[AT] Small Farm Tractors vs Garden Tractors

Robinson robinson at svs.net
Sat Mar 6 12:49:11 PST 2004


	As a mid west corn farmer I tend to mentally draw a
vague line at the tractors that were designed to
cultivate row crops by straddling one or more rows.
That isn't always a good division either of course. I
remember seeing a picture of a whole field full of two
wheel David Bradley's all with little moldboard plows.
Last summer one of the busiest tractors on the farm
was one of my older Gravely two wheel tractors with a
30" rotary cutter and a sulky.
	Son Scott has a White 20 HP with hydraulics, turning
brakes and power steering.
	The tractors I considered of primary interest for CUB
fest were the Allis G, a John Deere L or LA, a Massey
Harris or Ferguson Pony and a couple of independents
that were in direct competition with CUBs for the same
market.
	BTW the smallest tractor ever tested at Nebraska was
a one wheel Choremaster. 1.47 HP.   :-)
	I know I am missing some models. Some makers like the
Economy Power King made both low clearance and high
row crop models. The high ones used final drives and
faintly resembled CUBs.
	There were several right after WW II that made CUB
size tractors. I would look them up but my wife is
standing in the door waiting to leave...   ;-)


"farmer"

My most recent list
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Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net





>-----Original Message-----
>From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]
>On Behalf Of George Willer
>Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 12:54 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>Subject: Re: [AT] Small Farm Tractors vs
>Garden Tractors
>
>
>Doug,
>
>I'm sure there is no foolproof place to draw
>the line.  It might be fun to
>try, though.  When I count up my tractors, I
>don't count those that are
>obviously garden tractors because they have
>only two wheels, or those whose
>main use in life is mowing grass.  Whoops...
>that would leave out my two N
>Fords and the one Cub that are only used for mowing!
>http://members.toast.net/gwill/album/Tractors
>/Ford/mowing_gang.jpg
>
>Then there's the little Amigo.  I include it
>in my 21 tractors.  It has a
>single cylinder engine, but a lot of big
>tractor features.
>
>It has:
>3 pt hitch
>dual PTO
>individual turning brakes
>all gear drive
>torque converter
>more horsepower than the Cub
>http://members.toast.net/gwill/album/Tractors
>/Garden_Tractors/Riding_mower_rightfront.jpg
>
>What do you think?
>
>George Willer
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Doug Tallman" <dtallman at accnorwalk.com>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 2:07 PM
>Subject: [AT] Small Farm Tractors vs Garden Tractors
>
>
>> With the talk of the Cubfest, Farmer
>mentioned that he may have a few
>> other small tractors from other lines that
>would have been competitors to
>> the Cub. His statement fell in with the
>subject of my latest newsletter
>for
>> the Vintage Garden Tractor Club. I'm not
>looking for a fight or trying to
>> weasel in on the Cubfest, just trying to
>start some tractor discussion. A
>> question that I get asked a lot is what is
>considered a garden tractor and
>> where do we draw the line between them and
>a small farm tractor. There are
>> a lot of tractors like the IH Cub and BN,
>AC B and G, JD L and others that
>> could be considered either way. My 1923
>Centaur was powered by a 5 HP,
>> single cylinder New Way engine. They
>advertised that you could farm
>> anything with it that you could farm with
>one horse, 25-50 acres.  They
>> even offered a special hitch that would
>allow you to use the horsedrawn
>> equipment you already had with your new
>tractor. A picture of this tractor
>> can be seen at:
>http://community.webshots.com/photo/81167315/
81182280SDTATc
>  Most of the big, early walk-behind machines were
geared towards the same
> thing. After all, you had to walk behind the horse
or ride on the
> implement. Today we don't have a problem believing
these were garden
> tractors although they were originally promoted as
small farm power. The
> actual garden tractors from the same era were litle
more than motorized
> push hoes. I agree that this was a different era in
all aspects of
> gardening/farming, but would these be considered the
"Cubs" of that era?
My
> 1938 Utilitor powered by the AC-4 Wisconsin was
rated at 12-16 HP
depending
> on RPM. It was also originally billed as "small
power for the farm". When
> we get to the newer equipment, a lot of the lines
had actual lawn and
> garden equipment along with the small farm power.
This seems like it would
> make an easier separation of the two but I know from
personal experience
> that a lot of these small farm power tractors spent
their lives with
people
> that put out larger gardens and never saw any actual
farm work. My answer
> is to let the owners decide what they want their
equipment to be displayed
> as. What do you think?
>
>
>
>
>            Doug Tallman                  Join us for
the 2004 regional
show
>            dtallman at accnorwalk.com              in
conjunction with
>            VGTCOA Ohio Regional Director   Ashland
Co Yesteryear Mach club
>                Greenwich, OH USA                July
9-11, 2004
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>


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