David's Farm Blog

Moving slowly through the sweet-corn fields of California is a weird tractor on stilts. The tractor is used to dust and detassel the high corn. The builder started with a 21-horsepower crawler tractor. He raised the tractor chassis including the motor and transmission so there would be 78 inches of clearance beneath it. Side frames – the “stilts” – support the tractor in this position. Additional sprockets and links of track were installed on each side. The result is a tractor that rolls through the high corn, dusting and detasseling it even during wet weather when rubber-tired tractors bog down in the mud. It has 6-1/2 feet clearance and straddles two rows of corn while dusting 12. A framework across the back holds the dusting equipment. During detasseling, men ride on hangers dropped down between the rows alongside the tractor.
Source: Popular Mechanics (Sept 1954)