THE AGRIMOTOR IN SUMMER.
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The Increasing Tendency of Farmers to Employ Their Machines During the Period when the Soil is in the Best Condition for Cultivation.
O NE OCCASIONALLY hears ofthe agrinaotor
• breaking down in the middle of an important
operation, such, for example, as haymaking or harvesting. Usually, these breakdowns can be attributed to the fault of the owner or operator, or both. Failure to carry out -those precautions necessary in the care of the a,grimotor as responsible for much disappointment and loss.
The appliance is really more useful in the suminer than in the winter, because between, say, March and September, farmers are busier with their work, and less time can be afforded,. while the urgency of the operations is, as a rule, much more important than in winter.
For instance, a leaking radiator in summer, even if the Ieaka.ge be only small, becomes a much more serious matter than in winter. Also, the engine is much more easily overheated when the • cooling .system is not in proper order. Therefore, it should be the business of the: farmer to see that there is nothing wrong with the radiator, iar, should it not be quite as clean as it ought to he in. the spring, the matter must be put right before the busy time in the summer comes along.
TheL best way to clean a radiator is to have it taken apart and cleaned mechanically. Water-jackets suirounding the cylinders on agrirnotors are not .over-easy to get at mechanically; they May be easier some day—and the jobis not one that should be left to chance to be done in summer' when it could have been done at a less busy time of the year.
I do not say that it is necessary to get into a water-jacket every time there is a tendency to overheating on the part of the engine.; and although• some people are not in favour of the use of, such .material as Boilerine in the cooling system my experience teaches me that if a cooling system has
been thOroughly cleaned by any means during the winter, it is possible, by the judicious use of a little of such material as Boilerine, to keep it clear and have the engine fairly cool, sofar as the watercoaling system is concerned, during the whole of the summer.
Even where the cooling system has not been cleaned out mechanically, and the engine shows signs of overheating owing to deposit inside the cooling system, my experience is that the difficulty can be overcome with less trouble, less expense, and less delay by using some such.material, properly applied, as that mentioned.
For instance. When the cooling system is furred upt the emptying of the system and refilling once or twice a day for a few days, each time adding a tablet or two of the compound mentioned, and allowing the engine to work rather hard, will prove, effective in staving off the necessity for a, mechanical cleaning of the cooling system until a less busy time of the year arrives.
In the case. of a radiator that is known not to be foul, or where it has been -cleaned, the occasional use of a tablet of Boilerine will prevent corrosion and deposition, unless the water uSed be particularly bad in its lime content.
Another point in regard to cooling is the kind of water used. Were it possalaie to obtain pure filtered water, this, of course, is best. Then people recommend rain water as being next to filtered water in value as an engine-cooling medium. That is true when there has been sufficient rain to keep such water fresh, but dirty rain water should never be used. Generally in summer time the best water is that to be obtained from running springs and running streams. Well or tap water having a heavy lime content is bad.
Lubrication needs special attention in hot weather. Many ,farmers use lubricants of the same consistency the year round. That-, generally speaking, is a mistake. In winter the difficulty with lubrication is to obtain an oil that will not solidify when the tractor is not working. In the summer the trouble _is,to find an oil that is.thick enough to resist extra heat Beth in the case of thin oil in winter and thick oil in summer, the same lubricating qualities must be obtained in each, and the best plan in summer is to secure a thick oil containing the best lubricating qualities. None but best-quality lubricants should be used.
Of comae, in regard to the gears and transmission devices. generally, the thic,kest oil, or even grease, should be used at this time of the year. The outside bearings also need particular attention.
Summer Work.
Agrimotor wak is beginning to he more pronounced in summer than in winter. In fact, the use or the agrimotor tends, each year that passes, to eliminate the necessity for any considerable amount of land work being done during the winter season and at a time of year when the land is not in the best condition for being cultivated.
In a very short. time the bulk of the land oultivating operations will be done between the harvest and October and from February. to April..
.The present. summer will bring with it a very early harvest unless there should be a break up in the weather and an imexpeeted delay. If the present season should remain fairly dry until October, a very large acreage of land will be ploughed and cultivated between the end of the harvest and that tim-e.
Moreover, the use of the agrimotor in the harvest field will facilitate the completion of the gathering in of the corn crops, so that, with the machine and the weather combined, the harvest should not last very leng this year and: ought to be completed in most parts of the country before August 20th.
One of the important aids to the successful use of the agrimotor is the employment with it of suitable implements. It is not economical to work a tractor with aload much less than is recognized as being its full load. Further, the cultivating implements used should be nearly equal to the full Working capacity of the agrimotor. This applies both in regard tncultivating implements and harvesting appliances. • Concerning ploughs, there is not so much difficulty. Generally, an agrimotor has hooked behind it AS many shares as can conveniently be drawn, bitt in the matter Of cultivators, mowers, and: binders that is not always the case, particularly as regards the two last-named implements. The difficulty in regard to binders, however, is on the way to being overcome, as larger, stronger, and heavier machines, with a wide cut, are being made. Mowers of the same strength and width of cut are also on the market, but there: is this difference in the conditions under which the two machines work. Generally speaking, arable land is much more level than pasture and meadow land, therefore it is easier to work a binder with a wide cut than a mower.
Where the land is not very level, the better plan is, as I have pointed' out before, to use two machines behind the tractor, in which case it is necessary to employ proper hitch attachments. An ordinary or improvised hitch will do in the case of one machine being used, but when machines in succession are used, proper hitches must be secured. These had better not be home-spun ones, as it is safer and ninth more convenient to go to one's implement or agrimotor agent and secure brieadapted for the particular makes of machine and agrimotor in use.