177
14
The Tractor and Power Farming
This chapter, which is primarily of historical interest, shows the effect of
mechanization on agricultural productivity. Ford contended, and proved
very conclusively on his own farms, that tractors could increase agricul-
tural output enormously.
It is particularly impressive, however, that when the United Kingdom
offered the Ford Motor Company $1,500 per tractor during the World War
I, Ford’s production chief Charles Sorensen declared the offer unreason-
able—because the tractors could be delivered for $700 apiece. It is quite
likely that the rapid delivery of these tractors saved the United Kingdom
from starvation during the war.
* * *
It is not generally known that our tractor, which we call the “Fordson,”
was put into production about a year before we had intended, because of
the Allies’ war-time food emergency, and that all of our early production
(aside, of course, from the trial and experimental machines) went directly to
England. We sent in all five thousand tractors across the sea in the critical
1917–18 period when the submarines were busiest. Every one of them arrived
safely, and officers of the British Government have been good enough to say
that without their aid England could scarcely have met its food crisis.
It was these tractors, run mostly by women, that ploughed up the old
estates and golf courses and let all England be planted and cultivated with-
out taking away from the fighting man power or crippling the forces in the
munitions factories.
It came about in this way: The English food administration, about the time
that we entered the war in 1917, saw that, with the German submarines tor-
pedoing a freighter almost every day, the already low supply of shipping was
going to be totally inadequate to carry the American troops across the seas, to
carry the essential munitions for these troops and the Allies, to carry the food
for the fighting forces, and at the same time carry enough food for the home
178 •
The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work
population of England. It was then that they began shipping out of England
the wives and families of the colonials and made plans for the growing of
crops at home. The situation was a grave one. There were not enough draft
animals in all England to plough and cultivate land to raise crops in suf-
ficient volume to make even a dent in the food imports. Power farming was
scarcely known, for the English farms were not, before the war, big enough
to warrant the purchase of heavy, expensive farm machinery, and especially
with agricultural labour so cheap and plentiful. Various concerns in England
made tractors, but they were heavy affairs and mostly run by steam. There
were not enough of them to go around. More could not easily be made, for
all the factories were working on munitions, and even if they had been made
they were too big and clumsy for the average field and in addition required
the management of engineers.
We had put together several tractors at our Manchester plant for dem-
onstration purposes. They had been made in the United States and merely
assembled in England. The Board of Agriculture requested the Royal
Agricultural Society to make a test of these tractors and report. This is what
they reported:
At the request of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, we have
examined two Ford tractors, rated at 25 h. p., at work ploughing:—
First, cross-ploughing a fallow of strong land in a dirty condition, and
subsequently in a field of lighter land which had seeded itself down
into rough grass, and which afforded every opportunity of testing the
motor on the level and on a steep hill.
In the first trial, a 2-furrow Oliver plough was used,
ploughing on
an average 5 inches deep with a 16-inch wide furrow; a 3-furrow
Cockshutt plough was also used at the same depth with the breast
pitched 10 inches.
In the second trial, the 3-furrow plough was used, ploughing an average
of 6 inches deep.
In both cases the motor did its work with ease, and on a measured acre
the time occupied was 1 hour 30 minutes, with a consumption of 2
gallons of paraffin per acre.
These results we consider very satisfactory.
The ploughs were not quite suitable to the land, and the tractors, conse-
quently, were working at some disadvantage.
The total weight of the tractor fully loaded with fuel and water, as
weighed by us, was 23 1/4 cwts [hundred weights; the tractor weighed
somewhat more than a ton].
The tractor is
light for its power, and, consequently, light on the land,
is easily handled, turns in a small circle, and leaves a very narrow
headland.
The Tractor and Power Farming • 179
The motor is quickly started up from cold on a small supply of petrol.
After these trials we proceeded to Messrs. Ford’s works at Trafford Park,
Manchester, where one of the motors had been sent to be dismantled
and inspected in detail.
We find the design of ample strength, and the work of first-rate quality.
We consider the driving-wheels rather light, and we understand that
a new and stronger pattern is to be supplied in future.
The tractor is designed purely for working on the land, and the wheels,
which are
fitted with spuds, should be provided with some protec-
tion to enable them to travel on the road when moving from farm
to farm.
Bearing the above points in mind, we recommend, under existing cir-
cumstances, that steps be taken to construct immediately as many of
these tractors as possible.
The report was signed by Prof. W. E. Dalby and F. S. Courtney, engineer-
ing; R. N. Greaves, engineering and agriculture; Robert W. Hobbs and Henry
Overman, agriculture; Gilbert Greenall, honorary directors, and John E.
Cross, steward.
Almost immediately after the filing of that report we received the following
wire:
Have not received anything definite concerning
shipment necessary
steel and plant for Cork factory. Under best circumstances however
Cork factory production could not be available before next spring.
The need for food production in England is imperative and large
quantity of tractors must be available at earliest possible date for pur-
pose breaking up existing grass land and ploughing for Fall wheat.
Am requested by high authorities to appeal to Mr. Ford for help.
Would you be willing to send Sorensen and others with drawings of
everything necessary, loaning them to British Government so that
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