A Tractor Demonstration in Shropshire.
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MHOSE who remember the tractor
trials of immediate post-war days, when there were so many makes of machine on the market, will notice a great difference in trials or demonstrations held now. There are no freak machines and no bad ones. Experience has taught what is required, which seems to be the general-purpose machine. At any rate that was shown to be so nt a two-day demonstration held under the auspices of the Harper Adams Agricoltural 'College, Newport, Salop, last Tuesday and Wednesday, on the College Farm and Caynton Manor Farm, the land being lent for the purpose by Mr. F. M. Furness.
The tractors taking part were mostly established makes of the general-purpose type. Among them were Harris Wallis 12-20, Massey Harris Wallis 20-30, each hauling a threde-furrew plough, International 10-20 with threefurrow plough, International 10-20 with deep digger and subsoner, International 15-30 with four-furrow plough, Fordson with two-furrow plough, and a British Wallis with two-furrow plough. The Rushton was the only new English machine. Like the others it is of the general type. It is very handy and does good work.
A tract.) that gave a good account of itself was the Latil. This machine, of the land-and-road type, is not so well known among farmers as some of those which have been longer on the British rnarkk. The Latil is more in the form of a road tractor adapted for land work. There is no doubt that its land work is well done and few machines can equal qual
it for getting loads off the rough land. Then its adaptable spuds are so easily and rapidly adjusted that the transference from the field to the road is quickly arranged. It can do 16 m.p.h. with 7 tons or 8 tons behind it and will haul 3 tons or 4 tons off a heavy field without strain.
Some part of these demonstrations was to see what could be done in the way of hauling sugar beet direct from the fields, but as there was no beet available, resort was hod to timber hauling instead. This was well done. A novelty in these parts was found in the Lanz Bulldog, a German tractor with a Diesel engine. It is claimed for this machine that the fuel costs for ploughing amount to only 6d. per acre, and that the total working costs are Ss. per acre as against the more usual 12s. Further, one understands that it is easy to handle and well within the province of the agricultural labourer.
If the Diesel engine can be designed to meet land requirements then the farmer should ,find a very big reduction in the amount of his production costs.
In addition to the testing of the field tractors there was a test in the fruit plantation of market garden motors the Auto-Culto, Monotrac, Simar 5 Rototiller and Sillier 10 Rototiller being demonstrated.
While tractor ploughing and cultivating were going on, tractor timber hauling, harrowing of grassland to improve it by means of a pitch-pole harrow, a n d manure spreading by power were being carried out.
All the tractors did good work. Indeed, there was little to choose between them In this respect, but the land was light and the work therefore easy, so that those machines that could show their advantages to the greatest extent had little chance of doing ,so during the me, days in question. ,