Despite the fact that the farmer spends more on machinery than anything else except the land and despite the fact that he spends more on tractors than on any other machine, there are few books on the choice and operation of tractors to fit modern farming conditions. Most of this book is about farming and how to fit tractors to the individual situation. Those sections are completely unbiased and Case are happy to sponsor such a book in the wider interests of sensible, more productive and safer use of tractors and machinery. Where the Company's views are expressed it is clearly stated as such. This is mainly in the area of design detail and then only for the sake of being concise and brief. The first part of the book is concerned with relating the needs of the individual farm to specific details of tractor performance. Later chapters deal with policy on size, numbers and replacement. This section is a major development specifically about tractors. It is developed from the author's work Farm Mechanisationfor Prl!fitwhich deals with machinery in the wider sense. Later chapters of this book are related to profes sionalism in operation, maintenance and care.

The modern Tractor-Loader_backhoe has become the most useful machine in general construction, and it has gained that reputation since its introduction in the laste 1950's. This reputation as the most useful is due to the wide-ranging tasks that the machine is capable of performing. These wide-ranging jobs, in turn, demand that operators have the knowledge, skills, and experience required for safety and productivity. The first edition of this book, Operating Techniques for the Tractor-Loader-Backhoe, published in 1983, was written simply as an information source covering standard machine operations and procedures. Over the years, training programs sought it out for its practical and detailed information for operators and training programs, such as: guidelines, safety considerations, and preventing damage to existing utilities.