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LORRY and TRACTOR—thE
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IDEAL FARM PARTNERS
The Tractor Enables Larger Acreages to be Cultivated and Reduces Costs and Labour, Whilst the Lorry Extends the Field of Produce Distribution
How Power Equipment Enables the Agriculturist to Beat the Weather by Permitting Intensive Working During Favourabk Periods of the Year AT first sight the farm lorry may appear to have little connection with the production of the crops and stock which, sooner or later, it transports to market, but in actual practice, directly and indirectly, It may have a marked influence on the production programme.
The chief attraction of the horse—apart from Sentiment, which is the greatest attraction of all—is its adaptability. It can be taken off the plough and sent to the station in a wagon, to fetch a load of cake or manure, and its normal equipment," except for harness, is suitable for both classes,of work.
This may suffice at a slack time, but when a truckload arrives at the station during a rush period, such as when spring seeding or haymaking is in progress, the adaptability of the horse does not compensate for the loss of time on the land while the teams are on the road. Actually, this factor may be a hidden disadvantage leading to frequent disorganization of the work, by reason, of the facility with which the horse strength can be changed from one job to another. Moreover, the employment of horses for transport to and from the railhead tends to perpetuate the use of rail transport, when the farm would be much better served by road. • Generally, it requires some unforeseen event or accident to break into long-established custom, and then the farmer has an opportunity of comparing horse-cum-rail transport with the facilities offered by a lorry of his own. From that point, his transport problems usually begin to solve themselves.
When a modern medium-weight lorry—usually a 2-tonner—is installed on the farm, one of two lines of development is immediately offered in land policy. One can either discard some of the horses or one can cultivate more land or work the existing acreage more intensively The land work is kept up to date and better cropping follows, because of the earlier and more favourable seeding. Fewer harvest losses are likely, i)32 for the land work is not subject to interruption. Moreover, the lorry is standing by as a useful auxiliary to help out on the land at these rush periods.
Most farmers use their vehicles regularly during hay and corn harvest for hauling the crops, and their value in this work is dearly 4ippe.rent when we consider the saving of time when travelling between fields and the stackyard and returning light. The man who(operatel. his farm with just his own family labour finds the lorry a real boon, for it enables speedy working to be effected with a small ',gang.
If the vehicle be equipped with a mechanical .hay loader, two or three workers can load in a few minutes, especially' as one of the youngsters can usually be allowed to steer in the field. For hand pitching, a sixcylinder machine with a smooth-running engine can, with bottom gear engaged, be left to drive itself along the windrows, with occasional correction of the steering by one of the pitchers walking alongside.
The facility with which a good modern lorry can be used for all classes of work on the land, including the occasional haulage, during peak periods, of such light draught implements as harrows and rollers, would provide material to fill many pages. It is sufficient to say that it is always safe and economical to use the motor for traction on the land, not entirely as a substitute for horse or tractor power, but wherever extra power is needed quickly to complete the work, for, speedy working is the essence of success in most farm., lug operations. Delay for a day or two may make great difference to the results of work that should have been done when the soil was in just the right condition.
Thus, we have available in the lorry a haulage unit which, in time of need, can perform land work, but which, in the main, is destined to take care of all the road haulage and some of the land transport as well.
To the.tractor we turn for our main tractive unit on the land. For mechanical reasons, which involve certain characteristics in the land tractor, opposed to those needed in a road vehicle, the attempts to produce one machine suitable for both jobs have, with few exceptions, been abandoned, and most land tractors are kept off the roads, except for moving from field to field.
This is really beneficial from the management point of view, for it is obviously as undesirable to take a tractor from its land work to travel on the road as it is with horses. Furthermore, the changing conditions of marketing which urge us to eliminate rail transport and send produce direct from farm to market without
course of what is admittedly a great farming depression, men who are judiciously employing the pair have kept their affairs on a much higher level than those who have stood by the old ways. The tractor is the greatest instrument yet placed on the farm to help in the war against adverse weather conditions, and it has done a great deal to cheapen production costs.
The lorry takes the produce, which is of improved quality, to a bigger range of markets than has ever been possible before. With it, the grower can break the force of the " rings " and seek markets large enough to debar their operation. He can sell direct to retailers—eliminating wholesalers' profits—or even to the consumer direct. The freshness of produce that has not been to market often commands a higher price.
n341 'At present many of the losses incurred on the more specialized of our farm produce, such as fruit and vegetables, are mainly the outcome of faulty distribution, whereby central markets are glutted while small provincial towns are starved of produce. Such concentration of production and marketing can be avoided by the lorry and tractor user, for nearly every district is capable of providing good-class produce if the land be well mechanically worked, and the retailers of practically every small town are ready buyers of the right type of produce delivered by the farmers' own vehicles.
These crops are called cash crops, because their marketing occurs at fairly frequent intervals and it brings in ready-money payments. It is open to every farmer whose land is showing a debit balance to become a producer of cash crops in greater or less degree, and by installing a lorry and tractor for the work he will be laying a sound foundation for the new kind of cultivation.
The farming depression Is produced mainly by world economic causes, over which, as individuals, we have no control. But we can break out of the farming depression—as others have done—if we seek new scope for our activities and put an end to systems which cannot be continued without loss. We have mechanical help available which can show a profit. Let us abandon the old and build anew,