NEW DEVELOPMENT IN FARM EQUIPMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5281, 18 December 1946, Page 7

NEW DEVELOPMENT IN FARM EQUIPMENT

(JP TO DATE TRACTORS MULTI-PURPOSE MACHIJNiERY BEING MADE IN CANADA , Many- new developments in the farm equipment field have' yet yt)o reach the farm ; in volume due to conditions over which the producers have had little eontrol. As the material and la-bour situations improve, farmers may expect an increased1 flow of new machines, many of improved design, says Mr. J. M. Armstrong, Agrieultural Engineer, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. A notable trend is to tractor-mounted equipment with new power take-off applications including hydraulic controls. Ingeious niountings for quick change of equipment have facilitated design of higher and .more complete lines of implements and tools to allow full utilisa- = tion of the tractor. These include mounted ploughs, " cultivators, row -crop seeders and planters, sprayers, together with a tractor mounted grain combine, a potato digger and sugar -beet haxyesting equipment, tractor nynmted nianure loaders, shovels and power post augers. Farm tractors in the one plough size, developed by several firms, should fully meet the power requirement of the smaller farm. Engines with fuel-injection pumps are being studied. Efforts are being made to build smaller and lighter diesel tractors, to improve power transmission and to provide a power take-off for wheel tractors which will operate independently of the main clutch.- This would facilitate spraying, haying and other operations. Liquid Fuel for Weeds. In tillage aquipnftent there are new rotary tillage machines, new varieties of blade weeders and improved designs of one-way discs. A weeder fired with liquid fuel has now become available and will shortly be tried on various crops at the central experimental farm. Spraying equipment developments include straddle mounting of ta-nks on a tractor and l'otary pumps which^ have ben used successfully for chemical eontrol of weeds and ara being tried for insect eontrol and plant diseases. An improved style of liquid-duster has also become available. This machine consists essentially of a turbine type fan into which dust is fed and the air blast used to atomise a liquid spray which serves as a sticker for the dust, or the machine may be used as a spray er only. The experimental farms have just eonducted a number . of tests in'Eastern and Western Can- . ada with this tjrpe of euipment on chemical eontrol of weeds, with encouraging results. Harvesting Equipment. Harvesting equipment is the line of maehinery in which there is pbssibly the greatest number of innovations. Haying tools include a variety of rakes, combination loaders, . stackers and power shovels. Harvesters which cut tbe standing crop and reduce it to ensilage lengths or pick up hay frorp the windrow to produce chopped hay are available, as well as several styles of one-man field balers, which automatically tie the bales. Bale loaders, ensilage blowers and waggon lifts or unloaders are auxiliary equipment. One style of forage crop harvester with corn qttachment, used on the central experimental farm for two seasons, has proved reasonahly well adapted for chopped hay, grass andcorn ensilage. In connection with haying methods, tests have also been made .of barn I drying equipment for hay. With a fan of 15,000 cuhic feet capacity, hay at 35 per cent. moisture was reduced to -15 per cent. moisture in approximately one week. j Tractor Mounted Combine. ! In the line of grain haxwesting euipment, the width of cut has been slightly increased on one or two small I combines and a limited number of j small self-propelled combines of sevenfoot cut bas been produced. A tractor « I mounted combine has been developed, 1 as well as portagle grain drying equip- I ment. j t The mechanisation of sugar beet I production has progressed rapidly 2 during the war years. Precision -plant- I ers have been developed to liandle 2 segmented or single seed and cross- | blockin attachments for the ordinary i row crop cultivator have enabled al- I most complete mechanical thinning., | Topping, lifting- and loading ma- | chines and beet harvesters that top, 1 lift and load, 'have been introduced. I While the supply of these machines | is still inadequate and some operating jf diflieulties have yet to be overcome, the hac-k-breaking work of handling beets on the farm should soon be a thing- of the pas-t At the factorjq mechanical unloading and handling has been successfully papplied. AJfalfa Export. Production of alfalfa seed in Canada from the 1946 crop is estimated at about nine million pounds. Domestic requirements can be fully met with about three and a half million pounds available for export. The principal market for Canadian alfalfa seed is the United1 States, althougjh the seed is in demand in the British Isles qnd ■ European countries, because of its I hardiness and good quality. I 8