A Plot Planting System Utilizing a Rear‐Engine Tractor1

To meet the demands of several cultivar evaluation projects, a plot planting system utilizing a rear‐engine tractor was developed. Important design criteria were that it be adaptable to several different row spacings and row numbers, that it use only one seed packet per plot, and that it be easily transported. The equipment developed uses a 20 kw rear‐engine power unit equipped with a three point bitch behind the front axle. Seed is metered through a cone to a spinning divider which can be fitted with interchangeable heads to divide the seed into two to nine rows. Interchangeable tool bars, one equipped with double disc drill openers, the other with unit‐planters permit planting, as many as, nine 18‐cm rows, or as few as, two 95‐cm rows. The planting system has been used successfully for several crop evaluation trials, population and row width studies.