7h* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
140? 
A G reenkorn on t ke T ractor 
Tke Record of a Season’s Work 
Part I. 
T HE TRACTOR SCHOOL.—We have about fin¬ 
ished the cultivating season of 1919 and are 
taking stock of the performance of the tractor. As 
the chief offender in the running of the thing I was 
especially interested in taking it down and inspect¬ 
ing it the last two days. When we decided to buy 
a tractor it was thought best for me to go to one of 
the short tractor schools which were held through 
the State last Winter. The course lasted from Mon¬ 
day morning through Friday afternoon at each 
school. Outside of board and lodging the only charge 
was one dollar for tuition. This was refunded if 
all sessions of the school were attended. It would 
seem hard to get much of value in so short a time, 
especially for one who had had no previous experience 
with any but the ordinary one-cylinder engines used 
for many purposes on the farm. Prof. II. W. Riley 
of the New York State College of Agriculture and 
his assistant, Mr. C'. G. Mills, seemed to have a very 
large job on their hands even with the able assistance 
of the very capable mechanics sent out with their 
machines by the tractor companies. The work was 
rimes we had to get out by laying down poles, riding 
over them, and then repeating the performance. The 
other time we crossed by straightening out the disks 
and going ahead. Extension rims help a great deal 
in wet ground, but are of little value on a sand drift. 
When the land is worked up so fine that the tractor 
can do no more it is pretty easy for a team to work 
it with a spring-tooth. 
TURNING RADIUS.—We soon found that the 
turning radius of a tractor backing around on firm 
footing is very different from the turning radius of 
the same machine going ahead with a heavy load 
behind it and loose soil under the wheels. When a 
tractor company advertises a certain turning radius 
it usually means that the machine will turn that 
close without any load, on good footing, and running 
backward. It will turn much shorter when backing 
than when going ahead. A machine which will turn 
in a radius of 20 feet under these conditions may 
take a radius of 100 feet or more when pulling a 
heavy load through deep sand. With a disk the 
deeper sand makes a heavier pull. This tends to 
time. Another piece plowed was a very irregular 
plot of about three acres. This was loose sand, with 
a fair stand of Alfalfa in Blue grass, with a few 
sand drifts on the top of the knolls. The stony land 
points were very dull by this time and the roots as 
tough as usual. It took 10 hours to plow the field, 
and the finished job strongly resembled the result 
of harvesting a crop of peanuts or artichokes by a 
drove of hogs. Five hours on the road getting the 
plows and returning them make up a total of 420 
hours’ work for the tractor this season. There re¬ 
mains some tree pulling and perhaps some disking 
and licit work for the engine in 1019. 
WEAR AND TEAR.—With the aid of a service 
man from the nearest dealer we took the engine 
down last week and looked it over. The connecting 
rod bearings were a little loose, and were tightened 
up a very little. The center main bearing showed 
a very slight amount of play, perhaps more than the 
least that could be allowed, but no sign of a knock, 
so it was not disturbed. The piston rings showed 
some signs of wear and were replaced. There was 
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Perelieron Stallions Owned by the George Urban Milling Company 
Tractors may come and go. and may be developed beyond the present efficiency of cars, but there will still always be a place for the big draft horse. He did his >nare 
in winning the war and is now helping to place peace properly. 
very well planned, and the results were so good that 
it would have been worth while to take the course 
even if one were only to run an ordinary spray pump 
engine. In addition to the general idea of the make¬ 
up of a tractor engine, I believe that most of the 
persons who attended the school learned how to 
make the necessary adjustments on a magneto, and 
how to tell whether the engine was timed right, and 
if out of time how to time it. With this knowledge 
and a little care in adjusting the fuel feed anyone 
can learn to run a tractor. 
PULLING OUT TREES.—Our tractor lias certain 
defects, which will be brought out later, as well as 
certain good points. The first work which the tractor 
was called on to do was pulling out some dead peach 
trees. The trees were in soft sand, which did not 
give good footing, and altogether it was easy work 
for the machine, but it kept the engine running and 
helped work the parts into place. This work kept 
the tractor going 27 hours. 
DISKING.—As soon as the ground was about dry 
enough we started disking with the tractor. The 
records show h.'ldVo hours at this kind of work. It 
needed but a little time to show that tractor work 
is different from horse work in several ways. The 
hardest work for a tractor comes in the softest 
ground, while it will work well in very hard ground 
because it has footing to keep going. The hardest 
work we have found is in blowing sand. A few 
patches of this stopped us entirely. One patch about 
six feet across was crossed five times in working 
that orchard, and stopped us four times. Three 
make the wheels slip and the slipping [dies the soil 
up in front of the disk, so that the load is increased 
and more sand piled up until the soft place is passed 
or the tractor begins to bury itself. When the 
tractor begins to dig in the first thing to do is to 
throw out the clutch and the next to lighten the load 
or improve the footing. The load can be reduced by 
straightening out the disks or by uncoupling. In 
damp ground the footing can often be improved 
enough by simply backing up a few feet and then 
going ahead quickly. In sand it is sometimes pos¬ 
sible to get by by backing up. tramping the ground 
under the wheels and then going ahead. A pole 
thrown under each drive wheel will often give foot¬ 
ing enough to pull out. The pole should be laid 
crosswise and it should be small enough for the lugs 
to catch. 
TURNING SOD.—After the cultivating of the 
orchards was well along we borrowed a set of plows 
and turned over some land for wheat. This was a 
tough sod, in fairly stiff clay, and tried the pulling 
power of the engine considerably. The points were 
somewhat worn. They were for stony land, and we 
could not turn over the furrows well without plow¬ 
ing rather deep. New points suited to the laud 
would have made it easier to make a good showing. 
The field was irregular and plowing around it took 
longer than if it had been laid off in rather narrow 
lands. It took about 3944 hours, according to the 
records, to plow 16 or 17 acres. A little engine 
trouble, not serious, but annoyiug. such as dirty 
spark plugs and other bothers, helped stretch the 
a very little sediment in the carburetor around the 
needle valve, and the outside of the machine had a 
coating of dust. There was no more carbon in the 
combustion chamber than might have been expected 
after a few hours running of the engine. 
THE TROUBLE LIST.—It is to be expected that 
an inexperienced person running a heavy duty en¬ 
gine will have some troubles in one way or another. 
The first time the tractor failed to start trouble 
hunting commenced. The spark plugs were taken 
out and cleaned. In putting them back one w;b 
broken. This made a trip to town necessary. With 
the new plug in place the engine would not start. 
Priming would not start it. but a friend’s remark 
as *to the trouble-making possibilities of the timer 
came to mind. Sure enough, a thin film of oil and 
dirt was on the commutator roller. With this wiped 
off. the engine started right away and gave no more 
trouble. A thin film of dirt had cost five hours’ time 
in a busy season, as well as the price of a new spark 
plug. Another time the front cylinder oiled up. and 
the plug had to be cleaned a few times. Next we 
tried to turn too short too close to the edge of the 
field, and got two wheels over the bank. It took a 
couple of hours to get out. Next the machine got 
to using rather too much oil. and we asked the 
service man to tell us if everything seemed all right 
lie found the timer eoutaets uneven, and put on a 
new one. lie also put in a new spark plug and taped 
a wire where the fan belt had rubbed it. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. Alfred c. weed. 
(Continued Next Week) 
