Direct Haulage of Ploughs by Motor.
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Extracts from an Official Report of the Bureau of Agriculture of the U.S.A.
Three fairly-distinct districts are to be found where motor ploughing by direct traction is common, namely, the Pacific-Coast states, the North-western states (including North Dakota, _South Dakota and Minnesota), and the South-western States (including Kansas, Colorado. Oklahoma and Texas). Within each section conditions are similar, but between them considerable variation in practice is to be attributed to differences in natural conditions duo to the contour of the country. In the North-western states, and in Canada, much prairie sod remains to be broken and the land is held in large open tracks. Gradients arc seldom objectionable and the natural difficulties are chiefly wet weather, soft ground, hidden rocks and " pot holes " or " buffalo wallows." In some sections brush or scrub is a handicap. By ploughing stubble land in the autumn dry footing is obtained and the frost tends to loosen up any soil which may have been packed by the weight of the engine. Sod land is commonly ploughed rather shallow in the spring and frequently backset in the fall. Moldboard ploughs are used almost exclusively both for "breaking " and on old land, as disk ploughs leave the soil in such shape that it disintegrates slowly. " Breaking " in this connection refers to the turning of wild sod. The farms in the Dakotas and Minnesota are reported to average 825 acres in size, 510 acres being in harvested crops. Direct-traction ploughing is more common in the western part of Kansas and Nebraska, than in the eastern part, where corn belt conditions are found. Throughout parts of these States and in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas level land and large tracts make motor-ploughing outfits desirable. The lack of rainfall throughout a large portion of the year makes the ground dry and hard, and horse ploughing at such times is practically impossible. In wet weather the advantage is reversed, but the season for motor-ploughing outfits is of such duration as to enable a large acreage to be turned. Disk ploughs will penetrate the dry ground better than moldboard ploughs and permit of a longer ploughing season; hence, they are used by the majority of operators. In Colorado the moldboard ploughs are used quite largely for breaking alfalfa sod. Semi-acrid conditions in both the south-west and northwestern regions foster the demand, for an internal-combustion-unglued machine of large fuel and water storage capacity, both on account of the labour problem and of the difficulty of obtaining water either in quantity or quality suitable for use on such a machine.
The California conditions are essentially different from those east of the mountains. Grain ranches are on a larger scale and employ larger units of equipment. Custom ploughing is a minor item, the larger ranches furnishing work to the entire capacity of one or more outfits. The ground is in the best state for seeding for a short time only, and during this period every possible advantage is taken. California-built ploughs, of light draft, but capable of covering large areas, are popular, and the isolation of the state with respect to eastern manufacturers has contributed to the adoption of equipment which is both designed and built by local concerns. The equipment for motor ploughing varies according to location, natural conditions and preference. The standard types may be considered under three heads; (1) ploughs, (2) prime mover or engine, and (3) miscellaneous equipment including all conveniences for the transportation of supplies, the repair of equipment, and the. care and comfort of the crew, Harrows, rollers and other tillage implements may also be considered under the lastnamed head. Practically all direct-traction ploughing is now done with specially-designed gang ploughs. These may be divided into the disk and moldboard tnes and the latter gang-ploughs for use with oil tractors present greater variation in type than do the engines. Variations in plough shapes, such as have been worked out for local conditions, apply as well to engine as to horse ploughs; hence the problem has been principally to combine plough units into large gangs in the most-satisfactory manner. Granting the practicability of motor-ploughing under given conditions the selection of equipment, and especially of the tractor, is a. vital point. To be practicable the tractor must be powerful, durable, economical and simple, with emphasis on all four points. It must draw a profitable load continuously while at work and that without ex cessive depreciation and repair charges. It must be economical of fuel and labour and not so complicated as to require skill not readily acquired by the average farm hand. In addition to serviceability in ploughing it should be adapted to a wide range of usefulness in order to compete seriously with the horse as a source of motive power for the farm or field.
As to size, it may he said that for ploughime alone and where work is abundant and delays few, the largest engines are the most economical, as the cost of the labour and the interest and depreciation may be distributed over a larger acreage. However, the larger the outfit and the longer the period of delay occasioned by wet weather, the more limited is the sphere of usefulness. A larger acreage must be provided to utilize the ploughing capacity of the engine, and, in other work, such as threshing, hauling, diseing, harrowing, seeding, etc., frequently economical use cannot he made of the power of the largest engines. The smaller engines are less economical of fuel and labour, but being better adapted to a variety of purposes, the overhead charges may be greatly reduced in comparison with engines of large capacity. The tractor wheel is a fundamental point. One authority states that he would build the wheel first and then the engine. The wheel must be either wide enough. or high enough to support the weight of the engine on soft ground, and to distribute the load under all circumstances without, any undue packing of the soil. Some tractors already rival the horse in the matter of weight per unit of bearing surface. Besides width and height there must be a proper arrangement of spuds or paddles on the surface of the wheel in order that they may grip the soil firmly but without clogging.
In general it may be said that the progress made (luring the last six years in the development of internalcombustion-engined tractors has been remarkable, and that the concentration of capital and thought upon the problem of supplying practical farm motors gives promise of even more rapid progress in the next decade. When it is considered that, during the long era of development of farm machinery, no radical improvement has been effected in the animal as a source of motive power, the increasing purchase and use of smaller tractors by western farmers, not only in grain-growing sections hot on larger farms in the corn belt, indicate that practical men are finding profitable employment for a general-purpose farm ermine. So long as large areas of prairie remain to be broken there will he a field for the large ploughing engine developed for that purpose alone, but the activity displayed by inventors and manufacturers justifies the expectation of dependable farm motors, varying in type and size, adapted to a much greater variety of work than that in which they have hitherto been chiefly employed by pioneer farmer owners.