THE CONTRACTOR'S PL/ 6
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IN WARTIME FARMING
Present Conditions Have Stimula our Agricultural Expert Review
Advice to Thos lterest in Contract Farming and sition and Offers Some Helpful !cl in the Work LAND cultivation by contractors has been established practice for many years, but the national need for rapid expansion of the area of arable ground has stimulated, to a marked degree, this class of business. As a result, during the past six months, numbers of new contractors have started operations, many of them being normally engaged, in one way or another, in the garage or transport industries.
Success in agricultural contracting depends on a great variety of lectors and only long experience will bring an operator into touch with the multitude of problems to be solved. One of the most outstanding is that of transporting tackle from one job to another, and it is here that the balance of profit or loss is often determined.
It is seldom that any one method will meet all the requirements of a contract business, and various means may have to be adopted, according to circumstances and the nature of the tackle. Let us first examine the problem in relation to the latter.
The basis of the outfit is usually a tractor, along with which has to be considered the plough or other implement hauled, plus stores and, probably, the operator's cycle or motorcycle. The 5$. Road Fund licence permits the tractor to haul all of them on the road, if desired, so that there is no legal bar to interfere with movement under the machine's own power. To what extent is such movement technically possible?
This depends first on the type of tractor and the equipment provided. Steel-wheeled tractors are supplied, to order, with smooth road bands, which may be fitted over the spade lugs or strakes of the driving wheels and over the skid rings of the front .wheels, in order to comply with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations. Large numbers of tractors are so operated.
On such equipment, the tractor may travel any required distance on the road, but practical considerations limit its radius of movement. It is necessary, owing to vibration, which may
be severe on bad roads, to travel at a speed not exceeding 3 to 4 m.p.h.. The legal limit is 5 m.p.h., so that, if one is not to waste a great deal of time between jobs, this system will be restricted to moves of well under 10 miles. In areas where jobs are plentiful, this may not matter, and the moves may average a distance of only two or three miles.
• Disabilities of Road Bands • A factor which also operates to the disadvantage of road bands, is the time arid labour involved in fitting and removing them for each job. Some are less troublesome than others, and it is not always necessary to employ front bands, but even with the best rear bands, operators cannot do the job in much under an hour. Should the fittings become worn, as they do rather quickly, the task is often awkward.
Over long distances, steel-wheeled tractors must be moved in some sort of conveyance and, in this way, much time is saved. The load, however, is an awkward one, calling for special adaptations to which reference will be made later.
As against steel-wheeled.tractors, the pneumatic-tyred type offers great attractions in relation to this problem. In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that the rubber-tyred tractor is ousting the steel-wheeled model. Such a machine is always in a position to operate on road or land without a moment's delay and, properly loaded, it will work on the land successfully, whenever conditions are fit for cultivation.
For the contractor, this feature is ot special advantage. Another point is that, as less cutting up of the lanri results, farmers, on the whole, prefer it to one with spade lugs. Then again, it may be remarked that such a machine, hauling a rubber-tyred trailer, may 'lawfully attain a speed up to 20 m.p.h. on the road.
Some contractors are afraid that they cannot rely on getting as much work out of a pneumatic-tyred tractor as they can if it be steel-wheeled. But my experience leads to the belief that this is not accurate. Much depends on correct loading. A higher rate of travel on pneumatics, with a medium load— say three furrows instead of four—will usually give a better acreage output with a lower fuel consumption, than bottom-gear work on steel wheels with the larger plough. In haying and harvest work, the value of the pneumatic is clearly apparent. This digression from the subject of road travel is, perhaps, necessary, in order to rebut the objections which may cause this equipment to be turned down. If we accept the pneumatic equipment as beneficial, we must next consider the movement of the tractor tackle along with it, at the higher speed so afforded.
With a steel-wheeled tractor on road hands, one may haul any steel-wheeled implement without much damage, provided traction studs have been removed from the wheels of ploughs and similar units. One may also haul a stores box on iron wheels. If the tractor, however, be capable of running at higher speeds, the tackle problem is quite different, The modern tendency is to build tractor ploughs, mowers, binders, etc., with pneumatic tyres. These are satisfactory from all viewpoints, but they cost rather more. Some contractors employ the standard plough with steel ,vheels and provide transport wheels, removed from old cars, which they clamp to the plough wheels for the purposes of travel, This method is effective but rather tedious.
Probably the best solution is to provide a large trailer, on which all the tackle can be carried on the road. With
even moderate facilities, such a trailer can be constructed, by most people in the business, from old car or lorry chassis.
Such a conversion job should be capable of taking 20-30 cwt. and have a roomy platform body. The platform should be 7 ft. 6 ins, wide and its length as great as can be accommodated on the chassis, for, although it may be planned in the first place for a certain purpose, there is no knowing what additional space may be useful at a later date. Some machines are very awkward to load and require much more space than a standard plough.
• Two or Four Wheels • The two-wheeled trailer is adopted by some people, but, as a rule, a fourwheeled job is preferable. In converting a chassis it is possible to attach a flexible drawbar, coupled to the steering arms of the front wheels, so making the tracking of the trailer automatic.
A trailer body as near the ground as possible is needed. Car springs should he removed and boxes may be placed over the wheels, allowing them to project through the floor. At the rear, a substantial ramp tailboard provides a satisfactory way of loading.
On such a trailer a strong lock-up box should be fitted for the carriage of spare parts, lubricating oil, petrol tins, tools, and other equipment. This is a particularly essential part of the outfit and it should be strongly built and guarded by a strong lock. A special carrier may be contrived forward of this box for the accommodation of the driver's cycle, when he is on the MOW,
When building such a trailer, the question of paraffin storage should be taken into account. It is desirable
that some store of fuel should be provided in the field, but for how long this should serve will depend on the system of management. For the sake of constant supervision, some contractors prefer to visit their machines daily, delivering, at the same time, fuel from their bulk storage at home.
In such cases, possibly the locker box will suffice to carry enough fivegallon drums to act as a reserve, daily consumpiion seldom exceeding 15 to 20 gallons. On the other hand, circumstances may demand less frequent visits for refuelling, especially if supervision be carried out by the use of a motorcycle. Then it may pay to equip the trailer with tanks to hold 50 or 100 gallons, according tO the nature of the outfit. If tanks be carried, they should be well guarded against pilferage and provided with a pump and hose for filling the tractor tank.
As 4o the main space on the trailer, its most common job will be the carriage of a plough, cultivators, or harrows, and, therefore, a plain platform is most suitable. Floorings should be substantial and it is helpful to place a small hand winch in front, with a length of cable to assist loading.
Occasionally, more bulky machines, such as manure distributors or drills, may have to be carried, in which case, owing to the considerable width—often over 9 ft.—loading from the side will be necessary. Binders are best equipped with pneumatic transport wheels, on which they can be successfully trailed.
With such a trailer, as described, behind a pneumatic-tyred tractor, cultivation outfits carr move from place tc place over a big area, without the intervention of any additional vehicle. This saves considerably in overhead costs and in other ways.
One has next to consider the question of transporting tractors, as well as implements, other than under their own power. Quite frequently, this is done in a drop-sided lorry, but such a vehicle calls for great skill in loading, which is -always a dangerous process where the tractor has to he driven up planks.
Most people who are operating on a fairly large scale prefer to employ some form of low-loading trailer, hauled either by lorry or by tractor. If by the
former, an additional tax of £10 per annum is payable on the lorry. If a tractor be employed for this -work, it becomes liable for duty at the industrial rate, which usually amounts to £25 per annum. Should a lorry be used, it is, of course, comparatively easy to accommodate any ordinary implement, leaving the tractor to be hauled on the trailer. A winch in the lorry, behind the cab, may again be mentioned as a valuable help in loading.
The trailer system is almost essential where large crawler tractors are concerned, on. account of their weight. Road travel with these machines on their own tracks is, of course, permissible, provided street plates are fitted, but a great deal of road travel is liable to cause undue wear and tear.
Trailers for use behind lorries and for hauling tractors in general must be much more carefully constructed than those used merely for hauling implements behind a tractor which hauls them in the field. This is not only on account of the obvious need for greater strength, but because such vehicles must comply with more stringent construction regulations. As such, they should be the work of an experienced trailer manufacturer.