ODDITIES IN FARMING

e [Music] compressed air goes to work again this time in a California beat field there's no more muscle work thinning and hoing beats on the King Ranch at Woodland and pull a trigger when they want action the blade Moves In and Out like the head of an air [Music] hammer the whole blade hits a big weed the operator lays on the trigger the weed gives way everyone should have one of these convenient little gadgets for hoing the garden that is if your garden is big [Music] enough yes sir the tomato worms and bugs of all kinds take off down the row at top speed when they see this monster coming who wouldn't Paul Dickman fed his tractor vitamin B pills to build it up and this is what he got it's kind of like riding an elephant in the circus parade but there's no dust way up there partner there is a reason for building an outfit like this you get your spraying equipment above the tomatoes and above the steaks their ability to rebuild standard Farm machines and adapt them to meet unusual conditions is a real tribute to the Ingenuity of American farmers yes these are the Golden Girls where are they Bound for a school picnic a swimming party part or are they just out for a ride on a new fangled version of the flying traes no they are the gals who detassel the corn on the hybrid Seed corn Farms of Mr Clare golden near Cordova and Erie Illinois here's a crow's eye view of the gals at work they're pulling the tassels from the six rows that will produce the hybrid seed they're finding few tassels since this is the third time over the field in case you are not familiar with the production of hybrid seed the pairs of rows that are not detassel are the male strain the pollen from which falls on the silks of the detassel plants and affects the cross with the female strain both strains of course have been previously developed by inbreeding detasseling is tiring work but it can be a lot of fun and profitable too all you need is a sharp eye and a quick hand but most important is the sharp eye for every tassel must be pulled the growing of hybrid Seed corn has become an important branch of the farming industry in recent years the development of Labor saving devices such as this has helped its progress tremendously maybe you've dreamed of a plow like this so did the post Brothers of Santa Anna but they did something about it they built [Music] it watch this monster nose into the soil and settle down to its work plowing nearly 6 ft deep it takes power to break and turn hard soil like this and post Brothers get the power from four huge cats that snake their plow through any condition watch the ground tremble as this huge assemblage of power goes by why plow 6 ft deep well they really aren't plowing they're reclaiming land that has been covered by a deep layer of sand either through water or wind action notice there's a blade just ahead of the plow bottom that rolls the sand into the bottom of the furrow where it's buried for all time Old Mother Earth really gets a face liting when post Brothers go to work on her maybe you'd like another look at the plow itself all right boys back that plow up here by the camera lift it out of the ground there it is again folks the world's largest plow this is not a combine folks it's a hop picker that removes from The Vines the pods which contain the Hop berries it's a real labor saver compared with the handpicking method [Music] the men on top of the outfit cut the strings up which The Vines have grown and drop the vines onto the feeder platform The Vines are fed evenly onto the conveyor by the two women helpers the conveyor drags The Vines through a series of small fingers which strip the pods from The [Music] Vines just in case you don't know hops are used in the making of Medicine yeast malt extracts and many other products in addition to their use as a flavoring element in certain beverages the man walking ahead Cuts The Vines near the ground hot plants are perennials and produce abundantly for as long as 50 years without replanting this particular field was planted in 1934 odds Bodkins what sort of contraption could this be a coming down the stretch does this fellow just enjoy working backwards or does he have a reason for mowing in reverse the answer is yes you see he's mowing canning peas for a Minnesota canning company near Rochester with the mower out ahead he never runs over a windro of the succulent green peas with a regular mower drawn behind he'd have a hard time missing ing the Windrose especially on the turns he doesn't have to zigzag like that of course he's simply demonstrating how easily and quickly he can steer the outfit the operator sits up front or behind if you wish steers with one hand and controls the cutting height with the other call it backward farming if you like but it does the trick for Growers of canning peas and similar crops [Music] hey watch this more backward farming sure enough there's a buck rake attached to the rear of the tractors or the front if you wish the operator is pushing a load onto the stacker at Snider Brothers Ranch the sniders find this rear mounting of the rake to be more satisfactory than front mounting under their conditions up goes the load up up up and over hey what goes on operator don't reverse that film the hay stays on the stack oh well SN Brothers have a slick way of hauling hay too they pull up beside a stack with what Nebraskans call an underslung they string a cable around a whole stack of hay fasten one end to the underslung the other end to the Tractor draw bar and skid the whole stack onto the platform simple isn't it no pitching no grunting your tractor does the work all you do is figure out how to save work on the next job you have to [Music] do just to prove that tractors haven't taken over all the harvesting jobs we took these pictures on the John Long Farm in the Big Ben country however this is one of the last if not the last horsedrawn combine in the nation it takes 14 horses to snake this engine driven outfit over the hills not so many years ago this was a common sight and less than 50 years ago the horse furnished all the power for all farm operations today tractor power has almost completely taken over these heavy jobs that once tested the muscle of both men and work animals greater production per man increased yields and better easier living are the net results it's not all tough goinging for the horses on the downgrade the operator has to apply the brakes think you could handle 14 horses as expertly as this operator maybe so but how would you like to unhitch and unharness them after a long day in the field feed them curry them and harness them again in the morning you can have them [Music] brother someday this Hillside in Ohio will be covered with a oil saving growth of pine trees with a special plow beds have been thrown up on the Contour Preparatory to planting pine trees with a special transplanter used by the soil conservation men it works much like a regular transplanter the operator places the young trees in the furrows and rollers firm the soil around the roots young trees are off to a good start when planted in this [Music] manner design and for working on hillsides the transplanter can be leveled for good work on almost any slope here is the heavy Furrow opener that makes the trench into which the trees are placed sparkling lakes surrounded by trees are a favorite playground for millions of Americans to develop and preserve these areas for generations to come is one of the important objectives of more than 2,000 Soil Conservation districts Thrifty trees reaching into the sky are symbols of their success [Music]