AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

AGRIMOTOR NOTES.

27th June 1918, Page 17
27th June 1918
Page 17
Page 18
Page 17, 27th June 1918 — AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Summer-work for the Tractor

Continuing my remarks in recent issues on the subject of other work for the tractor during the ploughing " off season," there are several directions in which a tractor can be found extremely useful on work which could not, or would not, be done by horses. Take pulling up tree stumps' for example.. How often do we see 5u or 60 sq. yards of ground, or more, perhaps, 'right in the centre of a field, where it could get the full effect of sun and air, lost to the use of agriculture by the presence of the stumP of some large old tree which fell a victim to the winter's storms of years ago and has been occupying useful ground ever since? The old roots spread out in all directions just beneath the soil and prevent .either the formation of a good surface soil, or its cultivation ; whilst the plough and all other implements have to be stopped and taken round it on every occasion and use. Why is it still allowed to stand derelict there without removal? 'simply because it is too much work to take it out and there is not power enough available to do it. A team of eight or ten horses, perhaps, would do it all right, but it. means quite a business to get the lot of horses• together and an exciting job to get them all to pull together, whilst they are generally, so badly wanted elsewhere that they cannot be spared for a collective job like this. Then, too, quite a lot of special harness would require to be made before it could be tackled. And so. taken all round, it is too much trouble and the thing remains an eyesore and a constant loss to the: farmer.

Here the tractor comes in nicely. Instead Of stopping all the rest of the work of the farm for half a day and taking up the time of half-a-dozen men, the tractor driver, having provided himself with a suitable means of taking hold of the stump, goes out with his machine alone, or with a single assistant, hitches up,

puts in the Clutch, and in a few minutes the log is just trailing away behind him. and taken right off the field. Then he comes back and with suitable roughly-made grabs, which the blacksmith has made up for him, he works to and fro over the spot. Where it stood and pulls out the straggling roots buried in the soil, finishing up with the cultivator and bringing the soil into condition for cultivation once more. In doing so, he has not cut up the surface of half the field, as he would have done had there been 16 or 20 pairs of horses' feet struggling tnget a grip. on the surface. Again, there is draining and ditch making. This is usually. done by hand labour, gangs of "navigators being employed, sometimes for weeks at a time, ii large fields have to • be dealt . With, .digging -the trenches, putting in the pipes and covering them in again. The principal and the hardest and most expensive portion of the work is, of course, the digging. But, whyshould this net be done by mechanical power? \Thy should a small army of men be employed? It can be done with a tractor and a trenching machine, as is done in America.. A twin chaintrack machine is employed, which can travel with its .supporting chain tracks on either side the trench and can croSs the trench when needed without dropping into it, or breaking its walls. The trenching machine consists of an -adjustable shovel, or continuous scoop, which -dredges out a channel 6 ins, deep and throws out the earth on either side, the operation being repeated until the required depth has been attained. Of course, it would hardly pay any individual farmer—although it might pay some large estate owner —to invest in such a machine,but it would Certainly pay any agricultural community to keep one for the useof the district, and it would also pay a contractor to have one on hand, this -being one very patent chrection In which co-operative use, or co-operative ownership, would score. If our 'Agricultural War Committees; or County Fanners Clubs, have funds at disposal, they would be well spent in the general

interest in such a purchase. • '

Another direction . where . the power of a tractor would be most useful and in which, again, co-operative ownership, or co-operative employment, of the operated machine would.be desirable, is in what is termed in America "road grading." In this country, all our public roads, both main and secondary, are hard roads and road grading is neither necessary nor possible. But there are himdreds of miles of. farm roads about the Country which would be all the better for the treatment. These are what-are knewn in the States as " dirt roads." In other words, just cart tracks over the land and we find them, more often than not, full-of great holes and just three deep tuts where hoofs and Wheels have cut in and the dragging of heavy loads-over these ways puts a very heavy strain both on 'horses and rolling stock and also puts a severe limit totheir• capacity for work. Why should not such roads be kept in better repair I Why should they not be smopth, with theruts removed, although soft? Here and there. we see an attempt has been made, by throwing down a few wagon loads.of stones, to fill in the deeper holes and ruts, .making it still harder work for the horses -until the stones have bedded themselves M. Once more, it is to much trouble and too much worke-•too much expense—for the work to be done, and so the farmer goes on limiting the possibilities and usefulness of his teams and

losing money all'the time.. . • Our American cousins, whose country roads are all dirt roads, haVe a regular system for dealing with them. What is known_ as a road-grader is employed, which is a sort Of big smoothing tool or scraper, which serapes along over the uneven surface, dragging-down

the inequalities which project above the mean, and pushing the material removed into the depressions, leaving the general surface of the road smooth and free from ruts, with a Gamber op each side to provide for the running off of the water into the ditches at the side. The road-grader was formerly pulled by a team of horses, but now that the mechanical power of the tractor is available, tractors provide the power and larger graders are employed. Why should not such machines be available in every agricultural district, for the use of any farmer requiring them? Their general use on the farms and fields of the country wculd result in an. enormous saving in the aggregate and a similarly great increase in the work of efficiency

• both of existing teams and rolling stock. What is • proven in America as of value should be'of equal use • over here.

In our last issue, under the head "One Hears," it was stated that the Government is purposing to confine its Use of tractors for its own work to three makes, This I. understand is correct. The decision must not he taken to be necessarily a reflection on, or condemnation of, the types which will not be retained, as

• the decision has been arrived at, not as the result of dissatisfaction with the work of the machines, but because it is considered 'advisable to have as few Varieties as possible in the service, and so the Government is retaining the makes of which ithas the largest fleets. The others will be sold off, and a 'beginning has been made with the sinall fleet of Bates -Steel Mules which Were purchased last year. These tractors, as a matter of fact, were never used at all, as they arrived after the decision to concentrate on one or two models .hael been arrived at, and they have now been placed with the Power Farm Supply Co., of Coventry—from whom they were purchased—for re-sale.

AuramoT.

Tags

Locations: Coventry

comments powered by Disqus