AT THE TRACTOR TRIALS. •
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Personal Pars About the Ploughers, By the " C.M." Representative.
The most conspienous man in the field Niles easily H. G. Burford. Some of the notoriety, no doubt., was due to the exceptionally good showing which the tractor made, but there•was another reason, too.
The little Cleveland was dubbed, amongst the elect, " Burford's Baby," and certainly the prodigy deserved all the attention which it received from its fond parent. I never discovered the reason though, why they called its driver "Harry Tate."
Terner-Smith was another indefatigable. My first glimpse of him was at 8.45 a.m., •which unearthly hour discovered hinehard at work watering his carburetter. Incidentally, he was carrying the water in a couple of petrol cans.
By the way, what was the matter with the petrol which was served out to the competitors ? Complaints were ,universal ; it was stated to be bad even for these days. Some kind person, evidently gifted yvith a, sense of humour as rare as it was unexpected, Considering the locality, presented me with a tract on which the name of 'the supplier was printed in bold type : wild horses would not drag from me the information thus freely dispensed.
Met Turner-Smith again about an hour later, during a temporary lull in the furious progress of the Wallis Junior. He told me that the stewards had begged him to desist for a while, as they wanted some of the ground to be reserved for the others. He is firmly convinced that high-speed ploughing is coming into vogue, and no wonder. There a.ren't many drivers like him of the Wallis, though.
Tractor Attachment Fascination.
• Ferguson of Belfast seemed to have a roving coin-mission; apparently he was much more interested in the Ford attachments than in his own exhibit: he told me that he is expecting to do some big things in tractors in the near future, though. Another traveller from the "" Disthressful Counthry " was Charley Thompson. He is holding a trial on his own account this month somewhere near the Dear Dirty City. . From something which a little bird told me I gather that the agricultural side of Thompson's business will soon be a bumper one. Its scope promises to be wide also.
He was, of course, in the company of his fielus :de:hates, Barry Cole, of Caledon fame. The latter was evidently keenly disappointed at the non-arrival of the Caledoia tractor. He was very hopeful, however, that it wouldbe ready in time for the Glasgow trials, and no doubt, by the time these notes are in print, it will have been displayed to an admiring and marvelling world. Being by habit and inclination a lover of my couch, especially in the mornings, and in view of the early habit of these energetic farming people, I was more than grateful for a _tip from Charley _Clarke, of R. Martens and Co., and the Wednesday evening found me :snugly enseonsed with him and Chattel], of the Saunderson Co., at the Cramond Brig Hotel, which adjoined the ground.
Clarke, who, by the way, had brought his familywith him, had come down by road, and burst all his tyres, including one, or two spares, in the doing of it. Ile-• had much better hick with the Clydesdale, though • it ran exceedingly well throughout the clay.
Chat-tell had his troubles. His ploughs were reported missing on the opening day, and he bad an anxious time until about twelve o'clock, when they arrived. He took it all very philosophically, however, as becomes one who has been demonstrating tractors for nine years, and in almost as many countries.
016 Saunderson himself, I hear, has been prevailed upon to deliver a lecture at Glasgow. (I am writing this on the Monday.). It should be well worth listening to, as he,was one of the pioneers in the industry:
Bretherton, of Clayton and Shuttleworth'st was keenly interested in the trials, and particularly in the . Cleveland tractor, which is very similar to the forthcoming Clayton machine. He told me that the designs for a Clayton wheeled tractor were also well forward. The last time I saw him was on the occasion of the tests of the huge tractors for the Russian Army, A pictorial comparison of one of them and the Cleveland would be interesting.
New British Agrimotor Coming.
Rails, of the Birmingham and Midland Transport Co., was touring the ground in company with Hilton, the designer of the Alldays tractor. He told me a few things about the tractor which he is designing. The Rails chassis had some smart features, but the Rails agrimotor will leave it standing. F. S. Bennett evidently believes in cleanliness, or, at any rate, thought that the judges might have leanings that way. Tuesday morning early found him busily cleaning the mud from the interstices of the skeletonic wheels of the Samson Sieve-grip. If you want to know anything about self-contained . motor ploughs, I think that the inventor of the Wyles plough is as good a man to go to as anyone, You will, as a rule, find him very communicative. He is, however, a shy and retiring individual when compared with his chief draughtsman, whose name I cannot recall, but whose inspiring lecture on the merits of the Wyles machine, which lecture he delivered before a small company of farmers in the .paddock, I shall never forget. . Cooper, of John Fowler's, is always an interesting companion. It would be lard to find an aspect of mechanical cultivation which he has not considered. His, experience covers all types' from the rbig Sevenfurrow steam cable sets to the self-contained FowlerWyles motor plough ; he can tell you, too, much about how they do these things in Germany. He strongly objected to being asked to plough a ins, deep with a plough-breast designed for eight, but neverthe less made a sound job of the work. • A few minutes conversation with Neale, of the International Harvester Co., almost sufficed to convince me that there was only one type of tractor possible— the one which, like the Mogul, incorporated a slowmoving engine as its power unit. He is very confident of it himself, and certainly the most consistent and persistent exhaust during the demonstration was the chug, chug, chug of the one-lunged Mogul. -J. H. Maclaren evidently considered that the only tractor worth troubling about was the steamer. I caught sight of him comfortably stationed bang opposite Mann's plot of ground, and it was quite evident that he had no intention -of• moving before that machine had completed its allotted task.
Morris, Russell and Co. are on a good thing in their automatic-lift plough, and the ever-active Rand found plenty to do to answer all the queries which he received about it. He wait very keen to demonstrate the quick-change capabilities of the Mali-a-Tractor, and, with the aid of a large staff, managed to create a.' record.
The Whiting-Bull was in very capable hands, which no doubt accounted for the non-appearance of Mr. Wilson. Or maybe he was too busy finding buyers for the enormous imports of tractors whichhis firm have effected lately. As usual, the Ford tractor people sold several thousand machines "on the spot."