Steam, gasoline, and electricity have all been
suggested. The steam traction engine is already a fairly
well-developed machine and it has been used for plowing purposes on
many dry-farms in nearly all the sections of the dry-farm territory.
Unfortunately, up to the present it has not shown itself to be very
satisfactory. First of all it is to be remembered that the
principles of dry-farming require that the topsoil be kept very
loose and spongy. The great traction engines have very wide wheels
of such tremendous weight that they press down the soil very
compactly along their path and in that way defeat one of the
important purposes of tillage. Another objection to them is that at
present their construction is such as to result in continual
breakages. While these breakages in themselves are small and
inexpensive, they mean the cessation of all farming operations
during the hour or day required for repairs. A large crew of men is
thus left more or less idle, to the serious injury of the work and
to the great expense of the owner. Undoubtedly, the traction engine
has a place in dry-farming, but it has not yet been perfected to
such a degree as to make it satisfactory.
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