April/May 2024

Farm Collector

Relive the “good ole days” of the American farm, with a digital subscription to Farm Collector.

Farm Collector2 min read
Change Is The Only Constant
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Dan Millman If the past is any indication, the one thing we can always count on is change. In 1793, came the creation of the cotton gin. In 1834
Farm Collector2 min read
Letters To The Editor
This page from a 1946 Ferguson System bulletin (opposite page) shows a Ferguson transport box kind of like the one shown in the photo Lenny Cornwell sent in for the December 2023 issue of Farm Collector. However, the Ferguson box is all steel. We had
Farm Collector1 min read
Farm Collector
Christine Stoner Group Editor Leslie C. McManus Senior Editor Zach Brown Editor Terry Price Art Director Shannon Toon Advertising Coordinator Web and Digital Content Tonya Olson Digital Content Manager Advertising Director Brenda Escalante escalante
Farm Collector1 min read
Sprouts
LEE MILLER AGE 12 Lee Miller, the son of Joshua and Lena Miller, Kendallville, Indiana, is this month’s featured artist. Lee will receive a Farm Collector T-shirt: Congratulations, Lee! Have a budding artist in your family? Send your kids’ or grandk
Farm Collector1 min read
WANTED: GADGETS, GIZMOS & CONTRAPTIONS
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 a
Farm Collector3 min read
The Z And Me
The first tractor I ran was a 1936 Minneapolis-Moline Model Z. I was 6 years old when my brother (Oscar Haake Jr.) was drafted and left my dad, Oscar Haake Sr., really short of help. Dad showed me how to use the hand clutch on that Z and steering was
Farm Collector2 min read
An Old-fashion tool Box
Use ¾ in material, solid lumber works best. Attach the sides and ends to bottom from below the wood screws. Use 1in diameter x 25-½ in closet rod (wood dowel) for a carrying handle. Attach with ⅛ in wood dowel pin and cut off the excess. I cobbled up
Farm Collector4 min read
Carrying The load
When he was a youngster, Carl Wagner enjoyed tagging along with his dad to antique tractor shows, swap meets and farm auctions. Because old wrenches were within his price range, he started buying them. Then he graduated to cast iron seats. “Twelve ye
Farm Collector1 min read
The Tractors In My Life Tells One Man’s Story Of Half A Lifetime Of Rescuing Half-dead Tractors And Collecting Live Ones.
Mike Thorne is a name known to many, many tractor enthusiasts, particularly those whose primary interest is in Ferguson and Massey Ferguson models, as Mike has assembled an almost unrivaled collection of the tractors of both marques. But before he de
Farm Collector2 min read
Keeping It Together
As a 4-year-old in the summer of 1935, Mike Rookstool observed his father and a crew of workmen unload hay into a barn. “A horse pulled on a rope that went into the barn and that made a fork come down to pick up a bunch of hay,” Mike says. “A guy ins
Farm Collector5 min read
Early Two-cylinder Era
Growing up Amish, Matt Schwartz had limited time around farm tractors, but it was a latened interest. After completing his Amish schooling, Matt helped on the family’s farm in Bremen, Indiana. When he came of age, he began working in northern Indiana
Farm Collector4 min read
The First Commercially Successful Gas Engine
The gas engine’s humble beginnings date back to 12th-century China when the cannon was invented. Already having produced gunpowder, a weapon was not a surprising use of their new explosive. The cannon worked well and was built in many sizes and confi
Farm Collector3 min read
The Porcupine Incident At Tip Top Lake
While visiting Idaho on vacation in 2000, my brothers, Claude and Clell, and I went camping for a few days. We headed about 35 miles north of our hometown up to a small mountain lake near an old mining claim above 9,000 feet in the Sawtooth Mountains
Farm Collector2 min read
Back In The Fold
My pappy, William Easley, purchased this 1957 Model 860 Ford tractor from George Russell Farm Equipment Co. in Columbia, Missouri, in November 1957. I have the original invoice, which lists the purchase price at $2,276. The 860 was Pappy’s main tract
Farm Collector5 min read
Round And Round
Why do we love barns? I have no explanation for my own obsession, but I’ve found a red barn with a story more interesting than any I could have imagined. I spotted this intriguing building, a round barn, along Interstate 90 in western South Dakota, n
Farm Collector5 min read
Webster Tri-polar Igniter Timing
Ever wonder why Webster put that bolt on the igniter movable electrode (anvil), as seen sticking out on the left of Figure 1? Why didn’t Webster put a bump on the casting or the push-finger (hammer) seen in Figure 2? The bolt is seemingly too long if
Farm Collector3 min read
The Midget No. 2 Seeder
When Keith McElhinney, Morning Sun, Iowa, came across a seeder/planter at an auction, he was immediately hooked. The piece – a Midget No. 2 – was manufactured by American Fork & Hoe Co., Montrose, Iowa. Morning Sun and Montrose are only about 50 mile
Farm Collector6 min read
Farm Collector
Volume two of John Deere’s Company covers the history of John Deere from 1928 to 1982, exploring the company’s role in the growth of the American agricultural industry, the development of new machinery and manufacturing methods, and sharing technolog
Farm Collector3 min read
SHOW & SPECIAL EVENT
The Rio Linda Elverta Historical Society along with EDGE&TA Branch 13 Sacramento presents the 29th annual Farm and Tractor Days at The Dry Creek Ranch House on May 17th and 18th. Tractors, Hit and Miss Engines and anything related to farming. Vendors
Farm Collector4 min read
Magazines Caught In The Middle
Tax the farmer, tax his fowl;Tax the dog and tax his howl;Tax his hen and tax her egg;Let the bloomin’ mudsite beg;Tax his pig and tax his squeal;Tax his boots run down at heel;Tax his plow and tax his clothes,Tax the rags that wipe his nose;Tax his

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