Backyard Tractors

U.S. farm-equipment makers, who for years have concentrated on building up a $700 million market in agricultural tractors, have found another $100 mil lion business right in the backyard -- of thousands of U.S. homeowners. With increasingly bigger homesites and more money in the family budget, the small garden or utility tractor, long mostly a toy for the wealthy, has become an all-round bestseller in suburbia and exurbia. Only six years ago, garden-tractor sales were a bare 27,000 throughout the U.S.; this year the industry expects them to top 180,000.

The versatile tractors, once manufac tured by only a few companies, are now sold by 47. Sears, Roebuck so far is in the lead with three tractor models.

Longtime farm-equipment makers, in cluding International Harvester, Allis Chalmers, Massey Ferguson and John Deere, have reached down into the new market. At the same time, such estab lished mower makers as Simplicity, Ja cobsen and Pennsylvania are stepping up to midget tractors. Large acreage and big income no longer seem to be requisites for sales: Harvester estimates that 70% of the buyers of its Cub Cadet own less than three acres and that half earn less than $10,000 a than year. The tractors are usually less than 4 ft. high, have 6-to 10-h.p. motors, move at 5 or 6 m.p.h. They are expen sive, ranging from $270 to $1,000, and I they frequently carry attachments that cost another $150 or more. Their most trenchant selling point is that they can cut large lawns four times as fast as power mowers. More than 85% of all buyers order a mowing attachment with their tractor; after that, they may choose other accessories that blow away or plow snow, roll and aerate lawns, haul logs, sweep driveways, bull doze dirt, and even forklift heavy loads. Inevitably, luxury optionals have been introduced: cigarette lighters, headlights for nighttime mowing, can opies and padded seats.

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