Can a Farm Be Worked With Tractors Alone? 
D ISSENT FROM CALIFORNIA.—About a yeai 
ago I wrote an article in which I said it was 
possible to run a farm without horses, doing all the 
work with mechanical power. A few days after it 
appeared in print I received the following letter : 
As I was looking over the last If. N.-Y. I saw a note 
saying that it was possible to run a farm without horses, 
i think you must have meant impossible. I run a farm 
myself, and have both tractor and horses, and if I 
bought another ranch I would use nothing but horses. 
A tractor may be all right, hut when a person says they 
are cheaper than horses he doesn't know what he ;s 
talking about. When you are not using a team you can 
turn them out to pasture, hut you have to be putting 
extras on the tractor. What could you do on a hill 
with a tractor? A horse will last 20 years where a 
tractor might not last more than five years. A horse 
won’t break down where a tractor will. A lot of farmers 
around my section have sold their horses and bought 
tractors, but soon found out there was nothing like a 
faithful horse when it came to farming. R. c. 
Napa Junction. Cal. 
A HOUSELESS FARM.—As it happened, about a 
week before I received this letter a farm paper 
THE CRAWLER TYI'E.—Our experience of a 
year ago had showed us that we needed a crawler'type 
for our work. Looking over the available models we 
picked two as first and second choice, leaving a third 
out of consideration largely because of its past rec¬ 
ord. A number of tilings united to cause us to finally 
buy the machine we had marked as number two. 
One of the reasons was the great number of things 
the agents promised to do if the machine did not give 
satisfaction. 
MECHANICAL TROUBLES.—We had hardly 
started to use the machine when little annoying 
things commenced to happen. A stud worked loose 
and dropped the fan bracket. A little later the same 
stud stripped a thread, then a governor belt broke, 
and another governor belt broke, etc. Between times 
something would happen to the disk. The steering 
gear of the tractor was new and stiff. and would 
put me against a tree, where the great power of the 
tractor would promptly put the disk out of commis- 
disturbed. We found out that they had similar 
trouble in one or two other localities. The trouble, 
as we found out finally, lay in the factory where the 
motors were built, and had their foundation in a 
superintendent’s idea of economy. lie thought to save 
money by going short on inspection, and the men under 
him, seeing how matters stood, went a little further, 
and a lot of very poor motors were sent out. The motor 
we got last is one that was made after the reorgani¬ 
zation of the factory, and shows better workmanship 
and much better quality in the crank shaft. Wo 
have used it a short time sawing wood and other 
light work, and it seems to be a much better ma¬ 
chine. We feel that we have reason to expect this 
machine to give real service during the coming 
season. 
A DISAPPOINTING SEASON.—Take it all to¬ 
gether. 1920 was a very disappointing tractor season. 
I used the two tractors a total of about GOO hours, 
but the time was so broken up that I feel sure I 
f . 
i 
.1 Bunch of Ponies—"Built ■Just Idle a Gasoline Enable." Fig. 101 
which boasts of its large circulation had printed a 
story of a very large farm (1.500 acres, if I am not 
mistaken) on which they used four horses in 1010 
and expected to use only two in 1920. That is pretty 
nearly horseless for a corn belt farm. I know of 
some other farms which are entirely horseless. There 
was no intention of saying that it would be the best 
or the cheapest way in all cases, or in any case, but 
only that it was. and is. possible to run a farm with 
only machine power. Everything must be just right: 
the land must be level, or only slightly rolling, for 
nothing will cut down the power of the tractor 
quicker than a little grade, unless it is loose sand. i r 
you have a round wheel tractor. The tractor must 
he the right machine for the work that is to he done. 
And, especially, the man who is responsible for the 
care of the machine must he suited to tractor work. 
The driver is more important than anything else in 
f he tractor business. 
Sion. Or I would not tighten ui* a nut right, and 
one section of the disk would fall to pieces. Finally 
some of the connecting rod hearings came loose, and 
there were some other minor things the matter, s > 
the New York State agents gave us a new machine. 
After a short time the connecting rod hearings got 
loose, and r tightened them up. Soon they were 
loose again, and I tightened them. When they went 
loose again the company put iu a new crank shaft. 
After less than 50 hours of use one of the connecting 
rod bearings was loose, and on test showed a consid¬ 
erable amount of flattening. T tightened it up as 
well as 1 could, and then let it pound the rest of the 
season. After we had laid the machine up for the 
season the company came on and put in a new motor, 
also fixed the track and sprockets so that they 
should run us all next season. To be sure, most of 
this was in accordance with the agreement entered 
into before the sale, but the agents never seemed 
could have covered the same ground the same number 
of times with a team and a spring-tooth harrow in 
the time I was using the tractors or monkeying with 
them or the disk. That is not to say I could have 
done as much good to the orchards, for the tractor 
disk Is very much better than any other tool for 
orchard cultivation, hut I could have done something 
for the good of the trees. This is a very poor record 
and one which, I believe, is not at all due to poor 
design of the tractor. Many other tractors of the 
same make gave good service last Summer, and I 
expect ours to do well next Summer. 
SAND AND SWAMP.—One thing has been shown 
us very plainly, and that is that the wheel tractor is 
not suited to our land. We have some pockets of 
dune sand which a wheel tractor cannot cross, but 
where the crawler had no trouble. Our machine had 
lots of power. In places where turning threw the 
ground into ridges I have seen the machine draw 
