484 ENGINEERING ON THE FARM 



practicable. Such an operator can get efficient service out of 

 a tractor and perform much work with it that cannot be 

 accomplished by one lacking such ability. 



A hard dry soil is more successfully worked by a tractor 

 than one that is wet. There is a tendency in some soils 

 to pack and bake if pressed when wet, and this limits the 

 weight which can be run over them by a machine used in 

 cultivation. 



Some of the operations which have been performed on a 

 farm by a gas engine used as tractive power are as follows: 



Building of levees Harrowing 



Building moving Hay loading 



Corn husking and binding Hay unloading 



Clearing land Listing 



Disking Manure spreading 



Fence stretching Plowing 



Grain binding Rolling 



Grain seeding Road grading 



Stationary or belt work as follows: 



Clover hulling Grain threshing 



Cider making Grain elevating 



Corn shelling Hay baling 



Corn shredding Lumber sawing 



Concrete mixing Water pumping 



Ensilage cutting Wood sawing 

 Feed grinding 



These activities show the adaptability of the tractor to 

 farm work. Many of these uses are exceptional, and only a 

 few of them are ever called for on any one farm. The gas 

 tractor is more suitable for belt work on the farm than the 

 steam engine. 



Plowing is the farm tractive work that lends itself most 

 readily to the tractor. By use of a "caterpillar" traction 

 (Fig. 374) or extension rims on the drive wheels, tillage, 

 seeding, and harvesting machines have been operated on 

 peat and soft soils which would not support a horse. Plows 

 have been satisfactorily pulled through gumbo soils, newly 



