Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Farm Collector

When I am getting acquainted with a person, certain aspects of his or her personality sometimes bubble up as sort of a reverse red flag. Instead of being a warning, like the red flag would be, these aspects immediately signal to me that I have had the good fortune to encounter a person of uncommon depth. I don’t have a checklist of those characteristics and it would take me a week to form one. But I know them when I see them. I remember, for instance, a man who was an enthusiastic promoter of his hometown. More than just a cheerleader, he personified this old saw from start to finish: “I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man…

NOVEMBER MYSTERY TOOLS The genius of pioneer inventors can confound us. Countless contraptions that revolutionized farming in the 19th and early 20th centuries have become contemporary curiosities, or even mysteries. Here are six sent in by readers. Do you know what they are? Answers to the November 2023 items will appear in the January 2024 issue. Answers for new items in this issue must be received by Nov. 1, 2023. To submit photos: Send prints to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609. Send digital images to editor@farmcollector.com. Photos should be taken in a well-lit area against a plain background. Include dimensions and any markings on the piece. We cannot guarantee every photo will be published, nor can we respond to inquiries regarding when photos will be published.…

When searching for European tractor show videos, you can search YouTube using English terms like “Tractor show, Luxembourg,” but you’ll get better results faster by using the appropriate language. Here are a few handy words and phrases: Czech Tractor show: Traktoriada. Dutch Threshing festival: Flaeilfeeste. Finnish Tractor parade: Traktoriparaati; Tractor show: Traktorinäyttely; Veteran machine days: Weteraanikonepaivat. French Tractor ride: Balade de tracteur; Antique tractor parade: Defile des tracteurs anciens; Threshing festival: Fête des battages; Harvest festival: Fête des moissons. German Tractor, car, motorcycle meeting: Oldtimertreffen; Tractor meeting: Traktortreffen, Schleppertreffen or Treckertreffen. Hungarian Tractor show: Traktorshow. Italian Tractor show: Salone dei trattori; Tractor parade: Parata di trattoria or Sfilata di trattori; Vintage tractors: Trattori d’epoca. Polish Harvest festival: Dożynki; Antique tractor parade: Parada starych traktorów. Spanish Tractor parade: Desfile de tractores.…

Restoring a special Fordson My grandfather bought this 1937 Fordson row crop Model N tractor new and I have restored it. This tractor is one of 250 built with this type of front end and the side-arm steering the casting out front is to mount a cultivator on. Most Fordson transmissions had two slow speeds and a road gear. This one has a special ratio transmission. It has three speeds for field work and no road gear. Top speed is 4.3mph. This tractor got a new engine in 1946. The story is that a piston pin came out and damaged the cylinder beyond repair. No parts were available during World War II. The piston was removed and the engine was reassembled. It would still run on three cylinders but lacked…

This doesn’t have much to do with Rusty Iron, but it’s been a while since I’ve written anything for my faithful lady readers. I have a 1920 book called Farm Economy, a Cyclopedia of Agriculture for the Practical Farmer and His Family, with a section titled “A Special Department on Labor Saving Methods for the Housewife.” The section starts by pointing out that many improved implements and methods were routinely used by the farmer to ease his labor, but that his home, “which exceeds the field in importance,” had not received as much attention. In 1925 in Ohio, for example, just one in five farms had electricity, and 70 percent of those had their own light plants. Only one in seven Ohio farm homes had running water, while one in…

Over the years, the Maytag Company celebrated the heritage of its first washing machine – the Pastime, launched in 1907. But the story of the washer’s origins, and how the Pastime set the course for Maytag’s long industry leadership, is little known today. Maytag’s history begins in 1893 with the founding of Parsons Band Cutter & Self Feeder Co. in Newton, Iowa. The company was formed to manufacture George W. Parsons’ invention: a threshing machine self-feeder. Besides Parsons, the company’s other founders were brothers William C. Bergman and A.H. Bergman, and F.L. “Fred” Maytag. In 1882, Maytag married Dena Bergman, sister to the two Bergman brothers. The new company struggled in its first year. The company had no factory and contracted with Skow Bros. in Newton for production of its…

 Whoooieee: What a stink! Soooieee! Call the hogs! What we call garbage today and spend millions of dollars to dispose of was once called slop and was fed to the hogs. What could be more simple? Not only was the practice simple, it made money instead of costing money. Each day’s chores included collecting table scraps and milk products after processing, carrying it all in buckets to the hog pens, mixing the slop with water-soaked grain, then pouring the concoction into wooden troughs for the hogs’ enjoyment. Better get out of the way, too, for the hogs fought with vigor over the odiferous recycled foodstuff. After a short time, “and a little work,” the slop turned into bacon, ham, pork chops, sausage and other delights welcome at all tables. The key…

BRAYDON DORMAN IS OUR FEATURED ARTIST FOR NOVEMBER! Braydon Dorman, the son of Ryan and Danielle Dorman, LaCrosse, Washington, is this month’s featured artist. Braydon will receive a Farm Collector T-shirt: Congratulations, Braydon! Have a budding artist in your family? Send your kids’ or grandkids’ farm-related artwork to Farm Collector, and we’ll send a T-shirt to the monthly winner. Send submissions to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265. Please include the artist’s name, age and hometown and a recent photograph. A release form will be sent to the parents of each artist whose work is selected for publication; the release must be signed and returned to Farm Collector before the artist’s photo can be published. For more information, contact us at editor@farmcollector.com. “Braydon drew this picture of…

The recent addition of a Pastime washing machine to our collection inspired the research supporting this article. But the Pastime story is also my story. Born in 1893, my grandmother was a Parsons. Knowing that George Parsons was the founder of the two companies that would become Maytag, I often wondered if we might be related. When I tried an online ancestry tool, I was surprised to learn that we are: G.W. Parsons is my first cousin (four times removed). My Pastime washer was made by Parsons Hawkeye Mfg. Co., and its original decal is intact. For me, the Parsons name on the washer is family. In the late 1980s, I began a design engineering job with Maytag in Newton in Research & Development. I was involved in creating new…

Arizona Announcing: Apache Junction, Arizona, March 9, 2024, 9 AM to 4 PM. Rodeo Park 1590 E. Lost Dutchman Blvd. (between Idaho and Tomahawk Roads). Sponsored by Arizona Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association. Tractor parade and pull. Antique gas engine displays and demonstrations. Classic and antique tractors, all makes. Kids'tractor drive. Admission: adults $5, children 12 and under free. For more info: 623-435-3955, www.aedgeta.org. Announcing: Glendale, Arizona, Feb. 10, 2024, 9 AM to 4 PM: Sahuaro Ranch Park Historic Area, 9802 N. 59th Avenue (between Olive and Peoria). Sponsored by Arizona Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association. Tractor pull and parade. Kids'tractor drive. Antique gas engine displays and demonstrations. Classic and antique tractors, all makes. Admission: adults $5, children 12 and under free. For more info: 623-435-3955,…