferences, having to do
with improvements and the expenditure of money. He took it as a
compliment to his interest in the farm work, and felt nothing would be
too hard for him to undertake while his Aunt Bettie followed the
results.
"Here's the plumber's estimate, Joe," she said, opening a letter. "He
wants $250 for the bathroom and washroom equipment, including a four-
foot white enamel wash sink with soap dishes and tempering faucets.
You see, by putting in a sink of this sort, the hot and cold water is
mixed as it comes through the faucet, and all the dirty water runs
away so that you can always wash in clean water, which is better than
filling a bowl. This four-foot sink will allow two people to wash at
once. This is the hot-water heater that we will put in the cellar. It
will mean the putting in of a new door and steps on the north side of
the building for taking out the ashes. That will be some concrete work
for you, Bob," she smiled across to him. "The heater will keep the
floor of the washroom warm in winter and prevent the pipes from
freezing. We ought to take out the wood floor of the washroom and put
in a concrete floor, but I think the wood floor will have to answer
until we build our new house. The plumber said he could manage this by
putting in a galvanized iron tray on the floor under the shower and
connecting it to the waste pipes. If you are careful when you use the
shower and not splash the water too much over the wood floor, I guess
we can get along with this arrangement. This, however, doesn't include
the cost of bringing the water down from the spring. I thought,
inasmuch as our plowing and harrowing had been done so soon, you could
take the time off, Joe, to dig the ditch and put in the pipe yourself.
A one-inch galvanized genuine wrought-iron pipe will cost ten cents
per running foot and a two-inch pipe twenty-two cents per foot."
"A one-inch pipe ought to be big enough," said Joe, "to supply all the
water we want."
"Yes, perhaps it would be for the house alone," she replied, "but then
there's the barn and the hen house and the new dairy house to take
into account, besides a watering trough in the barnyard and water
bowls in the new cow barn for each cow, and I think for all these we
really ought to have at least a two-inch pipe, so that the pipe will
be in for all time, and, of course, it would not pay to use steel
pipe--that would rust too quickly. The hard job will be the digging of
the ditch, for the pipe ought to be at least three and a half feet to
four feet underground, so as to be sure it will not freeze up during
the winter."
"Don't you think we ought to build new concrete walls and put a cover
on the spring, Aunt Bettie?" inquired Bob, "so that nothing can get
into the spring to foul the water?"
"That would be a good idea, Bob. Do you suppose you could make a rough
sketch and figure out how much concrete it would take to do that?"
"Why, there's a sketch in one of the concrete bulletins that shows how
that can be done," replied Bob. "I'll get the book right away," he
said.
"Bring your bulletins down to the sitting room and leave them on the
table, Bob," called his aunt, "that is, if you don't mind. Perhaps it
would be well if they were all here so we could all see them."
"All right," said Bob.