Page 14 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



Cutting the Cost Per Box Increases Margin 



ORCHARD tractors are coming in 

 more strongly each year as a factor 

 in cutting the cost per box, and in the 

 last few years especially the smaller 

 machines have been perfected to a 

 stage where the leading makes, at least, 

 can be depended upon to stand up un- 

 der the work and earn good dividends. 

 Two years ago, thirty motor horse- 

 power was a low rating for a success- 

 ful tractor. A machine of that size was 

 called a "small" tractor. Rut mechan- 

 ical improvements come fast when a 

 start is made in the right direction, and 

 the present small tractors are really 

 small. Good machines — weighing about 

 what four good horses would weigh, 

 costing the price of eight, doing the 

 work of ten and taking up less ground 

 space than two— are now to be had, 

 with a responsible manufacturer's guar- 

 antee behind them. Fifteen to eighteen 

 motor horsepower, and eight to ten 

 horsepower on the drawbar, is now 

 about the average as put out for orchard 

 work. \Miat such a tractor will do and 

 how much money it will save are things 

 that will differ with every farm, but 

 where one man made a thirty-horse- 

 power tractor pay in an orchard, ten 

 can make make money on one of half 

 to two-thirds that size. The type of 

 tractor will also cut quite a figure, as 

 more can be done with some kinds than 

 others. Suppose that one pays the price 

 and gets a tractor fully adapted to or- 

 chard work. Then he could expect to 

 work it about as follows: Sfi to .50 

 inches of plows is a safe load to handle 

 at 6 or 7 inches deep in orchard or 

 vineyard land that has had time to 

 settle since the last cultivation. That 



means, at a speed of 2% miles an hour, 

 8 to 11 acres of plowing per day. The 

 tree rows not plowed will just about 

 make up for the time lost in turns, etc. 

 A double-disc harrow, from 6 to 8 feet 

 wide, according to soil and throw of 

 discs, and sometimes a smoothing har- 

 row behind, should not be too heavy a 

 load for such a tractor if properly de- 

 signed for work on plowed ground. 

 The first cross working could be taken 

 care of very nicely with such a rig at 

 the rate of 16 to 20 acres a day, again 

 not deducting unplowed tree rows. 

 Keeping the orchard cultivated is a job 

 that pays well and keeps on paying as 

 long as you do if. G. E. Rrowne of 

 Spokane Bridge, Washington, has only 

 700 acres of Wagener, Jonathan and 

 Rome Reaufy apples, but his tractor 

 (a large size) and harrows cover about 

 9,000 acres a season keeping the place 

 clean — in other words, about 13 trips 

 over the whole area. He makes 45 to 

 50 acres a day with a sixty-horsepower 

 tractor (72 acres in 10 hours one day) 

 at a cost of 20 to 25 cents per acre, in- 

 cluding labor, fuel, oil and repairs 

 to tractor, spring-tooth harrow and 

 weeder. At that rate the handy small 

 tractor ought to cover 15 to 20 acres a 

 day with a heavy set of harrows, while 

 on high speed (3 to 3V^ miles an hour) 

 with a lighter load, 25 to 35 acres of 

 crust could be broken up in a day, to 

 say nothing of night work besides. An 

 electric lighting equipment doesn't cost 

 much extra, and sometimes it is worth 

 as much as another whole tractor. 



The wide wheels or track of a tractor 

 will also come in handy at harvest time, 

 as crates or boxes can be picked up in 



the field and taken to the packing 

 house. Hauling from there to cold- 

 storage house or railway station can be 

 done quickly and cheaply with the 

 tractor, and it is worth a good deal 

 some seasons to get in ahead of the 

 rush. A tractor of this size can handle 

 from 12 to 14 tons on the middle speed 

 at better than two miles an hour on 

 solid, smooth, level roads. You can cut 

 that square in two very easily if you 

 have bad roads and heavy grades, but 

 there would be the same trouble with 

 teams. Go to market slowly with a big 

 load and come back fast with the 

 empties is good advice if your tractor 

 has two speeds. If it has three, that is, 

 low, middle and high, you will find the 

 "low" a great time-saver in helping 

 you over the worst spots in the road. 



One hundred days of work a year 

 will earn a tractor's way and pay in- 

 terest on the outlay. Taking the mini- 

 mum capacity per day, there would be 

 about the following tractor work on an 

 eighty-acre orchard: Plowing, 10 days; 

 cross-work, 5 days; cultivating, 65 

 days; hauling, 20 days; miscellaneous, 

 20 days, a total of 120 days. 



There are easily enough odd jobs to 

 keep a tractor busy 20 days extra, and 

 the 65 days for cultivating are a mini- 

 mum, rather than an average, for best 

 results. Neighbors can always be 

 found who have work for a tractor to 

 do, and as a matter of fact the yearly 

 work of a small tractor is more apt to 

 be 175 to 200 days than below that. 

 Small tractors nowadays are snug and 

 compact — not as high as a horse and 

 almost as short-turning. Under the 

 branches, turning up one row and back 

 the next, over cultivated ground with- 

 out packing — the little gas tractor is a 

 very handy fool. No currying, no feed- 

 ing when idle, no watering or harness- 

 ing, only one driver — it is a machine 

 that is fast coming to be a necessity in 

 keeping down costs to beat the middle- 

 man's game. 



The San Diego Exposition paid all 

 of their running expenses the first 

 month and had a surplus left. 





Wanted 



SALESMEN= 

 SALESWOMEN 



Our representatives are e.irnlng $S0 to SlSOper 

 week. Write quick for sample and territory. It's 

 selling like wild-lire. Everybody's a Customer 



HYTEE'S FACTORIES 



199 Majestic Building INDIANAPOLIS. INDIANA 



Orchard Yarn 



Progressive orcliardlsts, those right down to the mliuit« 

 In methods of protecting heavy laden fnilt trees, are agreed 

 that tying branches with Orchard Yarn Is the modem way 

 of supporting orchard trees. It is not expensive. Ib easily 

 done, and tite time to tie Is when triniiidng. The spurs 

 are then touglier. less easily broken ofT than later, leaves 

 are not in the way and all parts of the tree can be seen. 

 Saving but a small percentage of trees from being broken 

 do^vn will pay for the expen.-;e of tying an entire orchard. 

 One-ply Tarred Manila Yarn n1ll run about 2(i0 feet per 

 pound. Two-ply will nin from 90 to lut) feet per pound. 

 Put up In 5-pound balls or on 10-pound spools. In 5-paund 

 balls the yam pulls from the Inside and is more easily 

 handled 



Sold by all merchants handling orcliard supplies, 



Manulactured by 



The Portland Cordage Company 



PORTLAND, OREGON 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



