Since we honor all things natural from the land, we thought it might be fun to take a look back at scenes and video footage from farm history.
Our first video talks about what it took to convince farmers to give up the steel wheels on their tractors and get rubber tires.
The first scene opens with a farmer thinking maybe his tractor will do more and better work with rubber tires instead of steel wheels. He writes to his friend, the editor of a farming magazine, and asks for advice. The editor responds and you can watch the progress unfold.
Many people don’t realize that tractor wheels were originally made of steel with cleats to grab the dirt. Rubber tire makers had a tough sell in the beginning. Farmers and farm families were used to farming in traditional ways and were not too sure about rubber tires being able to hold their own in the field.
This was originally a silent film with liberal amount of title cards, all bearing corporate logo. Eleven minutes of silence was a bit much so we added some soft background music.
Here’s a description of the scenes:
0:27 Man milks cow.
0:41 Man at desk writing letter
1:07 Editor of the journal Better Farming, seated at his desk. Calls his secretary over to dictate a letter. He dictates to her.
1:34 Typewriter with paper; we see the keys typing letters on paper. This shot will recur throughout the film.
2:07 Mule teams pulling farm wagons
2:38 Tractors with air-filled rubber tire
2:54 Shot showing tractor pulling cart — fast
3:11 Tractor pulling harvesting equipment
3:28 Tractor pulling plow
3:34 Tractor pulling plow, seen from furrow height at ground level. The plow pulls away from the camera
3:50 Tractor pulling various implements
4:01 Tractor pulls hay wagon
5:13 Parade of tractors following one another
5:32 Typewriter again
6:00 Tractor in orchard
6:14 Tractor on grassy lawn
6:24Tractor in field
8:10 Hands signing letter and handling bunch of snapshots.
8:15 Inserts of rubber tires and agricultural implements.
8:54 Farmer standing on farmhouse porch with wife, showing farm paper to her
9:30 Tire dealer in suit, hat and tie, greeting and shaking hands with farmer
9:46 Various charts and title cards comparing rubber vs. steel wheels
Thanks for watching. We hope you enjoy this video. We will be adding more so check back often.
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