richard's blog

At one time, I thought that an antique was a very old object which no longer has any practical use. Now it is hard for me to think of the M as an antique tractor. The M certainly qualifies as an antique because of its age. Unbelievably the M's design is 60 plus years old. But a lot of M's are still in use yet today. A lot of farmers still use M's as chore or loader tractors. I doubt if many of these farmers think of their M as a tractor which is only suitable for exhibiting at tractor shows.

In 1910 the Case Company got involved in Cars. They didn't want their own dealers selling Model T's or anything not related to Case. So in August 1910 Case bought out the Pierce Motor Co. of Racine - the name was changed to CASE.

The automobile plant was improved and enlarged. They added the best of equipment. The capacity for 1911 was 3 times that of 1910. Pierce started building motors in 1894.

My how planting has changed. 24 and 36 row planters, monitors that tell you everything. 35 to 40 thousand seeds per acre. Compared to check row planting, with a 2 row planter. WOW!!!

I did a little research on check row planting, and it sounds very labor intensive.

A 1944 study revealed that approximately 50 percent of the time it took to plant a field with short, 20 rod rows was taken up in handling check wire and stakes. Check wire usually came in 80 rod lengths, because that was the common length of a typical 40 acre field in the corn belt.

Thanksgiving is not the holiday itself but the way Americans celebrate it. The turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. The televised football. The parades. But especially, the turkey and fixings.

To say everyone in America eats the same Thanksgiving meal is, to be sure, a slight exaggeration. Every family puts its own stamp on the feast. Aunt Mary makes her special stuffing with the sausage and nuts. Uncle Chuck prefers whole cranberries to sauce.

Deere recalls about 15,500 lawn tractors.

Deere & Co. is recalling about 15,500 lawn tractors sold since last December due to a problem involving mower blade brake assemblies that increases chances that the operator can be cut by the spinning blades.

Prairie Gold: The color Minneapolis Moline selected for its machines to differentiate them from other manufacturers equipment.

Bright colored tractors adorned fields beginning in the late 1930's. Even then, tractor manufacturers used design and color to set their products apart. Farmers felt considerable loyalty toward various tractor brands, and manufacturers did not want anyone to confuse their product with that of another line. Because of the design and color combination, most farmers soon learned to identify tractor brands in a quick glance.

The Cleveland Motor Plow Company was incorporated in 1916. Founded by Rollin H. White, manufacturer of the White steam car, the company began building a 10 drawbar horsepower crawler tractor, called the model R. This tractor used a four cylinder Buda engine.

In 1917, the company's name was changed to the Cleveland Tractor Company. This year's model was called the H. It was rated at 12/20 horsepower and used a four cylinder Weidley engine.