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This chapter describes driverless tractors. The process by which a driverless tractor is described. Using underground wires and sensors, the tractor was able to steer itself over the fields. Driverless tractors were impractical, because humans are needed to see obstacles like rocks. However, there are problems a driverless tractor might solve, like preventing runoff. Kone Sampo, a Finnish company, has built a couple of lightweight driverless tractors designed to prevent runoff. There are many new developments and devices that can be attached to a tractor to make farming easier.

This chapter describes the companies that make tractors. Descriptions of tractors are given for tractors made by the Allis-Chalmers company, J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company, Caterpillar, Ford Motor Company, John Deere, Kubota, and Massey-Ferguson.

This chapter describes more history of the tractor. The power takeoff (PTO) was invented in 1918, and it was designed to transfer the power from the engine to the implement attached to the tractor through a driveshaft. Later, a drawbar was invented to enable the farmer to attach implements to the back of the tractor. Row-crop tractors were invented enabling the farmer to change the width of the front and rear axles. This allowed the farmer to cultivate crops grown in rows, such as beans and corn. The hitch was invented to transfer weight from the implement to the rear wheels, giving the machine better traction. The first rubber tires for the tractor were invented in the 1930s. Later, hydraulic systems were invented to give the tractor easier steering, braking, and to raise and lower implements using the hitch. There were also crawler tractors and four-wheel drive tractors.

This chapter describes the history of the tractor. The first tractors had a steam engine, but the farmer still needed a team of horses to pull it. The first self-propelled tractors appeared in the 1850s. The first gasoline-powered tractor was invented by John Froehlich in the 1890s followed by the Hart-Parr tractor in 1901. The gasoline-powered tractors grew in popularity as many companies began to make the machines. The Ford Motor Company introduced the Fordson tractor in 1917.

This chapter describes the tractor, and its use on the farm. From spreading the seed to harvesting the crop, farming land requires a lot of work that used to be done my man and horse. In modern times, the tractor has made the job of farming much easier. There are many implements that can be attached to a tractor such as cultivators, harvesters, balers, mowers, planters, and plows. The designs of engines, cabs and transmissions are always changing.

Composer Irving Berlin, after returning to New York, settled into a new apartment with Ellin Mackay, in hopes of leading a quiet life. Their first daughter, Mary Ellin, was born in November 1926. Linda Louise arrived in 1933 and Elizabeth in 1937. In 1927, Berlin wrote "Blue Skies," which Al Jolson performed in the first feature-length sound movie, "The Jazz Singer." In 1933, Berlin wrote the score for a Broadway show called "As Thousands Cheer." The show was a success. By the 1930s, Berlin was working in Hollywood.

After the World War I ended in the fall of 1918, millions of army draftees became civilians again. For composer Irving Berlin, it was time to write hit songs and forget about war and soldiering. Berlin was eager to work for them because the music publishing business was going through hard times. Instead of buying sheet music to play on their pianos, customers were buying records for listening. The ragtime pieces, the comic dialect songs, and the love ballads weren't popular anymore. The times were changing, and Berlin was determined to change with the times. He no longer wrote funny lyrics or ragtime.

It was 1916. World War I had dragged on for two years in northern Europe. The soldiers of Great Britain, Germany, and France lived in deep, muddy trenches dug into the ground. From time to time, their generals ordered them to attack across the no-man's-land between the trenches. Artillery shells rained down, planes dropped bombs, and infantry raked the ground with machine gun fire. To Americans it was a bloody, faraway war that nobody would win. Yet the U.S. supported Britain and France against Germany, and entered the war in 1917. The public wanted to escape from the bad news, and composer Irving Berlin was happy to provide them with entertainment.

Busker Israel Baline changed his name to Irving Berlin. Irving was now singing and waiting tables at Jimmy Kelly's restaurant, on Union Square near Tony Pastor's Music Hall. Berlin was happy to oblige his listeners with any request, be it fast or slow, happy or sad. One of his favorite numbers was a parody of a song called "Are Ye Coming Out Tonight" by a songwriter named Max Winslow. Winslow and Berlin became fast friends. They rented an apartment together, and Berlin was soon meeting musicians, singers, and theater producers.

Not far from Cherry Street was the Bowery in New York City, a long and wide avenue with laundries, boarding-houses, pawnshops, and bars. Customers entered through a set of small, swinging doors. In some saloons, singers and piano players performed late into the night. If the saloon couldn't afford to hire musicians, entertainment was provided by "buskers" who came through the front doors, directly from the streets. Israel Baline had left home and now lived in a Bowery boardinghouse, where he paid a few cents a night for a narrow bed and a dirty blanket. He could no longer survive by selling newspapers. But he had a talent for singing and for entertaining people. He had made extra money from singing on the corner.

It was a cold evening during a long Russian winter. The muddy streets of Moghilev were quiet, and the small wooden homes were dark. Moses Baline, his wife, Lena, and his six children were sleeping. At first, they didn't hear the horsemen who were riding through the streets of the town with sabers, pistols, and torches. Afterwards, the family, awakened by the pounding of hooves and the shouts of their neighbors, ran out of their house and into the street. Moses and his family watched helplessly as their home burned to ashes. The Balines had nowhere else to live. Moses Baline was a cantor, a singer who performed during services in the Jewish synagogue.

This article presents a list of terms and phrases associated with tractors.

This article suggests organizations where an individual can learn more about tractors.

This article suggests other books and magazines an individual can read to learn more about tractors.

The article presents a bibliography related to singer and composer Irving Berlin, that appeared in the book "Say It With Music." Some of the books are "As Thousands Cheer," by Lawrence Bergreen; "The Story of Irving Berlin," by David Ewen and "Irving Berlin," by Michael Freedland.