Landscape company goes publicIn 1998, Southern Tree & Landscape -- along with six similar firms -- went public on the NYSE to form Land Care USA. (This company was later acquired by Service Master, which merged it with TruGreen/ChemLawn.)Then, fr200scarifierinfo Braswell discovered fr200scarifierinfo an amazing fr200scarifierinfo Australian skid-steer product that launched him into a new career.Creation of Toro Dingo opens multiple marketsThe product -- a small utility fr200scarifierinfo loader -- allows its user to apply hydraulic power with a variety of attachments. Braswell brought the technology to the United States, then later sold the rights to Toro.Compact hydraulic equipment, Braswell saw, could be a way to serve many industries such as landscaping, fencing, nursery, irrigation, utilities, construction, cable installation, rental and even roofing.

"Also, a dealer who sells large mowers and tractors probably already does business with a finance source like Wells Fargo or Sheffield. With finance opportunities in place -- plus single products that serve multiple fields -- he''s in a position to enter several fr200scarifierinfo industrial markets." What kind of guarantee comes with this?" I asked, suspiciously eyeing the few drops of oil on the pavement under the rear axle of an old gray Ford tractor."Well, none, actually," replied the man who had it sitting out by the road with a for-sale sign. "What you see is what you get--where is, as is."The tractor in question was a 1946 Ford 2N (see photo, Page 103). The four-cylinder engine had been overhauled a few years earlier, he said. Then an old Pennsylvania-Dutchman, who probably bought it new when Truman was president, traded it in on a new Kubota.

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