SMALL BUT PROFITABLE BUSINESS.
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There is a Steadily Increasing Demand for Horticultural "Tractors " which Motor Agents Cannot Afford to Ignore.
By "Vim."
Tw. CIRCUMSTANCES have combined to bring about a very considerable demand for motor-driven, machinery that will replace hand labour in the cultivation of small estates. The dearness of such labour is the first ; though that alone would not account for it, since it is pretty obvious that wages must come down where entirely unskilled Work is involved, for the reason that it is only worth a certain amount and, fading a cheap ineans.of doing it, it will, wherever possible, remain undone. This applies particularly to work of the nature of mowing lawns, digging up flower beds, rolling garden paths, and the like, which, being for pleasure purposes, can always be done without—and will surely be done with out, A the cost of the labour is more than the pleasure gi\Tn.
The second, and more influential circumstance, is that hand labour is far too slow for as .moderns. Hands and feet cannot keep pace with our desire to get things done with the utmost possible cle,spatch. We think in terms of motoring, and, by contrast to the rate at which we travel andhave other things:done for us in these days, the spade and the handanowing machine, even the horse mowing-machine, appear implements of the Stone. Age. They get on our nerves!
High Wage Rates Encourage Use of Machinery.
So, it seems fairly certain that unless the wages of gardening labourers come down much farther than there is any likelihood of their doing, the future of the small horticultural type of troctor is assured. My belief is that it has only been delayed so long in coming into its market through the smallness of the imagination possessed by our manufacturers—and, to be candid, by our agents. The latter, living, as most of them do, in close touch with owners of private residences, should have foreseen its usefulness and never have rested until they had induced British manufacturers to give them some light r and handy form of motor tractor for garden and small estate work. Even new, I make so bold as to say that fes.v British manufacturers or their agents have given so much as a passingthought to the immensity of the market that awaits the ideal garden tractor ; and of the machines which are being made in this country, I know of none that is a near approach to the ideal. There is the Atco mower, a most creditable British production which will cut and roll grass lawns. For this a big demand can undoubtedly be worked up. What is now wanted is a machine to till and cultivate the soil.
For some years, America has been turning out garden tractors which, on paper at least (I have not had experience of any of them), are admirably adapted to their purpose ; more so, in fact, than any British-made machine that I know. In a land of private estates, small market gardens and allotmenia, such as ours,. one could be forgiven for thinking that we should have led the way with motor driven appliances for cultivating them. But the demand for horticultural motors now, at last, being so insistent as to be almost evident without waiting for would-be buyers to "down tools" in order to assert their claim to be supplied with what they want, it may be expected that Great Britain will bestir herself and look into the matter. In the meantime, there are maa chines already on the marketawhich will meet most requirements, although all the virtues are not, to' the best of my knowledge, embodied in any one of them.
Probably the agent's easiest sale will be affected with his local golf club. Cutting the fairway on a golf course is an expensive and slow job where a horse is brought to the task, and very nearly a hopeless one with hand labour: Grass has an awkward way of growing quickly just when "one_would prefer it to stay short, and members are inclined to pass nasty remarks about the committee rather than nature, if mowing is not attended to as scrupulously as they think proper. A motor mower, a motor roller, and an attachment for pumping water by one of these; should sell readily. Many secretaries of golf clubs, and of large tennis clubs, have lately—as I happen to know—been instructed by their committees to make inquiries about such machines.
• What the Agent 'Should Handle.
Having one or two small tractors (I use the word, for want of a better, to describe any motor driven machine for light work, and, in a generic sense, to include one-purpose mowers and rollers, as well as horticultural tractors proper, which are small machines to which .appliances for carrying out all kinds of cultivating can be attached as needed), placed with recreations clubs, it will not be difficult. for the agent to get other orders from people who have large gardens, and from market gardeners. A discreet but conspicuous name-plate affi.xed.to the outfits supplied to clubs will almost ensure orders from members without much further effort on the agent's part, although I do. not advocate at any time a " si t ti ng-downa n d-wai tin g-f or-i t-to-come " policy for any man in the motor trade. Energy pet into cultivating sales is as fruitful as energy put into the soil.
The type of tractor for which I believe there will be an inexhaustible demand directly thearight arEicle is offered to our public here., is a little machine, consisting practically of a, single broad wheel driven by a petrol engine and controlled by a pair of handles, which the person in charge steers as he walks behind it. This type is sold in America in considerable quantities for estate work, orchard cultivation, and so on. It replaces manual labour in the same way as a farm tractor replaces equine labour. As the cost of manufacture lutist be low (becanse the " finish " is absolutely unimportant), it should be possible to make horticultural tractors of this description in this country and to retail them at a price within the reach of most people. The price would, in. fact; absolutely define, the market, because, unless they could be bought cheaply a great many amateur horticulturists would be reluctant to spend their capital on purchasing a machine to save their own. time, which, from their pbint of view, costs them nothing. But, if offered at the right price, there are few who would not purchase, becauSe digging, mowing, rolling, etc., are unadulterated drudgery, to get rid of which most amateur gardeners would gladly give a reasonable stur of money. Possibly, some British firm is already makinga baby tractor of this type; if so, I and the agents would be glad to hear about it, for .it is almost as useless not to make at all as not to advertise what one is making. Pending the British machine, Americans are to be had. I hope that this article will do something toward.1 interesting motor agents in the possibilities of the horticultural tractor business. So far, this field has hardly been touched; but I am positive in my own -mind that those dealers who first realize its vast scope and who set out to develop it, will reap their reward. B33