44 BULLETIN" 174, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The present trend of the tractor industry points to the development 
of cheaper and smaller outfits, designed to pull only from two. to four 
plow bottoms. 
The studies here presented merely aim to set forth in a broad way 
tractor conditions as now found on the farm. A study of these data 
should be made by every farmer contemplating the purchase of a 
tractor. 
Up to the present time the tractor appears to have made for itself 
no important place in the agricultural economy of this country. In a 
few limited localities in the West where conditions especially favor its 
use large tractors are used by some men with apparent profit. The 
general situation, however, indicates that the large tractor is not to 
be a factor in increasing farming by extensive methods and on a large 
scale, for a few years at least. Instead, there are indications that the 
tractor of the future must make possible more intensive agriculture 
on farms of moderate size, though the large outfits will probably con- 
tinue to be used on some of the exceptionally large farms in the West. 
It is worthy of note that some of the successful users of tractors were 
able to reduce the number of their farm horses. This fact suggests 
that there may be a field for farm reorganization to make possible the 
economical utilization of the tractor. Such development depends 
upon the production of a smaller and cheaper outfit, costing consider- 
ably less per unit of drawbar power than its equivalent in horses, thus 
offsetting the difference in then working life. It must be nimble, 
simple, and absolutely certain in operation when properly handled. 
Given such an outfit, the average farmer can afford to reorganize his 
farm work so as to discard one or more teams, and by utilizing the 
tractor for heavy field work and for driving machinery be able to 
reduce the cost of crop production. 
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