Farm History – Vintage Farm Tractors

Farm History quiz: Did you know that tractors originally had steel wheels?

In this living farm history video a farmer questions if his tractor will work better with rubber tires instead
of steel wheels. He writes to the editor of a farming magazine and asks for help in making a decision.

Since tractors originally had steel wheels with cleats to grab the dirt, rubber tire makers had to sell
farmers on the idea of using rubber tires. As this vintage farm video shows, it wasn't an easy sell,
but eventually farmer miller gets rubber tires for his tractor and is happy with his decision.

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)

0:27 Man milks cow.
0:41 Man at desk writing letter
1:07 Editor of Better Farming dictates a letter to his secretary.
1:34 Typewriter with paper; we see the keys typing letters on paper.
2:07 Mule teams pulling farm wagons
2:38 Tractors with air-filled rubber tire
3:11 Tractor pulling harvesting equipment
3:34 Tractor pulling plow, seen from furrow height at ground level.
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

Vintage farm history videos like this were used extensively to sell products, just as videos are used today.

Today's sales videos might not be so obvious. But then again, many of them are.

We hope you enjoy this look into the past.

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