n Harrison relates:

He knew I was sort of a tractor bug, and one day he called me in
and he said, 'Now son, now we don't use tractors out here, we grow
the feed for the horses ... we do our farm work with horses.' But
that very spring it got so hot that an old broken down tractor that
I rounded up did more work than the twelve horses we had.[99]

Economics, custom and suspicion of objects so divorced from nature's
cadence reduced the farmers' enthusiasm for new machinery.

Mechanized milking equipment was also held in suspicion initially.
Milking machines were developed around 1900, but a prejudice against
them lasted well into the 1920s. Older cows, accustomed to hand milking,
did not like the sound and feel of the machines and many farmers
contended that they impaired the milk-producing capabilities of some
animals.[100] Separators were likewise mistrusted by some who felt that
they skimmed the cream inadequately. Moreover, most of the dairy
equipment required electricity for its operation and for many years this
was not readily available in the area. These factors kept milking
machines from being swiftly adopted in Fairfax County. Conversations
with farmers of the inter-war period indicate that such equipment was
not generally acquired until the mid 1930s.[101]

Farmers learned of the new labor-saving devices by word of mouth,
through agricultural organizations, catalogs and manufacturer's
salesmen. The latter could be a nuisance to the already preoccupied
farmer, but he also acted as an invaluable informational source.

One dairyman explained:

That was a very useful service that salesmen performed. Salesmen
sort of get a black eye from some quarters but they kept the
farmers up to date on the new machines.... We had a very good
tractor with steel wheels, and a salesman came in and said, 'I'm
representing Goodrich Rubber Company. We're making tractor tires
now and if you'll let us put a set of tires on your tractor we'll
let you try them out, and if you don't like them, we'll take them
off and go back home with them.' So we did, we tried them and they
worked.[102]

The new equipment, attachments and improvements could be bought on
credit, or by deferred payment (that is, extended credit) until a crop
was harvested. This was frequently necessary as the machinery was
costly. Joseph Beard indicated that a tractor cost about $600 to $800 in
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