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THE LINCOLN TRACTOR TRIALS.

Most Important Trials of Agrimotors, Conducted in Fine Weather Before a Great Gathering of British Farmers.

" 9-4 HE LIFE -or death of the agricultural industry

in this country rests in the hands of the agri cultural tractor manufacturer." In these words a prominent Lincoln farmer sums up the whole situation regarding the agricultural and tractor industries in this .ceuntry, and at the same time explains the urgent need for such trials as the Lincoln trials by which local experience and local knowledge can be harnessed together with the technical knowledge of the manufacturers to produce machines capable of satisfying the farmers' requirements. During the war the farmers patriotically came to the assistance of their country, so far as their limited resources in men and material-permitted, and all the land possible was cultivated. Now, unless production is energetically stimulated, this land, and perhaps more which was originally cultivated, may have to lie fallow, The farmers are' faced with increased taxation, the payment of increased wages and the prospect of foreign competition in the near future. Many of the far-seeing ones base their hopes, and we believe rightly, on the perfecting of motor ploughing. Given simple reliable machines, capable of replacing horses and of doing the work in much less time with less labourtand perhaps less cost, the situation may be saved and the British farmer enabled to make a gooa living in the face of this future foreign competition.

The great idea which the farmers wish to impress on the manufacturers and their designers is that the keynote for the future mud be simplicity. The farmer does not want a pretty toy (he is not like the man who buys a car because of the number of "gadgets" with which it is fitted). He wants a practical machine which will do the job and do it well. What it looks like does not really matter ; if it is ploughing his eyes will be on the plough watchtng and noting the type of furrow it makes. To the farmer the tractor is a means to an end, and the less he has to deal with the means in order to get to that end the better pleased will he be. We do -not mean, of course, that ploughing is to be the only end. Ploughing is only one of the jobs whieh a tractor may be called upon to undertake. In fact, unless the farm be a very extensive one, ploughing may take up quite a small proportion of the tractor's time. It may be utilized for cultivat ing, threshing, sawing, or any of the hundred and one small jobs where power is required which are met with on a farm, but all these tasks are met by the provision on present-day trac. tors of a. simple, sturdy and efficient engine and a. belt pulley.

From personal' observation and inquiry we have found that the average farmer fights shy of mad'hines which are massesof complicated mechanism. He perhaps sees a simply-designed machine which, so far as can be judged. by the chief thing which matter s—results B32 does just as well, or better than, another which is far more complicated and probably more expensive, and his inclinations lead him to plump for the machine of simple and straightforward construction.

The present-day farmers are divided into two classes, those who believe in tractors and those who do not, and it is up to the tractor industry to prove its claims to the non-believers, while at the same time doing all it can to help, encourage and advise those who already believe ; it was with these ideas in view that the S.M.M. and T. decided in October, 1918, that it would be advisable to organize agricultural tractor trials where farmers and manufacturers could meet together to test the capabilities of the numerous tractors on the market and to exchange the criticism necessary to ensure satisfaction on both sides.

Fifteen days after the armistice it was definitely decided to organize the trials, with the result. that at Lincoln there was a most representative...gathering comprising some 60 machines of approximately 30 different makes, of which, it is pleasing to note, a large proportion were British.

That Lincoln should have been chosen for the first trials is particularly appropriate, as it is, we believe, the home of power ploughing, for in 1845 a Lincoln man first utilized steam power for this Purpose.

As to whether future trials will be held'in the neighbourhood of Lincoln remains to be seen, but it would appear advisable to change the site every year, not only so that lartners from all over the country may view them and give the benefit of their experience of local conditions, but so that all classes of soil may he dealt with:

The soil ploughed at Lincoln was of two grades, viz., fairly heavy land and light cliff land, but the

maximum depth of ploughing in the heavy land did not often exceed five inches, as the soil has a rock bottom, and also, being clayey, deep ploughing would merely have lifted large masses of earth which it would have been impossible to break up by cultivation. On clayey soil, cultivation merely scarifies the exterior and leaves a hard interior. As, in many places in this country, the farmers plough to a much greater depth than this', it will be advisable in the future to collect further data from these other districts, without relying to too great an extent on the information gain4d in one district only, though such information is certainly exceedingly valuable, particularly to farmers whose land is similar to that on which the trials were conducted.

So far as the public were concerned the trials commenced on Wednesday with ploughing, but as a matter of fact much important detail work was done on the Monday and Tuesday by Mr. G. W. Watson, the technical adviser, and his able assistant, who conducted drawbar -dynamometer tests of both the ploughs themselves and the variouis makes of tractors entered. These figures were obtained by a recording dynamometer made by the National Physical Laboratory, Mr. J. H. Hyde, of the laboratory, being in charge of the instrument. This gentleman has had much experience with tests in connection with the transmission of power and is in charge of that section of the work at the N.P.L.

Itwill be something like six weeks before the results of the dynamometer tests will be pUblished, as a large amount of very careful measuring has to be done on the records ; however, Mr. Watson was able to give a rough approximation to the entrants so that suitable ploughs could. be fitted to the machines. It would obviously he unfair to make invidious comparisons at the present time when the results are only approximate, but it will not be out of place to mention that amongst those tractors which gave very satisfactory performances in the way of drawbar pull were the Glasgow, Titan and Gray. One plucky little entrant was the Eros tractor attachment for the Ford ; it was amazing to see the way this cornDination hauled the dynamometer test .wagon ; its drawbar pull came out at close on a ton. In connection with this combination a regrettable incident occurred which reflects rather badly on the sporting spirit of whoever was responsible. When the Eros combination was first tested, the engine began to splutter and finally petered out. On examination, apiece of cotton waste as large as one's fist was extracted from the petrol tank. Once this was removed, the combination did very well and ran quite smoothly. The wagon to which the dynamometer was attached weighed approximately two tons,. which could be increased terthe equivalent of a dead load or eight tons by means of powerful brakes. To assist in preventing the rear wheels from slipping, they were provided with spuds, but in. spite of those a certain amount of slipping occurred owing to the great hauling capacity of some, of the tractors, and another truck weighing approximately five tons was added when necessary.

Whilst these tests were in progress good opportunities were given of noting the effect of the various types of spuds and strakes fitted. Certain of the machines, owing to the sodden condition of the ground, suffered slight inconvenience from wheel slip, but not to any excessive amount, considering the great load which they had to haul. It would appear that toothed type spuds„ such as those fitted to the Glasgow tractor, give a better grip on the surface than most of the others, and if not too long they do not cause any appreciable loss of power owing to the depth to which they enter the ground, but even wheels fitted with this type of spud. when used in clayey soil, get lubricated and have to be cleaned out occasionally, though this is not necessary when the actual ploughing is in operation. It was noted in the case of the Glasgow tractor that, owing to its three-wheel drive, no slip whatever occurred, and this would tend to show that especially in the case of small and light tractors, the all-wheel drive has certain advantages if properlytdesigned so that the effect of the skidding of one wheel will not take all the power from the others.

The Drawbar Tests.

In connection with the drawbar tests of the ploughs themselves it was found that en heavy land when ploughing to a depth of 5 ins, and a width of 10 ins., the drawbar pull required was. '750 lb. per bottom, and on light land between 1,650 lb. and 1,700 lb. on four bottoms nloughing furrows 9 ins. by 6 ins. The ploughs tested to obtain these figures were of the ordinary general-service-type with disc 'bottoms. The whole of the drawbar tests were conducted on clover stubble.

Wednesday. the first morning of the trials, opened fine and bright, and from an early hour the procession of vehicles. of all types, sizes and makes pro

ceeding to the site of the trials from all quarters was really a wonderful sight, and one at which all the villagers stared open-mouthed. Conspicuous amongst the vehicles were several chars-à-bancs df Leyland, Commer Car and Dennis make. There were also a certain number of National Steam omnibuses, which ran continuously between Lincoln and South Carlton, the distance being approximately three miles. .

The Quality of the Land.

During this day the ploughing took place on heavy land to the left of the main road, but, as a matter of fact, the actual quality of the soil varied considerably in the different fields ; in some it was certainly heavy and of a clayey consistency, but in others it was almost like loam. Of course, spread over a wide area such as had to be covered owing to the number of machines entered, it will be quite appreciated that to obtain soil of the same consistency throughout would be a very difficult Matter. As regards the fields themselves, these were very suitable for the purpose, being of large dimensions; some of them were quite one-third of a mile long. Ploughing commenced officially at 10 a.m., but a certain number of tractors had not appeared on the scene until later than that hour. Amongst these was the Fiat, which was in such a hurry to get to the scene of operations that it was doing quite seven rn.p.h. along a grassy stretch at the side of the road. Those who heard it were very favourably impressed with the absence of rattle and vibration and the even hum of the engine. • Even at the commencement a large crowd of farmers and others had collected. In a way it was an advantage holding the trials at some distance from the town, for this ,prevented to a gloat extent the presence of people who would have come merely as sightseers of a free show.

High or Slow .Speed Engine ?

The first field which we entered contained the Glasgow; Avery and. Fordson tractors, all of which were busily engaged and each followecrhy a crowd of

admirers, and, critics. It was particularly neticeable that .whereas the engineering fraternity followed close to, or remained by the side of the machines, the farmers were Content tir folloiv at a distaric.e carefully examining the furrows, and in many cases producing, rules from their pockets to measure the exact depth.

The next field contained a Fiat, two Titans and a Weeks-Dungey, the Fiat having arrived whilst we were in the. first field. " Here the difference between the high-speed automobile-type engine employed on the Fiat and. the Weeks and the heavy, slow-speed engine on the Titans was •particularly noticeable. Each has its advantages' but from comments of the farmers it would appear that they have a preference for the slow-speed type, as, to the majority of them, the idea of very rapidly-moving machinery does not appeal ; they seem to prefer. something of the plodding type: which of the two types wilt eventually predominate it is at present impossible to Say. In. this connection it is curious to note that two of the machines which gave perhaps the best results at road haulage were the Saunderson and the Titan, the

Saunderson being fitted with a comparatively highspeed engine and the Titan with a low-speed..

The .Difficulty of Comparison.

It Was a matter of great difficulty to make adequate . 'comparisons between the various machines competing —in the words of 'a well-known man in the trade, "They were fine machines doing fine work," and, of course, the type of furrow ma.de depended to a great extent upon. the plough used, In this respect we overheard certain of the farmers conaniejating favourably on oughs of the long-breasted type, -which turn the land over without unduly breaking it. In this eonnektion the Mogul was doing excellent work with a four-furrow plough, the furrows being absolutely even . and almost •unbroken.

The Weeks New Simplex tractor attracted considerable attention. It was doing its job without fuss and very steadily at approximately 2i mph., and turning two clean furrows. The popularity of the various machines was shown chiefly by the crowds collected about them,and in this respect the Weeks showed up well. _. . .

The Haulage Test. .

The haulage tests took place on a road leading from the main road to South Carlton. This road has a fairly steady rise over a:distance of nearly half a mile, the maximum gradient being approxi mately one in seven. The machines which: did particularly well on this hill were the Saunderson and the Titan. The Saunderson hauled a load of 4 tons 3 ewt., and in addition to its hauling powers very favourable eontm.ents were made on the efficiency of its brakes. The..Titan did not do quite so well, hut it was able to copewith 3 tons 10 ewt. The engine appeared to be powerful enough for heavier work.

The Exhibition.

To the right of the main road, at the. aerodrome, was staged, in several large hangars and along the approach, a very comprehensive exhibition by 62 concerns of all kinds of implements' connected with agriculture, as well as a certain number of tractors and conunercial motor vehicles: Amongst the latte,iwere two fine Tilling-Stevens, one a four-ton 45 h.p.. petrol-electric, and the other a four-ton gear-driven model. The latter machine is a new production from the Maidstone works and is very finely proportioned throughout. In the machinery-in-motion section, on the Andona stand was a Wallis-Junior tractor driving a threshing machine. On the next stand was staged a fine 40 h.p. Pagefield vehicle manufactured by Walker Bros. (Wigan), Ltd. W. H. Dorman and Co., Ltd.' lead a fine display of their engines suitable for all types of work. Whitings, 'Ltd., showed a new American chassis known as the Panhard (this, of course, has nothing to do with the French lorry known as the Panhard-Levassor). The International Harvester Co. of Great Britain, Ltd., had on view their new one-ton and two-ton lorries, as well as a. large number of various tractor ploughs and other agricultural

implements. R. W. Wright and Co., Ltd., exhibited a Thornycroft X-type lorry and also a Guy twotonner.

An interesting side line of the Show was an exhibition of flying.which was given by a number of R.A.F. pilots in even the strongest winds.

The Organizers.

Great credit is due to the organizer of the Trials, Mr. H. Scott Hall, for the way in which they were conducted, and to the exhibition manager, Mr. H. A.

Blackie, for the success of the exhibition and variety of the exhibits which were on view.

Ploughing on Heavy Land.

If anything more were needed to demonstrate the efftetiveness of the motor tractor doing farm work and its potentialitiesfor the future the trials at Lincoln have . done it. On Wednesday most of the ploughing was done on heavy land, though, of course, with trials of so extensive a character and conducted on so many fields over a very wide area it was quite impossible for each machine to be working on exactly the same kind of soil. In fact a number of the tractors found themselves faced, with some very tough work on stiff land, while a few found themselves on land with a comparatively light soil. Those working the heaviest soil amazed many farmers with the manner in which they pulled through, leaving an excellent furrow. A farmer expressed what many more were thinking and saying, too, when, while watching Saunderson pulling a three-furrow plough through an exceptionally stiff piece of soil, he said " by Jove ! that would stick three horses—and three horses only draw a plough having a single furrow."

The Farmers Impressed. -

The trials here emphasized enormously the capabilities of the tractor, and the thousands of farmers from all over the country present at Lincoln must have been greatly impressed with what they saw. Not that there was no criticism. Far from it, but the effect has been generally to raise the tractor in the farmer's estimation. Doubtless some of the types and models will have to go. Some met with more adverse criticism than others, but it is, perhaps, a curious fact that scarcely one machine failed to bring forth a word of praise from the farmers for, at least, one particular feat which it was able to accomplish. With the trials as a whole and with the tractors which took part everybody was satisfied, and there were few general criticisms. There were, however, one or two little Matters which ought to be touched upon before recording the farmer's opinion of certain individual tractors. It was generally agreed that in order to give most of the tractors a chance to do their best the ploughing should have been deeper. The customary average depth of ploughing with horses on the land where the trials took place has been 5 ins., and the occupier of the land, realizing the disastrous effects it would have had upon subsequent crops, would not be willing, and it would therefore not have been policy to bring subsoil to the surface by ploughing much lower than the usual depth At the same time,,the ploughing would have been more satisfactory had the depth had a better relation to width, the width being 12 ins. or 14 ins. It can be easily seen that there were some flat furrows, when the furrow slice was turned over 12 ins. by 5 ins. In spite of this, the work waagenerally well done, and a good many tractors got down deeper than 5 ins. One would like to have seen some ploughing 6 ins. by 10 ins., or even 7 ins. by 9 ins. Another matter which might have received some.. attention was the question of skims. None of the tractors had skims. If they had had them, the work done would,, undoubtedly, have looked neater with the stubble, grass and other rubbish turned well underneath the soil.. The fixing of skims to tractordrawn ploughs is, at the same time a question over which farmers controvert. All stubble and other matter should, as a rule, be ploughe&well in. (The disc harrow is of yalue in this connection when employed to precede the plough.) But several Lincolnshire farmers said, and it is often, agreed, that, if there is any conch grasa or other perennial weeds present, it is better not to use the skim, because this only cuts the roots up into smaller pieces and turns them into the bottom of the furrow in little bits, rendering the essential cleaning of the land most difficult, so there are Tres and cons on the subject, and the result of the non-employment: of skims on the tractor ploughs at the trials was that grass on the foul land could be seen running in rows from end to and where each furrow turned over on to the next. On the clean stubble this was not so conspicuous.

A general mistake at the trials was that most of the operators endeavoured to keep a narrow headland, and, in doing so, did notigive themselves room to turn properly ; consequently, they were net able to start in with the plough to the best advantage either running for s5veral yards-too shallow, or running v, ide, or, more Commonly, narrow, Some of the tractors attracted more attention than others, judging by the crowds following them. Among these was the Glasgow, which pulled very well indeed and performed satisfactorily. But this,machine was handicapped in the neatness of its work perhaps more than any other by the fact of the driver endeavouring to turn on too narrow &headland. He always set in too wide (turning to the left and ploughing by the methOd known as "splitting the land "). When once the work becomes crooked and out of shape it is impossible to ,get it right again. Tho:Avery and the Emerson were made to suffer under the' same difficulty, and the absence of 'the skim did not add to the neatness of the work done: The Avery bad. good furrows but had to stop at each end. The Fordson started in better at the ends, but the width of the

furrows was too great for the depth, otherwise it got along well, though criticisms were heard amongst certain of the farmers_

Furrow Finish.

The Weeks-Dangey atftacted considerable. _atten. -Lica by the manner in which its work was performed, and many farmers spoke highly of it, though

many did not seem to have seen it before. It certainly worked very well and easily with a Ransornes three-furrow plough. Those tractors ploughing on clean stubble naturally turned out the best finished work. This had to be so out of fairness to the other tractors. It was a sort of compensation for their good fortune in striking easy working land. The Overtime arid Titan, getting along well and working excellently, were well favoured in this respect, having a

E trip of nice working land: There is no uncertainty r_bout the Overtime and Titan maintaining their rerpective reputations. The latter had some very stiff ploughing and did it well, but did not start with a

is40 straight furrow. The Fiat did very well indeed, the only., drawback being that it appeared to pack the

soil unnecessarily. The 25 h.p. .Mogul went along steadily, pulling a four-furrow plough and doing its work extremely well, but.clid not allow itself enough room. to turn. at the ends, thus causing untidy headlands.

Shallow Ploughing. .•

Against the Wallis with the Ra.nsomes three-furrqw tractor plough the only complaint was that the furrow slices were:qurned over too flat, a fault, of course, due to shallow ploughing. It had a good speed. The Saunderson had a piece of verycheavy land to con tend with and succeeded very well at a steady ploughing pace. Only pulling two furrows, the BurfordCleveland 'chain-track made a nice little job of its work without packing the soil in the least. The studs on Machines, including the Moline,made a good grip, upon the soil until they became clogged, when they either skidded or a stop. had to he made to clean the wheels. Likewise the strakes oh the Saunderson and the Wallis did not prevent the drive wheels skidding when soft ground was encountered. In this respect, the tractors of the chain-track did better than some of the wheeled models, and they also had a much better distribution of weight. Speed was undoubtedly a feature in a number of machines, and. it was said of one make that it ploughed with a three-furrow plough an acre an hour.

Without dwelling upon the merits, or demerits of any particular makes, it has been demonstrated that British agriculture cannot live in the finure without the mechanical power supplied by tractors. Farmers _ and makers coming together as they have done on this occasion at Lincoln should result in the production of the types best suited for British agricultural require, ruents.

Points from the Trials.

While the visitors to the Lincoln trials were on the whole in a critical mood—or rather a mood for criticising--a good deal of openmindedness was displayed, and certainly a good number of the farmers and landowners, and the tractor Makers and agents • too, were there to be educated. Both users and makers haveStill a deal to learn ,before the ideal machine so much talked about is produced. Farmers do not handle a tractor as they ought to_do when they ha,ve _it, and the maker has too mu..C..11 of the engineer about him and not enough of the agriculturist to be able adequately to meet the farmer's requirements.

The trials have brought together many thousands of people concerned in the production and the use of tractors, and they should each have learned much from the others. Both the maker, agents and, farmers have gleaned an immense amount of information as a. result of the visit to Lincoln. The agriculturists on their part have had the opportunity for comparing the different makes and types of machine which they could not have obtained by watching their neighbour using his machine, and actually witnessing the tractors at work has done more for -them than all the reading they are likely to do between now and the Dela trials.

Farmers have always been in a difficulty to know what tractor to buy, and what type and what particular, make would suit them best. And while Lincoln has helped them to solve this difficulty it has not enabled anybody to lay down rules as to the best makes or even. the best type available. So much depends upon sail and situation. There was a. good variety of soils and situations on the site of the trials, • but these were by no means representative. We have yet to discover which are the best types for particular conditions of work.

Packing the Ground.

It goes without saying that a good plougher is a good cultivator. And in this connection one has to consider soils. The ordinary well-known makes of four and three-wheeled tractors under proper management work almost ideally on light and Medium soils, and they get along fast. Under certain oonditions . they will also work heavy land. But they do not succeed nearly so well on heavy land. The Lincoln trials served to bear this out. The heavy land farmer—and there is a good deal of heavy land in this country—is thrown hack upon the chain-track type, because heavy land is not only hard in dry weather, but also in wet weather it becomes very soft.

There are those who are now more confirmed in their views either that the chain-track machine must setve the heavy land farmer or that the tractor really suitable for such land has yet to be discovered. Of course, the idea presents itself that if an ordinary four-wheeled machine of certain durable strength, weight, and horse-power works satisfactorily on medium land, a machine of similar type but heavier and more powerful and stronger ,would meet the requirements of heavy land. But it will not. There are many machines that have been brought forward with this idea in view, and what do most of them do? They work fairly well in dry weather. But they are heavy and pack the ground unless it is very hard. In wet weather they have the most disastrous effects upon the land because of their weight.

The Field of the Chain-track.

Many wheeled tractors Will not plough satisfactorily when the ground is in a very hard state, and wthe)4. it is wet and soddened they cannot work at all. The heavier the tractor the worse the packing. It inust ever be borne in mindrthat the mechanical packing of soil on heavy,land is very serious indeed. • This is the point where the chain-track tractor's for heavy land come in. The best of them do not pack the soil seriously and, what is equally as important, do not get stuck and do not skid. When talking of weight and packing wea:lo not mean the weight of the machine, but theT pressure it pla..oes upon the soil. When the weight is ir`ell distributed in the case of a wheeled machine it does not do so much harm, but it skids in the mud all the same. Indeed, it looks very like. home production having to supply the machines to suit the requirements of British soils. The Americans do well on the light and medium soils. Incidentally, although ployughing is the most important work it must also cope with other work.

In spite of what is said to the contrary, English soil conditions demand different types of tractor, and though some of the existing types may, after being duly tested, disappear for ever there will always be room for variety in tyne and make. And the Lincoln trials show this unmistakably.