e. Ray Harrison recalled that it took five
horses and three men several days work to clean out the trees and brush
for a potential field; his brother could do it with only one helper in a
single day.[94]

[Illustration: A broadcast harvester capable of picking four rows at a
time. This mechanical picker was developed by a county farmer, H. C.
Clapp. Photo in H. B. Derr Report, 1921, Virginiana Collection, Fairfax
County Public Library.]

[Illustration: Wheat being mechanically harvested, c. 1925. Few farms
could afford the luxury of such equipment at this time. Photo in H. B.
Derr Report, 1925, Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public
Library.]

The early tractors were not without their problems. Initially their
wheels were of steel, which packed down the wet earth making plowing
difficult, or lost traction and became mired in the ever-present red
mud; the addition of spiked wheels or heavy chains helped only a little
before pneumatic tires were introduced in 1932.[95] The machinery was
also expensive and complicated to repair. Few farms were as fortunate as
the Harrisons' on which one brother had taken numerous mechanical
courses and had even worked in a tractor repair shop.[96] For farmers
who could not always correlate time savings with financial advantage,
the large capital outlay seemed unnecessary or even unwise. As the
machinery was best adapted to large farms and intensive cultivation,
this was especially true in situations where the farmer did not feel
overworked, or held few ambitions to expand production.

Thus, Fairfax County farmers were slow to embrace the newfangled
technology. A 1924 survey of the county showed that only 10% of the
farmers owned a tractor despite County Agent Derr's assertion that the
"cutting of wheat with the tractor had been found the most economical
way for many reasons. The principle being rapidity and saving of
labor."[97] As late as 1936 Derr wrote that the majority of the small
farmers could not afford to purchase mechanized equipment and were
compelled to continue with their horses. The cost was partially offset
by machinery loaned by the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA), for example, a seed corn grader and wheat smut treater which
travelled "like a missionary ... from farm to farm in their crop
improvement work."[98] Nevertheless even men such as A. S. Harrison, one
of the area's most progressive farmers, were hesitant about the new
machines, as Holde