[AT] been collecting a long time

[Herb Metz]

John
Enjoyed reading, and reminiscing of similar activities.
Our similar storage area was the remains of an old orchard (150 ft sq), I 
can remember one old apple tree and one old apricot tree; I remember one old 
binder and a wheat header which was last used in 1943(?).   Required three 
teams, two pushing/pulling (Gene & Ron please note) the header and one 
pulling the header barge.  The header could have been an old wheat cutting 
platform (canvas; before auger days) with canvas going up approx eight feet 
at 45 degree angle and dumping heads into a large farm wagon with far side 
elevated approx six feet higher to increase capacity.  A second short canvas 
was approx one foot above the angled canvas to contain cut wheat head heads 
from wind, etc.
Also was hoping that an old potato digger would be included in your story; 
one that you would be interested in selling.
Herb

-----Original Message----- 
From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2014 8:17 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] been collecting a long time

It occurred to me this week just how long we’ve been collecting old iron, 30 
years give or take a year. Started when I was in 7th or 8th grade. When we 
started it was small items like 2 man chainsaws, Briggs engines from the 40’s 
and 50’s, and horse drawn equipment---at the time these items were really 
cheap or free. We quickly progressed to tractors and belt powered machinery.

One of the earliest items we rescued from a fencerow was a horse drawn 
riding cultivator. It was all there, just frozen with rust and the wheels 
were bent where someone had nudged it sideways with a scrape blade to push 
it out of the way. The day we brought it home was about 30 degrees. I drove 
one of the 4020’s with a boom pole to go get it (and a stalk cutter) while 
dad drove one of the grain trucks. If you’re trying to picture the boom pole 
it is basically the same thing as the little ones you can buy for utility 
tractors except this one is heavy enough to lift the front end of the the 
10,000lb tractor it is hooked to off the ground. We’ve also got a hydraulic 
center link for it. Anyway we got it home, heated, hammered, and oiled until 
it was operational. We made a tongue for it that required a little ingenuity 
and a broken shank off of a chisel plow. We would use it on occasion to plow 
the garden. We even raised a few rows of snap beans one year using it and a 
10-20 McCormick on steel. I still haven’t figured out how dad laid the rows 
off straight given the slop in the steering on that tractor. We continued 
using it for close to 10 years and then retired it again after we quit 
raising so much garden. It was towed to the back of the farm and backed up 
under some trees where it rested for the next 20 years.

This past week I decided it would be handy to have up here at my house. The 
wildlife pressure is so great here everyone has to fence in their garden 
with 6-8 ft fencing. I’m not going to do that so I’ll just plant what the 
critters won’t eat, squash, zucchini, and sweet corn (I forgot, the 
squirrels cleaned me out on that as well). I borrowed my cousins tractor 
with cultivators and laid off a couple rows for some late squash. It’s not 
worth the effort for us to keep cultivators on a tractor any more. I 
remembered how handy this horse drawn cultivator was so it was time to 
rescue it again. Same tractor, same boom pole, (same guy driving the 
tractor) 30 years later, we retrieved it from the weeds and briars again. 
Back to the same shop. This time it only took a couple evenings to get it 
running. Had to replace the wooden tongue, and free up one major part with 
the torch (same as 30 years ago) and we were back in business. Plowed my 
garden Fri. night and it did an outstanding job. I’ll put some fertilizer 
around it this week and try to plow it one more time. Should have squash and 
zucchini until frost.

It just occurred to me the incentive to get this cultivator operational 30 
years ago. Back then both of our Super A’s spent most of the spring and 
summer at the other farm 2 miles away. The only time they came home was for 
plowing gardening. If you wanted to plow garden you had to go get one. And 
once tobacco had been laid by, you’d have to put the cultivators on once you 
got here, plow the garden, take the cultivators off, and get the tractor 
back to the other farm, generally all in the same evening.

Maybe I can find a shed to keep it under for the next 30 years. Until next 
week, its sitting in the corner of my yard, backed up under a tree. Don’t 
worry, my better half won’t let it sit there long.

John Hall
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