A Busy Time Ahead for
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THE AGRIMOTOR
The Wide Sphere of Use of the Agricultural Tractor for which Considerably Improved Sales are Expected this Spring
By Our Agricultural Correspondent
ALTHOUGII. autumn is a busy time on arable land, spring is the season which finds the agrimotor at the height of its work and is the period when most sales are effected. Concerns which handle tractors have noticed an increase in the demand for them during the past few years .and, although there is never likely to be a great jump in sales in any part of the country, the business is steady and sure. The decline in the number of horses bred each year has made the agrimotor a necessity on all our major arable farms, whilst its cheapness and efficiency have made it popular every
where. . .
The agrimotor business seems to be worthy of attention and I would not be surprised this spring to find sales better than usual. I do not know whether it be any indication of good trade generally, but a short time ago I visited a garage where one of the partners was chat
ling the other for ordering two new agrinuotors to be put in stock while one still remained unsold from the autumn. Calling a week later, I was told that the three had been sold and others had been placed in stock.
Two important points should be observed in any attempt to encourage the sale of agricultural tractors. The first is to stock the type that is most suitable for the district and the other is to provide good service facilities. The average agrimotor requires more after-sales service than does a car or lorry and any garage attempting to supply such farm appliances should always keep a good stock of spare parts and have on the premises men who can attend to repairs efficiently and quickly.
No matter how carefu: farmer may be, he cannot avoid stoppages in a busy season through breakages or the wearing of parts. This causes disastrous delay, even in the best of circumstances. But the service depot can reduce the delay by being in a position immediately to attend to the trouble. It is loss of time at the busy season and not the cost of the repairs that seriously affects the farmer and his profits.
Reliability of Modern Tractors.
As to the type of tractor, there is little to be said. Most of the standard makes are durable, reliable and efficient, as well as being inexpensive, both as regards capital outlay and running costs. Sales are, however, made more by a farmer copying his neighbour than by direct sales influence. If a farmer sees a certain tractor of a particular make giving satisfaction on his neighbour's farm, that is the sort of machine he will want, especially if machines of the same make give general good service throughout the district. That is why we find a certain make predominates in a given district.
Generally speaking, the all-purpose lightweight wheeled tractor using paraffin is the most popular. Track machines have advantages that are all their own and for certain purposes are unsurpassed, but for orthodox agricultural practice the wheeled tractor has most to re
commend it. In market-gardening and fruit-growing districts it is wasted effort to try to sell the bigger machines.
Even the ordinary, lightweight wheeled machine is not suitable for service in the hop-growing districts unless it be altered in some respects. This usually consists of reducing the length by moving back the front wheels and by shortening the width of the axles. When trees have to be encountered the machine must be lowered in order to miss the branches. The effect of the alteration to the width of the front axle is to enable the wheels to pass between the rows of growing crops without damaging the plants.
Machines for this work need to be just as powerful as for ordinary arable work in the open, but should be smaller in overall size. Adaptations for such work are made in the International, Fordson and Massey Harris, whilst the International Farman has been introduced to this country on account of its usefulness
for inter-crop work. A modified edition of the Case standard model C is available, this being suitable for hopyard, orchard and inter-crop work. This type was described in our issue dated February 3rd.
Versatility of the Tractor.
Indeed, agrimotors, both standard and adapted, suit practically all purposes, and there is every reason to believe that sales will be good not only during the present season but for some years to come. Farmers are extremely busy, and, in spite of the outcry about depression, farming prosperity is much greater than it was four or five years ago.
The tractor trials that were held last year in Berkshire gave a great impetus to the trade, but the real reason for the machine becoming firmly established is the undeniable need for it, as well as its efficiency.
The sugar-beet industry has helped to keep land under the plough, and although it is at present passing under a eloud, owing to the failure of the world sugar market, there is no reason why it should not emerge satisfactorily from this temporary set-back. The agrimotor has certainly been able to add its quota to the past success of the industry.