AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
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Tractor Work in the East Midlands.
With an amplification of arrangements, designed to meet the 'increasing needs of the country, motor tractor work for agricultural purposes has been placed upon a permanent official basis in Nottinghamshire. When the matter was first taken up by the authorities it was put into the hands of Messrs. A. R. Atkey and Co., motor engineers, by whom excellent results were attained, but within recent months a departmental staff has been created, as a branch of the County Council work, under the direction of Mr. J. D. Ball, with headquarters at Milton Chambers, Nottingham, where other responsible officers concerned in Nottinghamshire's agricultural activities are also_ conveniently located. Mr. Ball brings to bear ample experience of Cho requirements, he, after being concerned with the steam 'ploughing industry, chiefly in Bedfordshire, having been more recently engaged for military purposes as an officer in the Army tractor assembly depot. at Liverpool, with charge of the erecting and testing sections. Whilst the regime has thus been materially altered in the, county, continuity of operations has been pre served by the retention of most of the engineers who previously served under the committee, their knowledge of the needs of the district forming a valuable asset, under Mr. Ball, himself a Nottinghamshire man, who knows the county thoroughly. It was in Nottingham at a meeting presided over by the Duke of Portland as Lord Lieutenant that Mr. Prather° made one of his earliest appeals to agriculturists in regard to converting grass into arable land, and the response upon the part of landowners and farmers has been of a most encouraging character.
Originally it was suggested that in the county about :30,000 acres of additional ground -might be provided in this way for the cultivation of foodstuffs, and approximately 22,000 ha-ye already been rendered available, the speeding-up process having been accelerated by the ready facilities affdrded by the authorities for tractor ploughing. The new administrative machinery which has been set up in the county town has already proved its indispensability in relation to matters of organization, one of the results being to lead agriculturists generally to take greater interest in the adaptability of tractors to farm
needs, and also to Secure a more efficient working of the tractors„
-The work, as to essential details, has not been, , however, always of the easiest character, the land in the county being for the most part of a heavy nature, and presenting in places some particularly stiffish features; calculated to test the capacities of the best of appliances, the fields being of small area in many districts and not affording the most desirable conditions for mechanical cultivation. But the results, supplying much valuable data forfuture operations, have been. in the main encouraging, and, although the present is the slack period, it is anticipated that, after harvest operations have been completed, . a , greater demand than before will be experiencedfor the use of tractors which are becoming increasingly popular with farmers. _
Until a recent period the types of motors relied upon were the Mogul, the Titan, and the Overtime. Latterly the Ford-Oliver No. 7 combination has been added, but at the present time, owing to the very short period in which they have been in use, it would
be premature to attempt to compare their capabilities and reliability with other machines, which have been constantly working in the county for the past 16 months. Meanwhile the Titan tractor has earned general commendation, it being the view. of some locally that the rigidity of the a-xleneeds alone to be altered to make it one of the best of machines, the axle as at present constituted not being regarded as: the readiest means of negotiating uneven land. The Titan machines have been almost uninterruptedly at work in Nottinghamshire for the past 16 months, and are giving -great satisfaction. During 1918 the acreage ploughed in the county has amounted to 3861, and 5356 acres have been cultivated, giving an average for five months of 760 acres ploughed and 1071 cultivated, the average number of tractors in use weekly being 34, the engines in a few eases, after 16 months hard wear, having been replaced by newer ones allotted to the county. Taking a particular unit, that of Worksop in the northern part of the county as a test, it has been found that the average fuel consumption has been 4.21 gallons per acre. When this is compared, to the disadvantage of the home figures, with those contained in Mr. Henry Sturiney s recent article anent American consumption, it is pointed out that land in the States is generally capable of more easy, working, the ground being m larger plots and not involving so many turnings at corners, beside which the atmospheric conditions there, being drier, tend to more complete combustion.
The fuel consumption here 'quoted in relation to Nottinghamshire includes also the power utilized upon all road tracks, which are considerable. The 5356 acres referred to have been cultivated and disc haseowed, the figures comprising both, it being found that the latter process is becoming very popular with
agriculturists. In Nottinghamshire also, as elsewhere, the appliances have been put to serve useful purposes other than ploughing, including rolling the land and threshing, two threshing machines having been run with 12.25 horse-power motors. A hundred new self-binders have also been obtained for use in the county, a. fair proportion of whichs will be worked by the tractors, farmers generally being greatly gratified by the enterprise manifested by the War Agricultural tlornmittee in transforming archaie conditions by the ready application of these new means.