Iowa
Old Press
Wallaces' Farmer
Des Moines, Polk co. IA
May 12, 1916
The feeding of surplus horses on a big 860 acre farm in
southeastern Iowa cost Jim Brockway, of Louisa county, several
hundred dollars a year. In order to get thru with his spring
work, he had to keep from 12 to 16 more horses than he really
needed during the rest of the year. He either had to keep them
thruout the year, or go out and buy horses during the rush
seasons. The latter plan was not satisfactory, so he usually
carried along as many as he would need in the busy times. During
the last five years, the problem has been solved by the use of
tractors, which now do most of the heavy work.
Mr. Brockway has used both the heavy and the light tractors, and
on his large farm he would not try to get along without either.
His experience traces back to five years ago, when he first
bought one of the large types. While he is not using the original
tractor, which soon wore out, he now has a large one, and also a
small outfit for doing work for which the heavy one is not
adapted.
Experience with the first purchase was far from satisfactory.
That tractor, he says, might have been adapted for certain kinds
of work, but it had no place on the farm. The gears and working
parts had no protection from the dust and dirt which the oil
collected. Sometimes in the summer, when the soil was dry, there
would be a regular blinding cloud of dust. The grit that
accumulated in the gears caused so much wear and tear that the
period of usefulness of the tractor was limited to two years. In
fact, he had to discard it before the second year’s work was
done and finish up with horses.
When Mr. Brockway bought his second big tractor, he tried to get
one which would not be subject to so much wear and tear from the
dirt. The tractor has it’s engine and gears protected by a
hood which is dirtproof. The gears while working are bathed in
oil, and in two years he says there has been practically no
depreciation. Repairs during this period have cost but little,
and if he were to exchange it for a new tractor of the same make
, he says he would think twice before offering a $50 premium in
favor of a new machine.
A large tractor costs two or three times as much as the small
type. Repair bills are much more, they use more fuel and oil, and
the expense of operating them is proportionately more. While in
service a big tractor accomplishes two or three times as much
work to offset the added expense. There is a certain amount of
work, even on a farm the size of Mr. Brockway’s that can be
done just as effectually with a small tractor. In work such as
drilling the small tractor fills the bill, and it results in a
considerable saving on the more expensive tractor.
About the only objection Mr. Brockway has to the small tractor is
that it does not work quite fast enough to suit him. Naturally,
it cannot pull so many plows, nor disk so wide a strip at one
time. Instead of plowing 30 acres a day, the small tractor makes
a record of 10 acres. For the quarter-section farm, or anything
under a section, Mr. Brockway believes the small tractor will be
preferable to a large one. The heavy tractors represent an
investment of more than $2000 and if they are to pay, enough work
must be provided to keep the busy. The interest alone is no small
item, and unless considerable custom work is done, the overhead
expense for the big tractor on the small farm would overbalance
any saving in getting the work done.
Mr. Brockway says a man must be more or less of a mechanic to
operate a tractor satisfactorily.
The farm provides work for a dozen or 15 horses, in addition to
the two tractors. Neither of the tractors will plow corn, and as
this is one of the big crops on Mr. Brockway’s farm, he
cannot get along without horses.
In seeding a 120 acre field to oats this spring, the small
tractor operator succeeded in covering 90 acres in two days, when
he was stopped by rain. On the front end of the drill was
stationed a box which held about 30 bushels.
Frequently the tractor is kept at work from daylight till dark.
The operator gets an early breakfast and begins operations as
soon as he can see. At about 11 o’clock, Mr. Brockway goes
to the field and runs the outfit while the man takes a couple of
hours off for lunch. Then the man comes back at one o’clock
and runs it until supper time when Mr. Brockway relieves him
again for an hour, or for the evening as the case may be. The
tractor does not have to stop to eat, to drink, nor to rest, but
it works on as long as there is somebody to drive it.
The 120-acre field put to oats this spring will be plowed as soon
as the oats are harvested. Here the big tractor will come into
play, as it has in the past. It will pull two or three binders
and disk the ground right after.
Altho the heavy tractor weighs in the neighborhood of 9 tons, and
the small one 3 tons, no injurious effects have been noticed from
packing. The weight is claimed to be so evenly distributed over
the wide wheel surface that no more weight is exerted on the soil
than would be made with a horse’s foot. The only portion of
the ground which seems packed is the first one or two inches.
Down below, it is as mellow as on the area not touched by the
tractor wheels.
[transcribed by J.H.B., April 2007]