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Motor Ploughing.

2nd August 1917, Page 6
2nd August 1917
Page 6
Page 7
Page 6, 2nd August 1917 — Motor Ploughing.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Comparison of Methods and Costs.

The leading article in the issue of Tim COMMERCIAL Moron of stn July is, in my opinion, very opportune as the present attitude of the Food Production Department of the Government, both with regard to the excessive costs of the late spring. cultivation. and the pending arrangeinents for 1918, is creating chaos amongst the agriculturists. The costs of the spring cultivation to the Department are, as you suggest, considerably more than 22 per acre, and the public should know who is to pay the difference between 21 per acre charged to the farmers and this excessive cost brought about by a lack of proper organization. Having an .experience (since driving in the R.A.S.E. Steam Plough. Trials in 1868) of the maintenance, use and manufacture of all classes of mechanical tillage implements bringing into cultivation virgin land in Ireland and Scotland by steam with draining, and latterly the use of motor tractors, it woeld appear to me from that experience that the organizatien needed by the Government is what an engineer conversant with all land tillages, would bring to bear on the subject which would simplify the system and make it less costly in the administration. THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR set out, as a comparison, two existing methods of motor ploughing by tractors —direct haulage and steam sets IV winding—brit these do not exhaust the methods that may he employed. The motor tractor or agrimotor, to be efficient, should plough four furrows in all lands. To plough less 'Would set up a heavy proportional charge for labour. .Without detracting from their use for ploughing, " they should have.,a wider use, such.as hauling, carrying, etc., so that their capital value should be more productive having regard to the limited use for . ploughing only, which has been put at 250 acres per year, but which, in my opinion, will reach 300 acres in the six months of the year that climatic conditions allow of their use. It is not generally seen, except by farmers, that headlands and furrows have to be finished : and there is the cleaning of the land in ,fallow (once ploughed land) by cross cultivation -as a

i preparation for seed beds n .order to obtain a good tilth, as well as the drilling and seed harrowing. For 'these operations the agrimotor affords no assistance on account of its consolidation of the soil, and therefore its use is liraited to stubble and ..lay lands, 'ploughing and cultivating only, but on any tillaga farm of, say, 500 acres the farmer should be able to -utilize au agrimotor and. earn its cost and mainten-ance.

The development points to a 30-35 h.p. chassis to weigh Under two tons, capable of carrying and haul

ing with means for driving fixed machinery, but it must not be slipShod in its workmanship, and the materials used in construction must be of the highest class—which requirements cannot be said to be met by some types that ale on offer. The steam sets of ploughing tackle by two wire roPe winders a,re Undoubtedly a success for the larger areas; as they will Ph:nigh and cultivate crosswise, so cleaning the land without consolidation, although their excessive weight on the headlands is frequently a source of trouble, but their costs for maintenance for fuel and water add so much to the cost per acre that other means of power that will be effective and less costly would be desirable.

An example that came to the writer's knowledge quite recently is that of a set of tackle, ploughing some 5 miles from a railway station and 11 miles from a village with water supply from a well taking three inen and two horses for the water, and one man and horse for the coal supply daily. About half-amile from this set a tractor with a four-furrow plough was working requiring 40 to 50 gallons paraffin every other day and 30 gallons of water. The difference in cost of cartage wilf be obvious at a mere glance, the value of a farm-horse being equal to a acre ploughed per day. Each steam engine consumed 8 cwt. coal in a daily working period of 9 or 10 hours and evaporated 8 lb. of water per lb. of coal, so that total daily consumption was 16 cwt. coal and 8 tons of water for 12 to 15 acres ploughed. The first oost of 24500 sets up a heavy depreciation charge to be set against the steam ploughing tackle. In the issue of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR of 18th April, 1915, a set of winders by internal-combustion engines burning paraffin is described, which has commended itself so much that, several sets are now being put into use ; but the design shows a distinct likeness to steam winders, although it does not -lend itself t.9 carrying. It, is claimed to plough 7 to .10 acres per day, and weighs 5 tons per engine, costing some 21500 with implements.

A mechanical solution may be found in the combination of the well-tried 'units of the 5-ton motor wagon type, viz.,a 45-50 h.p. vertical internal-combustion engine for paraffin with dutch, gearbox, back and front axles, but mounted on to a special frame made to Withstand the side pull of the winding drum for the wire rope which is fixed below the frame between the. front and rear axles. The transmission gear is also of well-tried parts, but novel. It drives both the winding drum and back axle for travelling or propelling, the gear being arranged so as to leave the top of the frame free to take any wagon or (if for hiring work) sleeping and living van bodies, a pulley for fixed driving being also provided.

The rear wheels must be permanently fitted with tires for soft lands.

The whole should weigh with drum and wire ropes not exceeding 5 tons each. Therefore a winder to plough, a wagon to carry 5 tons, a tractor to haul 5 tons, a threshing machine driver is combined for the general use of a farm at aionst, as a. double set with'implernents, of 22500 to 22750, and will plough upwards of one acre per hour.

The winding system can he used for general cultivation, cross ploughing and cleaning ttie soil, so that the working days are materially increased beyond those of the agrimotor. Appended is an estimated cost with details of the various methods that appear available and their • relative costs per acre at the present increased prices of labour, fuels, and machinery. The life of the steam and paraffin winders will be from 10 to 12 years —a 12-year-old steam set wa7sIrdoing good work a few

days ago—but six to seven years only should be taken as the life of a tractor which is always moving, its value after the five years redemption being the profit arising from their use to the owners. The loss of time in removal from farm to farm and fuel in some cases must. be allowed for in the administration charges, also a scale of wages and overtime to provide for both good and bad weather. The administration of the Government scheme would appear to be the principal item to be considered. The irregular boundaries of the counties suggest that the county areas should not of necessity be +the administrative area, and that the smaller counties of arable lands -couldbe grouped, so that not less than 3000 acres of ploughing should be in the group, the larger counties exceeding this to be one area. By thus grouping supervision and supply would be facilitated, and the administration charges kept down to, say, 8s. per acre if 10,600 acres is reached. For smaller areas and probably smaller fields it may reach 15s. per acre.

More land in proper cultivation at •a reasonable cost is the national necessity.

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