OIL TRACTOR IN FAMINE

Timaru Herald, Volume C, Issue 15284, 27 February 1914, Page 4

OIL TRACTOR IN FAMINE

EXPERIENCES IN VICTORIA. The agricultural reporter of the Melbourne "Leader" writes:— There are good reasons for believing that the oil tractor is on the eve of effecting a revolution in many of our agricultural methods. That it tvill plough, cultivate, seed, harvest, and cart farm produce to market' has already been demonstrated in Victoria. Where the tractor has been intelligently used the 1 ©suits are undoubtedly encouraging. Although the new development is of very recent origin the benefits winch it lias produced have considerably impressed practical men. Faced with grave industrial problems threatening to,, strike at the very root of existing agricultural practice, farmers are naturally interested in all labour-saving devices likely to prove of use on the farm. It is not strange, therefore, that within the last few months unusual attention should have been given to the possibilities which mechanical traction opens for the man on tho land. 1 .

INCREASING THE WORK OF THE INDIVIDUAL. Already a movement * has set in to enable the. farmer to dispense, as far as possible, with outside labour. Such a movement takes the form of devoting less area to grain crops and of making up the revenue by a larger number of sheep. This plan aims at keeping the cultivation and harvesting within limits that can be controlled by the farmer, his .sons, and the few permanent men .on the "farm. It seeks to avoid the troublesome necessity of being dependent at a critical season upon casual labour, which, in recent years has become more and more unsatisflactcry. In a. word the new kind of farming 'aims at increasing the work output and the revenue-producing capacity of the indiI vidua!'. The use of the oil tractor operates in the same direction. By its aid i the farmer himself, ot his son, can •largely increase the volume of work done. The system tends towards the realisation of. the ideal condition in which the labour supply on the farm is self-cont'aiiied. It is confidently believed by representative men that in our. northern areas a new system of mixed farming is likel'y to prevail in the not diistant future. Sheep will be kept to a much larger degree than heretofore,- and the less area under crop will be better cultivated. By this means the carrying capacity of the land may be maintained at a high level All the cultivation, seeding, Harvesting, and carting will be 'carried ou bv the aid' of mechanical traction. Working on such lines a maximum result will be obtainable with a miniiiiUm of labour. BREAKING UP LAND. In breaking up land that is stiff and hard to plough the oil tractor has already achieved an excellent record in | Victoria. A leading farmer in the Tourello district supplies important figures in this connection. As was the case with many other farmers of the State, the abnormally dry autumn left his land ; oxceeding.y hard. It was so stiff there _ was . practically no prospect of being able to plough it with teams until soaking rains had softened it. The outlook of the season was then such as to encourage little hope that the teams would he able to plough early enough to ensure a reasonable crop. In tile circumstances the owner procured an oil tractor, and set to work vigorously to tear up the compacted land. Hie engine arrived about 5 a mcuitli later than expected, and this Unforeseen delay further emphasised' the need of energetic action.-- I'll -'WX'dxiii to prepare the several hundred' acres of dry, hard land that were to- be cropped, it was necessary to work the machine almost- continuously. Three shifts' were instituted, and the oil tractor was kept going with very little intermission. The somewhat desperate experiment—as it then appeared—-proved a success. Notwithstanding the hardness of the land, and the unusually difficult conditions under which the tractor worked, the three disc plbughs wliich it dragged tore up a good deep furrow and left the Upturned soil i'n good condition for subsequent treatment. I CHEAP PLOUGHING. The experience of this farm is that in normal or favourable years the cost of ploughing by teams works cut at about 8s 6d an' acre. Last autumn the cost would have been at least 10s per acre. For comparative purposes the owner made three separate tests with his oil tractor. The running costs were as under:— First test, 10 acres, ploughed at a cost of 3s. 9d per acre Second test, 12 acres ploughed at a cost of 3s lOd per acre. Third test, 15 acres ploughed at a cost of 4 s per acre. *' In the words of the farmer the result was convincingly in favour of the oil tractor. The valhie of the work done can, however, scarcely be measured by a direct comparison such as-that given, for there should be taken into account tho extra benefit resulting from the breaking up of the land, so that it r was prepared for seeding before the germinating rain fell. The broken up soil as it left the tractor-drawn disc ploughs wa-.i in large clods. These had to be reduced, cultivated, harrowed, rollted,. and when bv these means the land was in good tilth, seeding operations, were proceeded with. An indication of the capacity of the oil motor is expressed in. the fact that as it tore up-the hard, dry laud, it took 20 horses to complete the lighter operations mentioned. In addition, therfore, ~so ploughing the land at less than-half the ordinary cost the ocl tractor saved the situation by enabling land to be seeded in time before the rain, which otherwise could not have been sown until the season was too fat- advanced.