TRACTOR WORK IN THE MIDLANDS.
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WHEN the period arrives for dealing, upon a comprehensive basis, with the itvaluable results of traclicr work, undertaken in, the general illteTESt of agriculture by various responsible county authorities, it will_vrobably be found that among a rapidly accumulating •mass of instructive data, Much may b0. advantageously drawn from the records of Midia,nd areas.
A recent notable gathering at Nottingham, at which, leading agriculturists had assembled, -under Viscount Galway's presidency, to pay a tribute to Mr. T. Warner Turner, the Duke L.t Portland's agent, served to draw attention to the matter in a significant light, illustrative of changed opinions entertained regarding the use of appliances which have proved of inestimable value in contributing to the development of farming
resources. Mr. Turner had acted as chairman of the Notts. War Agricultural Conun'ittee since the period of its inception, and in a.c.knowleclging the presentation: made to 'him by Earl Manvers, on behalf of the subscribers, of an ornate silver salver, he recalled the circumstance that when tractors were first introduced into Nottinghamshire they were not regarded with entire favour.
But experience had demonstrated their indispensability to effective agricultural operations, with the result that, in Nottinghamshire as elsewhere, their extended employment is being viewed with universal favom.by those who in the early stages of the experiment Manifatc.ct no particular enthusiasm in: relation to their introduction as an aid to modern methods, The work, Mr. Turner pointed out, hadbeen • attended with difficulty, and a good deal of official red tape had had to be dealt -with, but' that tape had been generally cat. They had reason for satisfaction in learning that the work which had been undertaken in Nottinghamshire had been done well. They were told in the first, instance that, 55,000 acres of land would have to be broken up in the county, but the committee found that would be possible, and the amount was afterwards fixed at 35,000 acres, but they felt. that that also was too much, and they gave orders to break up 22,000 acres and 21,000 acres had been dealt with up to tae time of the Armistice.
Na doubt in giving orders a great deal of land was broken up which was not suitable, and in the rush which obtained the best ground was not always selected, but the Notts. Committee was not, the only one in the country which made that mistake. Another side had also had to be considered beside that which represented fairly well cultivated land.
The committee 'had been obliged to take steps to promote better farming, and in 42 instances tenancies had been terminated for bad farming and agriculture gerferally in the county had been greatly improved. In connectirin. with
the breaking up of grass land, 350 claims had had to be dealt with, and apprexi , mate4,£15,000 had been paid as com pensation..
The further interesting information was afforded by Mr. 'Turner s statement that 75 tractors had been placed at the disposal of the •Committee. The -work in its earlier stages _was -more or less of an experimental character, and tractor operations were not carried out so efficiently as was the case to-day. Now such knowledge had been -obtained as warranted the conviction that these meabanical appliances had come to stay, and that their usefulness is as undeniable for all farming purposes. One of the leading county agriculturists, Alderman H. Heath, also paid a tribute to the excellence generally of the tra,ctor operations in the county, a result which he attributed 'mainly to the invaluable work of Mr. Ball, who had had charge of this department of the committee's activitiesand had brought great ,practical knowledge to bear 'upon the task Thanks to a. happy combination of elements the results in Nottinghamshire, as.., in -most Of .t.he. Midland areas, 'have ben altogether encouraging, warranting the anticipation of a largely extended volume of tractor operations, under the. direction of the new county Agricultural Committees, acting with the authority of the County Councils to -Whom the control of matters now passes_