Page 4 



BETTER FRUIT 



Novcuihcr. igiQ 



A Best '•25" Tracklayer Turning Over the Soil in a Cherry Orchard in California. 



few dealers that their responsibility 

 ceases as soon as the order is closed is 

 not good modern merchandising. If the 

 taking of a commission is to represent 

 a 'square deal,' the seller is under an 

 obligation to furnish the necessary re- 

 pairs as long as the tractor may be used. 



"It is fully realized that most success- 

 ful machines had a small beginning, 

 and good tractors manufactured in a 

 small way should not be discriminated 

 against, but fly-by-night concerns with 

 undeveloped machines should be care- 

 fully avoided. 



"Much is made today in present day 

 tractor sales of the service rendered, 

 and no doubt this is a very perplexing 

 problem for the conscientious dealer as 

 well as the purchaser. Service is usually 

 referred to as the assistance given the 

 tractor owner in the care, repair and 

 adjustment of the tractor after it has 

 been put to work. It is undesirable 

 from the purchaser's standpoint to have 

 too much of such service rendered pro- 

 miscuously without charge, because the 

 operator will call upon the dealer for 

 more service than is necessary, and in- 

 asmuch as the cost of the service nmst 

 in this case be added to the purchase 

 price, it makes the first costs of the 

 tractor too high. It would seem that 

 only enough free service should be 

 rendered to guarantee good faith and 

 confidence upon the part of the seller 

 and all other assistance not charged to a 

 faulty construction should be paid for. 

 It would seem that the best service 

 arranges for providing quickly the 

 tractor's future needs in the way of 

 mechanical skill and repair parts, 

 rather than to furnish an unlimited 

 amount of gratuitous service. In select- 

 ing a tractor, it would be well to deter- 

 mine accurately the dealer's service 

 policy. 



"A tractor that is too large does not 

 give good economy either in investment 

 or fuel economy. For most operations, 

 in orchard cultivation, a large unit is of 

 little use because it is not needed for 

 the implements to be used. On the 

 other hand, too small a tractor does not 

 economize in the use of labor, one of 

 the principal items in the cost of opera- 



tion. Practice seems to indicate that a 

 tractor ought to have capacity to draw 

 the same load as six work animals, or, 

 in other words, a capacity of twenty- 

 five to thirty inches of plows and a 

 six-foot double-disk harrow or larger. 

 Some orchard and vineyard men use a 

 rather large tractor with equipment to 

 cultivate the entire middle between the 

 rows at once over. Such a plan saves 

 much labor. At least fifteen drawbar 

 horsepower will be needed where such 

 practice is followed. 



"The type of tractor will be deter- 

 mined largely by the character of the 

 soil and operating conditions. If irri- 

 gation is practiced or the soil especially 

 light, with little supporting power, the 

 track-laying tractor has the advantage; 

 while under other conditions, with little 

 need of operating over soft soil, the 

 wheel type of tractor has the advantage 

 in simplicity and cost. The practice 

 followed in pruning the trees will de- 

 termine whether the tractor must be 

 low or not. 



"One of the most important factors 

 in the selection of an orchard tractor 

 is the matter of control. It is quite 



necessary to be able to drive the tractor 

 accurately and easily. Any purchaser 

 would do well to test out these charac- 

 teristics thoroughly before purchasing, 

 observing whether the tractor can be 

 maniinilated among the trees with safe- 

 ty and without undue exertion on the 

 part of the driver. A tractor that can 

 l)e driven at any desirable and reason- 

 able speed has a still further advantage. 

 It is only by driving a number of trac- 

 tors in the orchard that the imi)ortancc 

 of control can be fully appreciated. It 

 porhai)s will be well to mention that 

 convenience and safety should be men- 

 tioned in this connection. Recently a 

 rancher complained that it often re- 

 quireil an hour or so each day to start 

 his tractor. It is possible that the owner 

 was much at fault, but it is obvious that 

 a good tractor must provide facilities 

 for sure and easy starting. 



"There are three principal factors 

 involved in the ultimate success of the 

 tractor, i.e., the tractor, the work and 

 the operator. Of these, no doubt the 

 latter plays the most important part. 

 To have success with a tractor, the 

 operator must understand and feel for 

 the machine — he must have faith in it 

 and like to work with it. A man not in 

 sympathy with the tractor is not apt to 

 succeed with it. 



"To care for a tractor, an operator 

 must be able to inspect the tractor and 

 detect trouble as it arises and before it 

 becomes serious. Most of the troubles 

 with tractors that are serious in char- 

 acter appear gradually. Furthermore, 

 certain parts of a tractor are subject to 

 wear, and the capable, etTicient opera- 

 tor, as distinguished from the one that 

 is not, is the one with the necessary 

 skill to make the adjustments needed to 

 compensate for wear. The principal 

 item in the care of a tractor is lubrica- 

 tion. It is claimed by those making a 

 study of the matter that nearly ninety 

 per cent of the repair bills on tractors 

 can be traced to faulty and inadequate 

 lubrication. This may not have a direct 

 bearing upon selection other than to 

 point out that the lubrication system 



,^:f^ 



A Five-Ton Holt Pulling a Double Disk and Drag Harrow. 



