176 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
August, 1919 
GARDEN TRACTORS 
(Continued from page 167) 
themselves to use proper care in 
running the tractor. Jones there- 
fore found little good to say for 
the very machine that Smith could 
not do without. 
These differences in men and 
conditions are at the bottom of 
every tractor problem. I believe 
that when the garden tractor is 
operated entirely by skilled and in- 
terested help, when there is suffi- 
cient acreage to require daily at- 
tention of two or more persons 
during the growing season, and 
where horses are not required for 
other farm work, the garden trac- 
tor is not only practicable, but that 
it will soon be recognized as almost 
indispensable. I have some doubts 
as to its utility on very stony 
ground and on very sandy ground. 
The stones tend to throw the 
machine to one side or another, 
often injuring growing vegetables. 
Though I have not seen the ma- 
chine at work on very light sandy 
soil, I suspect that even^with ex- 
tension rims on the wheels it might 
not develop traction enough to do 
the required work. I was rather 
surprised several years ago to find 
a certain make of tractor a failure 
on sandy Sweet Potato ground. 
The actual pulling of plow or cul- 
tivator on that kind of ground 
was not a heavy demand on the 
tractor, but the loose sand gave no 
hold to the wheels. Probably your 
land is not as sandy as that. 
It is not difficult to turn the ma- 
rine at the ends of rows, though it 
involves a little more labor than to 
turn a horse. There is some sav- 
ing of time, perhaps, as the rate of 
turning depends only on the activ- 
ity of the operator and not upon 
the will of the horse. 
I would judge that they could 
be kept in repair with less trouble 
than could a larger tractor. One 
must expect, however, to put in at 
least a few minutes exery day in 
oiling and cleaning, tightening 
bolts, etc. The life of the garden 
tractor depends entirely upon the 
amount of work it does in one year 
and the care taken of it. If it 
does enough work in one year, an 
owner might well afford to scrap it 
at the end of the first year. Pro- 
bably with reasonable care and 
constant use it should last three 
years, and in that time it ought to 
much more than pay for itself. On 
the other hand, if used but rarely 
it might last much longer than 
three years. I think it would find 
its most economical use, however, 
when kept busy all the time and 
thrown away after two or three 
seasons. There are bound to be 
improvements, and no one wants 
to hold on to an out-of-date ma- 
chine when something much better 
is available. 
The application of the above re- 
marks, if such application is at all 
possible, must be made by yourself. 
I wish I could say definitely for 
you whether or not you should get 
a tractor, but you realize, of course, 
that that is impossible. The final 
answer depends upon your own 
situation with respect to soil, type 
of gardening, acreage, and kind of 
men you have to work for you. 
W. C. Pelton. 
A clipping from the Milwaukee 
Sentinel of July 1st under the 
head “Fifty years Ago Today” 
says: “The Madison Horticultural 
society holds its thirty-third exhi- 
bition in Madison today.” At 
first glance this seemed like a trif- 
ling exaggeration but on reading 
again we find that it is nowhere 
stated that it was the thirty-third 
annual exhibition. 
The Madison Horticultural So- 
ciety was organized in 1858 and is 
the oldest organization of its kind 
in the state ranking the State So 
eietv by seven years. 
MIX 
A little leisure with hard work and 
you will be happy. 
The Summer Meeting affords an op- 
portunity 
Fort Atkinson 
August 19 and 20 
