Motors for Market Gardeners.
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A Plea for the Small Narrow-gauge Agrimotor.
By Geo. W. Watson, M.I.Mech.E., M.I.A.E.
It cannot fairly be said that motor manufacturers have as yet given serious attention to the production of motors designed specially for use by market gardeners, for ploughing, potato digging, hoeing, cultivating, etc. Available tractors are of far too wide a gauge for many of the purposes for which fruit farmers require motor machinery, and most of them are far too heavy. The market gardener, like many farmers and other users, seeks to multiply the number of his units rather than to increase their sizes. If each machine, irrespective of its size, could be kept fully employed at its maximum capacity, the smaller machines could not be worked so economically as the larger ones, but during the greater part of the year a large machine would only be required to work at about half load, and every engineer knows well that no engine can be worked profitably under such conditions. For that reason it is not reasonable to expect a man to buy a 20 h.p. to 30 h.p. engine to do work which only requires about 10 h.p. for 11 months in each year. It would be more practicable to hire extra help during the busy Beason, or, better still, to acquire a second motor, even if it had to be laid up most of the year.
The driving of an agrimotor does not call for highly-skilled labour, and any man about the farm who is possessed of average intelligence can quickly be taught how to drive one, and when not so engaged he can turn his hand to other duties. The only cost for laying up an agrimotor is the interest on the capital invested, and a small amount to cover the cost of giving the engine a turn occasionally, and keeping its parts free from rust. Depreciation practically ceases with the work, and so does the consumption of oil and fuel. If we take an Ivel tractor as an example, the interest amounts to about £16 (at five per cent.), and that sum might reasonably be considered as a premium of insurance against lack of assistance when needed, for it generally happens that when one man in a district needs extra labour his neighbours are equally pressing in their demands for more labour.
Two Kinds of Motors Required.
Large fruit farms can easily find employment for two classes of motors : one of the motor-wagon or tractor-and-trailer type, for work in connection with the transportation of goods to the market or railway, etc., and the bringing in of supplies of material ; the other for the haulage of the slow-moving implements on the land. The requirements of the former may be met by one or other of the many excellent types now available to the purchaser. Among the smaller of these is the Girling, the Auto-Porter, and others of similar type that can be bought for about £100, ready for work ; the first-named machine has already demonstrated its ability to meet the dairy farmers' needs, and two or three small holders in any district, by co-operation, could make such a motor of great service to them in getting their produce into the best market, independently of local railways or carriers, and in less time and better condition. Even Large growers can find a use for such a machine, as they often could deliver late consignments of fresh fruit., flowers, etc., in time for banquets, balls, and other functions, the goods arriving at their destination in the " pink " of condition, and without having passed through the hands of market porters. The grower who can give such facilities for delivery in the future will earn the recommend.ations of his customers, the numbers of whom will increase very rapidly. Larger motors, to carry loads of from one to five tons, have been used, and are still used to a limited extent, and in past issues of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR photographs of
typical machines in the employment of farmers, fruit and flower growers, dairy farmers, poultry keepers, etc., have been reproduced.
Narrow-gauge Agrimotors Needed by Fruit Growers.
From conversations which I have had with many go-ahead market gardeners, I have arrived at the conclusion that the use of motors on the land has been hampered, and neglected, because available machines, whilst suitable for open country work, are not suitable for ploughing, cultivating, harrowing, etc., between rows of closely-spaced fruit trees and bushes, and the grower cannot see much economy in keeping a machine to do the work on the open land whilst he must retain horses to do the work between the trees—valuable strips of land they are too, and on many farms form a considerable percentage of the total area. Even such small machines as the Ivel and the small Saunderson are too wide for some fruit farms.
One large grower of my acquaint, ance is seeking a four-wheeled machine, of about 10 h.p., which can easily be driven through a gateway 3 ft. wide, be capable of hauling a single 10 in, plough which can cut from 10 in. to 15 in. deep according to the nature of the land, and which must not cost more than
2130. His requirements are cer tainly exacting, but I hesitate to say they are impossible of attainment. A machine of this type could be kept busy all the year round, and as the amount of work increases more motors would be purchased. It need not be springmounted because it would always be worked upon the land and not, on hard roads, except during its journeys from one part of the farm to another, and it need not have more than one gear both forward and reverse, although two speeds forward might permit of more economical working. As to the weight of such a machine it should be as light as possible consistent with the work it would be put to perform, but it should have a large ballast tank over the driving wheels so that the adhesion could be increased when the agrimotor was operated on heavy land that offered much resistance to the cutting action of the trailing implement, whilst for the lighter work on the land the tank could be emptied. I know that I shall be taken to task over the above proposition, but from information given me by fruit growers, men on rubber, tea and sugar plantations, and other agriculturists, as well as data derived from my own observations, I am convinced that the production of such a machine is both possible and practical. If the English manufacturers do not take up the question very soon, the Americans will, and with real energy.
A Typical Design.
Some months ago I sketched out the accompanying rough design for a narrow-gauge agrimotor for the engineer of a rubber plantation in Africa ; it was intended for dry irrigation purposes between .rows of rubber trees, and the engineer ,on the estate acclaimed it as being exactly what he required. I showed the same design to an English fruit grower, and he was so taken with it that he was quite prepared to place orders for some as soon as his had had an opportunity to see one at work. He is a keenly-progressive man, and an ardent motorist, and I value his opinions highly. My critics may say, why, then, does he not give an order to an engineering concern to build a machine to the design ? Those same critics would not buy consignments of fruit solely on the strength of a photograph, so why should ray fruit-growing friend be expected to order a new machine solely on the strength 4)f a drawing? A grower often sends a consignment .subject to acceptance if it arrives in good condition, and is up to stated value, and he is equally prepared to accept delivery of a new machine, if in good condition and suitable for his work, if a maker can be found willing to build for him. I should like to have the views of more growers on the subject.
In addition to its capability for hauling ploughs, cultivators, harrows, potato diggers, discs, etc., a machine of the type outlined could carry or haul sprayers, drive saws and other machines by belt or gearing, and be used for all the many purposes for which power is required on a farm.
Fruit Spraying, Weed Killing, etc.
Whilst it may be quite true that weeds have their particular uses, their indiscriminate reproduction among saleable crops is not one of them. Their greatest enemy is the hoe, as by frequent. disturbance they are prevented from developing to the stage when the wind can scatter their seeds broadcast. They take nourishment out of the soil just the same as profit-making crops, and if they are left to increase they have the same effect upon the crops as would oversowing or too close planting, and no wise farmer ever plants more than he knows, by experience, his land can support so as to give a maximum crop. A narrow-gauge agrimotor will enable an owner to clear his land from weeds quickly and effectively without much manual labour, and at a low cost.
In Canada, and in certain parts of the American Continent, the extermination of weeds is being effected by the use of chemical sprays, and the experimental work so far undertaken is sufficiently encouraging to lead one to expect its wide adoption over here very shortly. It seems almost incomprehensible that a chemical should attack the weed but not the profityielding plant, but such appears to be the case.
For the purpose of spraying either trees or crops the grower requires portable apparatus, and if it be power driven so much the better. Except on large estates, where spraying, either indoors or outside, is continuous all the year round, the self-propelled and specially-designed spraying machine presents no real advantage: what is wanted is a machine that can be turned to account on other work when there is no spraying to be done, just as a horse may be put either to the plough or in the shafts. The most convenient way of carrying a sprayer would be to mount the pumping apparatus on the agrimotor and haul the liquid container.
Small Motors for Driving Machinevy.
I am neither an agriculturist nor a dairy farmer, but I have seen enough of their work to convince me that greater profits would accrue by the use of self-propelled motors both on the road and the land, and the extended use of small fixed and portable power generators for driving electric-lighting plants, pumps, churns, washers, milking machines, pulpers, and other machines now in daily use. Much milk, eggs, fruit and other produce are wasted annually because of the lack of cold-storage accommodation in country places, and all, or most, of this loss could be avoided by the installation of a comparatively-inexpensive plant in each village or large estate. Engines may now be had for so low a sum as a "flyer," and a 11 h.p. air-cooled engine of quite sturdy build was shown at last week's I Royal" by the Associated Manufacturers Co., of Burghley Road, London, N.W., and offered at 10 guineas, whilst a water-cooled engine of the same make and power, with self-contained cooling tank may be had for 212 10s. These engines are of Yankee manufacture, and are typical of that country's goods, although I am informed that the materials used in this case are of really good quality. True, they look very crude, and they are devoid of all trimmings, but they work, and that is the main thing from the user's point of view ; fuel economy does not enter into his considerations at all. They work, and, what is more, they are not "trade unionists" who jib at eight hours (or less) of work per diem.
There are many good small-power engines now available, and the increasing use of motorcycles is doing much to spread the gospel of the internal-combustion engine among the agricultural community ; until recently I failed to realize that the motorcyclists had any other object in life than to make themselves and their machines the most loathsome of road users, but I will forgive them that doubtful distinction if they succeed in teaching men up and down the country that the motor is a "live " proposition, that it is reliable, and that it is a saver of both time and money. Market gardeners, dairy farmers, poultry keepers, and small holders are gradually realizing these indisputable facts, and if manufacturers rise to the occasion the future will be a prosperous one for all concerned.