Tractor heritage, news and features

Book review: September 2010

This month's book reviews by Tractor Magazine.

We have teamed up with Amazon UK to allow you to purchase many of them on-line at reduced prices.

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John Deere

THIS is an unusual little book with interesting shots of both tractors and details of them. Starting with the history of John Deere, the man; the book then goes on to explain how the green and yellow colour scheme came about.

In 1909, International Harvester Company (IHC) were the fourth biggest of all corporations. When tractors started arriving, Deere realised they would have to grow to survive, they even considered a deal with IHC. But Deere chose the expansion route, introducing tractors into their line with the Waterloo Boy, and now they are the only full-line US agricultural implement and equipment corporation that hasn’t been merged or sold. A very useful feature is the identification tips to help those less familiar with the JD tractors to work out what they are looking at if the model letter or number is missing.

John Deere by Rod Beemer, with Tracy Nelson Maurer, softback, 80 pages, with black & white and colour contemporary and modern images and adverts, £6.99, ISBN 978-0-7603-2325-0, published by Voyageur Press, available in the UK from Grantham Book Services, www.granthambookservices.co.uk, 01206 255777.

Harvesting American style

STARKS' Harvesters by Robert S White are the author's memoirs of his incredible five years as a member of the harvesting crew on the 2000-mile North American grain harvest, led by Dale Starks, star of the 1976 BBC documentary Yellow Trail from Texas.

It is a vivid account of the endless hours of work, unpredictable food, weather, truck wrecks, rattlesnakes and tornados as Rob and his friend combined the length and breadth of the American wheat belt – and of the characters met and friendships forged along the way.

Rob loved driving his Massey Ferguson combines and is passionate about machines and harvesting so he includes plenty of information about them too.

Starks' Harvesters is published by Old Pond Publishing in paperback, priced at £9.95. ISBN: 978-1-906853-46-4.