306 The ** Buckeye " Ditcher. [Jitly, 



THE ''BUCKEYE" DITCHER FOR 

 LAND DRAINAGE: 



TRIAL IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



H. V. Garner, 

 School of Agriculture, Camhridge. ' 



Manual labour in digging and laying drains on stiff land last 

 winter probably cost about .^15 per acre. Expenditure on 

 this scale, coupled with the long period required to complete 

 the work, and the increasing difficulty of obtaining skilled 

 men to carry it out, is doubtless preventing much tile drainage 

 from being undertaken. The question therefore arises whether 

 some type of draining-machine can perform the excavating 

 work in an economical and satisfactory manner. 



An American machine, the " Buckeye " Traction Ditcher, 

 recently imported by the Scottish Board of Agriculture, was 

 reputed to have been highly successful in Scotland, and more 

 detailed information with regard to its capabilities was felt 

 to be necessary. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 therefore arranged for the loan of the " Buckeye " Drainer 

 from the Scottish Board for a trial on Sir Douglas Newton's 

 estate at Croxton, Cambridgeshire. 



The " Buckeye " arrived at St.Neots station on August 18th, 

 1920, and travelled to Croxton Park by road under its own 

 power, a distance of about 4 miles. The trial lasted for three 

 weeks and included a public demonstration on September 3rd; 

 during this time the machine was under the writer's 

 observation. 



Description. — Ditch tractors follow in principle the methods 

 adopted in the construction of rock and earth excavators used 

 by railway and mining contractors. They are made on one of 

 two systems — buckets mounted on a rotating wheel or buckets 

 carried on a moving endless belt. The " Buckeye " Tractor 

 Ditcher described here is designed on the rotating wheel system , 

 and the following is an abridged specification : — 

 20 h.p. four-cylinder petrol engine. 



Digging wheel IH in. or 14| in. wide x 4^ ft. deep. 



or 11^ in. wide x 5| ft. deep. 



Length over all 25 ft. 



Width over wheels 8 ft. 6 in. 



Extreme height 8 ft. 9 in. 



Digging speeds 2^ ft. to 9 ft. per minute. 



Road speeds 1 to 1^ miles per hour. 



