[AT] Deere plant visit, now mowers

[Herbert Metz]

The thing I remember was some things were difficult to cut (some 
undesireable grass); the mower would be operating rather smoothely cutting 
alfalfa,until hitting that grass stuff, and then the pittman, etc. would 
really hammer.    Each year a little alfalfa would die out and this grass 
and misc would take over that spot.   This was on a big hill that we did not 
enjoy farming, so we left the alfalfa as long as reasonably productive.
Herb

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill "Bear" Hood" <mmman at netscape.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Deere plant visit
> In my misspent youth, I have more hours cutting common and coastal bermuda 
> hay, hybred sorghum, and johnson grass with #9 and #39 and later JD pitman 
> mowers than I care to remember.  I started cutting with at least 3 # 39"s 
> and the first two had black bars and black cycles and the last one had a 
> yellow bar and black cycle.  I later had to order a new 9' bar for a trail 
> mower and it came with no paint at all.  I guess it was what JD had at the 
> plant or if they had no paint at all.  When I started buying and replacing 
> JD pitmans, they were green, but soon they were shipped varnished and 
> stained with a yellow decal and I have also received black ones once at 
> the Athens dealership with the yellow decal. I have a brand new one, 
> varnished,  in the barn somewhere.
>
> I later had a  2 14' JD Self Propelled Swathers and they were  built by 
> McKee in Canada and sometimes parts would come in with McKee paint on them 
> rather than JD green or yellow.  I also remember cultivating rose bushes 
> on a brand new Super A Farmall that had two different color paints on the 
> plow parts--this would have been in '55 if my rememberer is correct.
>