AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
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• The Modern .Farm.—The Introduction of the Mechanical Interest
IHAVE BEER reading an interesting little publication, entitled "New Century Farming," issued by -the Austin Motor Co. The paper sets out in outline the advantages of mechanical power on the farm, and shows how the introduction of power farming to its fullest extent means the dawn of a new era in, agriculture. Although it is
ant for its soberpossible to advance one or two circisms, one must admit that the pamphlet is signifi
ness and the straightforward claims which it advances. This -is as it should be, because it is of no use attempting to mislead farmers by rash statements, or claims, as to the value of the article one wishes to recommend. Farmers ill net be fooled, and there is nothing to beat straightforward, truthful, and honest dealing on the part of the firm desiring to retain their custom. It is true to say that a,-new era s dawning for the nation, if the soil can be well cultivated and made to yield its best in quantity and quality of produce, and it is now clearly evident that the only way to ensure a reasonable profit and repayment for work done is by adopting moaern inventions and making use of all the time. and laboursaving appliances that scientific research and engineering genius have brought to light. Labour is claiming higher wages and shorter hours, and it must be quite obvious, that, in order to toroduce the same„ or better, results from the land he is cultivating, the far-. nrer must make use of some new means whereby he can do more and ;better work in less time than he could possibly hope to do previously. The more modern the equipment of thefarm, the more easily will its working be carried out, and the More perfect the mechanical device the more likell will it be to
meet the requirements of the farmer and give him every satisfaction. " But," say Anstins, "all machinery, implements and labour-saving devices must be surveyed from the Viewpoint of the agriculturist and not merely from that of the , engineer. ' I am Very glad that this point is b&t. last, being recegnized. I have many times alluded to it in these columns, but I am afraid very little regard has been paid to this important consideration by manufacturers in the past. The agricultural significance must come first and the mechanical consideration second.
The average farm worker is not mechanically inclined., or, rather; ha has had very little opportunity of gaming much knowledge .of, the subject, so that the tools he is going to use must be simple in design and such that very little or no technical knowledge or experience is needed to enable him to work with them, and to get the fullest possible advantage from their use.
In designing farm machinery the trend, therefore, must be towards simplicity, 'ease of working, and a minimum of risk of any part getting out of order and .holding up the work of the farm. Claiming simplicity of construction for the Austin, thestatement is made that " so simple is it that a boy of sixteen can drive it and keep it in constant working order after a few brief instructions.!'
Now, regarding this and the question of surveying the tractor first from the agricultural standpoint, there must be no misunderstanding. It is not meant that the 'mechanical side of the business is less important than the agricultural. On the contrary, it means more responsibility in this direction for the engineers, for the simple reason that, just as the farmer is unable to appreciate perfect cons ruction in an appliance, so the engineer will have to content himself with turning out only the best, because a poorly constructed machine can never give satisfaction from the agricultural point of view, even though the farmer may not, at the moment, appreciate this. _Regarding the handling of tractors by boys, of course it is very pleasing to know that a machine is GO simple in construption that a boy of sixteen can manage it and keep it going, and, as a figure of speech, the expression is most apt hi describing a. machine that is both effective at work and simple in operation. But this must not be understood to mean that boy labour is advocated. Farmers know that boys are not very satisfactory in the use of farm machinery. If the appliance is ever so simple, skill and experience are needed to get the most out of it, and, in the case of the tractor, while the hoypnight drive it well enough, he will not have had experience enough for land tillage to be able to perform the various, operations, as an older min would do.
Many farmers are under the impression that the ;tractor can be used 'by anybody. This is not true, neither is it fair to the machine. The tractor is expected to do the most important work on the farm, and the best man the farmer has should be the man to use it. The younger people should, however, be given an opportunity of displaying their interest in the 'machinery. Most of the younger generation show an interestAn matters mechanical, and, in many instances, promising youngsters have been lost to the land owing to the fact that there has. not., been any, thing of sufficient interest to hold them there. With the advent of the tractor and the easy methods it, brings, the young will no longer need ,to go farafield for items ofemterest or recreative hobbies.
The American farmer has for a very long time welcomed new ideas in the implement line, and has embraced all possible improvements which would enable him to get better results from his lands and the Colonies have followed the example. The Colonial farmer is -seldom lacking in up-to-date machinery, ploughs, threshers, tractors, cutters and crushers. The modern well-equipped farmer hires no steam engine for his threshing and stationary work, and he keeps hiv horses for riding, driving and small loads
only ; all his heavy work—ploughing, hauling, etc- is carried out by his tractor. As a result, every farm runs .at lsandsorne peofits.
Some interesting eomparisons in the cost of horse and tractor Rlaughing are also given in the Austin publication. As may be expected, the result of the comparison is very much on the side of the tractor, and it carmot be truthfully said that the author is guilty of any extravagances on either side, although the details are not strictly correct. One statement says that, to work heavy land, it is often found advisable to use four horses to a plough, a man is necessary to gu.ide the implement andaanother man to look after the tearia, the cost of which is estimated at 7s. 6d.. per day for the keep of horses, and is. an hour each for the men, thus bringing the cost of a day's work of ten hours up to 50s., i.e. 20s. for the men arid 3(s. for the horses' keep. Then it is said that., in those 10 hours, not more than VI acres will be ploughed.
There are two errors in this assumption. The one is that very little heavy land requires fouaihorses to plough it mostly three are sufficient. In thersecond place—and this is an error against the tractor—an acre and a half of neither four nor three-horse land can be ploughed in a day of ten hours. In fact, it is not possible to plough more than an acre a day, and, as a ten hour day at such work -with horses is not practicable, usually not more than three-quarters of an acre a day gets finiehea. This brings the cost of heavy land horseapieughing up to over Ws: an acre. As to the tractor, if the Austin can plough an acre an hour at a cost ef 4s, 64. an hour in oil and fuel, and is. for labour, there is no comparison between the cost of the two meth/ads. In fact, the cost of tractor work can be increased by 10s. an acres and the horse work reduced by 20a—if that is passible— and there is still a big "advantage in favour of the tractor. In both eases above, the costs only refer to wages and consumption—in the case of the horse foodstuffs, in the tractor paraffin. Interest on depreciation, insurance, doctoring, repairs and replace. merits and housing have to be discussed on, both sides. There is this much, too, a man capable of handling a tractor properly is worth more than is an hour, and the farmer who pays no more cannot expect much attention from the man ; and attention is everything in the employment of machinery. This can be done with the cost of work by .tractor still kept considerably below that of horses. Aoaissers.