FARM IMPLEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20038, 20 September 1930, Page 10

FARM IMPLEMENTS.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS. At shows held by the Canterbury A. and p.-Association'in the past twentylive yearß Mr F.' LiH has acted 'as one of the officials in charge, of implements. Being keenly interested in; machinery, ho has .writtcn ; . : his. impressions of the improvements made in various classes of farm implements in the past quarter of a century. During:-that time 'the machinery section of :the Christchurch Show has grown .tremendously, until itforms annually the outstanding collection of . farm ■ implements in ..the Dominion. Visitors to the last Christchurch Show .from the Commonwealth Stated freely that nothing, comparable to it was staged at the large shows in Australia. Mr Lill writes ins impressions in the Association's Journal,:— • Having been in close touch with farm implements and machinery for a great number of years, it is interesting to note the. changes which have taken place in the past' 25 or 30 years. Changes have probably been much more notable in methods than in the machines, more especially in the , way they are worked rather than in their manufacture. The present day plough if. much Of the same'principle as was popular three decades ago. In years gone by the double-furrow plough was of two kinds, namely, the lever and the handle. To-day one never sees a double-furrow handle plough, and there are not many double-furrow levers finding a market now-a-days. ' The plough most popular is of three or four furrows.' The average : teamster can handle a' three-furrow plough just as'easily as a doußte, and get over very much moro ground, lessening the cost of, growing a crop,- The coming of the tractor has worked a great change in ploughing,, and with it nothing under three furrows is used. It must.be conceded to the tractor, that by. of .-this adjunct, of farm machinery, much more can bo accomplished than with a team of horses. The tractor .js; becoming very, generally used by Canterbury farmers,although there are not wanting: men who contend that the\txactor i? not. any more economical .than a horse, team-. However, the machine power- is-more flexible in its use, and in rush- periods much longer hours can bo worked than •is possible with a team.-. . - Cultivators in the past-twenty years have been given a great- deal of attention by manufacturers. back-.twenty-five years, . and, comparing the cultivator of that day. with tlya machine available to the farmer now; rec.ogni-. made-of the. striking, improvement maderby iniplemont manufacturers in They have [prodirc'e'd an implement attlch- more ier'Vlc&ablo to' the tteedfi WfCanterbu'ry in particular. 1 "

Grain drills, which'fjg'uro-largely in jthe expenditure the' Canterbury farmer "is called 'upon' to make on implements, have' hot. been altered .greatly'..V There nre,"<sf course, a few. ihijSrpvcuients,' but they are mainly matters of detail. The broadcasting, machine has coinq, into Use for ;th«- simple reason • that -farmcre are paying more attention.to top-dress-, ing than was their custom in bygono. .days. The broadcast sower to-day is practically perfect, and harrow makers have spent a great deal of thought in the imprdytfriieiits of their implements. In reapers and binders the principle of tho machine is much" the buiho, but the uso of the tractor jias called for a much larger cut, and consequently a bigger machine. In years past it was thought that fifteen acres.- a. day was a good day-'s work, but. now-a-days, with a ten-foot reaper and tractor," forty acres is ..considered: Only a medium day's achievement. Thirty years ago the Adelaide stripper was uscd'in lighter', districts for harvesting grain;, but this machino did not crime-.tb'.stay; it gradu-. allv dropped out. of use. In' tlie" p;ist two Or ' three seasons; header harvesters have made their appearance, and at- the last Show tljere : were no less than three different-makes of tlvis.typo of- machine. This goes to show'iiow the public opinion changes" in a quarter of a century, ancf time willalone tell, if this method of harvesting will be suitable to the New Zealand climate. The- American thresher, or what is known in ■ farming..circles a's the: "tin mill," made its appearance some three or four years back. ' . This machine brought new methods, compared .with the old tinje threshing mill, and was seized .upon by the. grain .grower as a way- Of reducing cost, a problem;, lie is'facing all along the .line. Thirty yeafs ago at the Show it-was rustiaJ-to see at least- ten or- twelve, traction engines exhibited, and at work on thegrounds; now yOil cannot; see -one. Tlie rapid strides made in- the implement world all seem; to -have been - away' from tlie. use of steam power. In the early days of tlie! Canterbury A.'- 'and'". P.-' ' Association's Show .the implement '-{lfms" exhibited freely, but abput;l9oo'there was' a failing .off. -Latterly .the. implement firms- have., a show highly: creditable to tuem, .and,-it is "possible for any farmer at all., interested' in machinery to • spend a highly profitable "day in the implement section .alone, and' quite a number' of'agriculturists from Otago and Southland come up specially each year to see the display ot' implements made at Ch'ristchurch. -The manufacturers, both-locally and abroad, are endeavouring to "give New Zealand the implements suited "to-its requirements. They have made rapid strides and the annual exhibition of implements- on the Addington Show Grounds serves to illustrate- this quite., strongly, One cannot, attend-, any .of" the Metropolitan Shows withoutrealising that for ,'a small' country such as- New" Zealand our exhibits of machinery compare- very favourably indeed with-any-'.part of the British; Empire!. '

RECORD HARVEST. NEW SOUTH WALES WHEAT CROP. ; SYDNEY,- September 11. It looks at present as though; even tho politicians eannot : prevent New bouth Wales from enjoying a record wheat harvest. Conditions in v,arious p;trts of the wheat belt point to a record;, Crops are -unusually - tall and fbrvwixcf'and tiio; hai^estjis'-likely to be. ah early one.' ; The .total production of the, hig belt known as. the West will undoubtedly be a" record.. The few traces of disease in most districts—in fact, the almost entire absence of it—lias been noteworthy.: There is going to, be. no dirge at the harvest festival, at'any-rate—for which w«i ought to be truthly thankful : these funereal day*.