Evening star., 1941-05-21
New Tractor Device
Pictured as FREEING
Man Power for War
Demonstration on Farm
OF Mccormick -Goodhort
Given by Boy Of 10

A 1O-year- boy yesterday
ploWed a field with a tractor on the
estate of Leander Mccormick Good
hart, commercial attache of the
British Embassy, near Silver Spring,
in a demonstration of a new type
of farm machinery arranged for
Lord Halifax, the British Ambas-
sador.
The new one-unit type of tractor
drawn plow, drill, harrow and now
ing machine is the invention OF
Harry Ferguson, consultant to the
British government on food produc-
ton during the first World War, and
is expected to release man power
for war service. 1t is being manu-
factured by the Ford Motor Co.
1t is especially adapted, Mr..
Ferguson said, to the small farm.
Among the demonstrations yester-
day was the plowing of a plot about
100 feet square.
cites HandlcapS.
The farm tractor, he contended,
never has been complete success
in the past 1t has not been prop
erly balanced and has been so COM
plicated that months of experience
were required before farmer was
able to handle it successfully. 1t
!, of tyrTn-Ilnit tUno-thQt
is, the actual farm implement, such
as the pillow, had to be attached to
the tractor by a complicated and
time consuming process. The light
est tractor implements weighed
about two tons. They were danger
Gus in farm operations and suited
only to level land, he claimed.
The instrument demonstrated
yesterday, Mr.. Ferguson said, weighs
less than a ton. 1t is almost fool
proof. The 10-year-old boy, Michael
Connor, son of Charles E. Connor,
Ashton Md farmer, handled the
plow perfectly although he had been
given only three lessons.
The new tractor arrangement, 1t
was stressed. is especially adapted
to the small farms of Great Britain,
which now must be run by women
and children while the men are in
military service. However, Mr.. Fer
guson said. the average farm in the
United States is only about 25 acres.
Hitherto it has been Improbable to
operate such a farm with tractors
in spite of the fact that a pair OF
horses eats up the produce of about
10 acres.
For Any Contour of Land.
The new apparatus, it was demon
onstrated. can be used on any con-
tour of land. Obstacles, such as
roots or stumps, offer no difficulties
although they might break or delay
for hours the old-type tractor-drlven
apparatus.
Because of the difficulty with the
tractor, Mr.. Ferguson said, farming
the basic industry upon which the
cost of living is determined-has
remained the most antiquated OF
industries and the average farmer
has barely been able to make ends
meet.
With the new apparatus used in
farming throughout the world, he
said, production is bound to increase
enormously. While food production
now is a necessity because OF the
prospect that the United States must
feed most of Europe after the war,
Mr.. Ferguson pointed out, the ultl-
mate aim is farm chemurgy. Under
this system crops far above those
realized at present can be raised
and turned into alcohol which may
be mixed with gasoline to run mo-
tors. This will provide a solution,
Mr.. Ferguson believes, of many OF
the present economic problems.
A demonstration to which the en-
tire Washington diplomatic corps
has been invited will be held at the
Mccormick -Goodhart estate tomor-
row.