<b>By CINDY LADAGE<br>
Illinois Correspondent</b> </p><p>

LINCOLN, Neb. — Lincoln may be a metropolitan city these days, but there are still remnants of the old agricultural days in the downtown buildings. With the local basketball team called the Cornhuskers, and some buildings still sporting terms like “saddle company,” it is clear that farming roots run deep.</p><p>
One place where these roots truly show up is the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum. Visitors that come to the museum, located on the University of Nebraska campus, are greeted at the door most of the time by the museum mascot, Allis Chalmers, a charming cat that was found on the campus grounds.</p><p>
“She is probably the most photographed and well-known celebrity at the museum,” Jeremy Steele, museum development associate, said.</p><p>
The cat, like Steele, makes visitors feel welcome, and the museum offers the chance to learn a little about how this site implemented the first consumer protection standards for farmers.</p><p>
The museum tour provides the history of testing standards, along with memorabilia from Lester Larsen, who was the tractor test chief engineer from 1946-75. Besides serving as chief engineer, he was also instrumental in initiating the collection of historic tractor test equipment and acquiring tractors that illustrate the key developments in agricultural mechanization over the years.</p><p>
The museum also includes some farm toys and a few other items, such as the Historic Tool Room, that shows early tools and inventions back to the American Colonial days.</p><p>
“These include antique farmhand tools and colonial and pioneer hand tools. It took human power to build the land,” Steele added.
He said they share this display with school kids and show them how hard farmers had to work to feed the animals and work with them. This is also clear in the display that shows historic grain harvesting tools and plows from around the world.</p><p>
Models of tractors are on-site that have been tested at the site, or show improvements in the tractor safety development. A visitor can view an example of the extremely rare Model B tractor developed by the Minneapolis Minnesota Ford Tractor Co. This is the tractor that Wilmot Crozier bought and found unsatisfactory. The company made fraudulent claims that this angry farmer followed up on when he became a state legislator.</p><p>
The museum offers a hands-on view of how the Nebraska test law was implemented. Examples of the testing equipment and the story are right there for the visitor to learn at his or her leisure.</p><p>
Besides the models, there is also an additional building that once was used as a shed near a nuclear test site in the Arizona desert.
This shed serves as a tractor restoration site where a university student club restores models from the museum. As of the end of November 2007, students were busy restoring a 1929 John Deere D and a Massey 101 Junior.</p><p>
For those wanting to tour the museum, a tour of the current Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory is also available during the weekday. This is the officially designated tractor testing station for the United States and the only one of its kind. Because of changes in 1986, tests are performed according to the codes of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).</p><p>
According to its website, “Twenty-nine countries adhere to the tractor test codes (including non-OECD members: China, India, the Russian Federation and Serbia) with active test stations in approximately 25 of those countries.”</p><p>
For group tours, a $3 suggested donation per person is encouraged, although there is no official charge. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Steele warns guests to call ahead for a weekend visit.