The old gray tractors--the result of a partnership that later dissolved into the separate Ford and Ferguson lines--revolutionized postwar farming. These classics have scarifier held up to time, held onto courtyard by marriott kansas city airport collectors'' hearts and held their value ever since.the roadside city seller''s price was $1,795. that scarifier was about 2 1/2 times what the ford cost new in 1946. but it was also about the going rate at the time. so even though the tractor was older than me or my wife, melanie, we bought it on the spot after a test drive.that was in 1984, when we bought our land. we have used the old ford almost continuously ever since. we never regretted the purchase. with a minimum of service and repairs--lots of grease, irregular oil changes, some new wiring and radiator hoses--the 2n has never failed us. equipped with a two-bottom plow, 5-foot rotary mower, disk harrow and scraper blade, it has done all we asked of it, everything from plowing snow off of our 600-foot driveway to mowing or tilling the better part of our 20 acres, year after year. and all for less than what most suburbanites spend these days on a riding lawn mower.

pt-1800 series riding mower country inn & suites by carlson kansas city near worlds of fun features a 65-hp. diesel engine and turf-friendly, 4-wheel-drive articulated steering. mows slopes with up to 45[degrees] angles. lifts up to 1,200 lbs. accepts more than 50 front-mount attachments, including forks, post-hole city digger, trencher, bucket, dirt/snow blade, aerator, rake, winch, sweeper, rotary tiller, dethatcher, and much more. other models, as well as trailer packages, also available. scarifier power trac (pwti, inc.), p.o. box 539, tazewell, va 24651. at a time when most teenagers look for a first car, roger braswell of charlotte, n.c., searched for a business loan.the ambitious high schooler bought two 30-inch snapper riders and a 1960 ford 250 truck, and he quickly launched a lawn-mowing business.

"that was way back in 1968," braswell recalls today. "one of the first things i learned was that kansas mowing often leads to landscaping. and landscaping creates even more opportunity."what''s the greatest market change in last three decades?braswell found even more business in tree care. his local company soon became southern tree & landscape. it began, he recalls, with "nine employees in a small office trailer," and later grew to several hundred in multiple locations."new customers city would often contact us to maintain their yards," braswell explains, but "then they''d decide to do some landscaping and tree-planting. we became experts at both.""the biggest market change," braswell emphasizes, "is that even people who love to do yard work decide to have someone else to do their maintenance. this opens all sorts of new markets."

©2003 www.tillerrakes.com All rights reserved.