The Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, are moving confidently along the path toward communism. One of the most important components of the program for building communism is the comprehensive development of heavy industry, the foundation of the country's socialist economy. Alongside a powerful industrial sector, it is essential to have a highly developed agriculture capable of producing sufficient food and raw materials to ensure an uninterrupted supply of consumer goods and to meet other national needs. Thanks to the care and attention of the Party and the Government, socialist agriculture has been steadily equipped with the most advanced technology and has continued to develop on the basis of the rapid growth of heavy industry. Conditions have been created for the vigorous expansion of agricultural production, and both the gross output of major crops and livestock products have increased. At the same time, as noted in the directives of the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union concerning the Sixth Five-Year Plan for the National Economy of the USSR (1956-1960), the targets for agricultural production established under the Fifth Five-Year Plan were not fulfilled. This shortcoming hindered the development of light and food industries as well as the production of consumer goods. The level of mechanization and automation in agricultural production processes remained inadequate, and the powerful technical resources provided to agriculture by the socialist state were not being fully utilized. The principal task of the Sixth Five-Year Plan was therefore to ensure further vigorous growth in all sectors of the national economy on the basis of the priority development of heavy industry, continuous technological progress, and rising labor productivity; to achieve rapid growth in agricultural production; and, on this foundation, to significantly improve the material well-being and cultural standard of the Soviet people. The mechanization and electrification of agriculture are decisive forces without which the progressive development of socialist agricultural production is inconceivable. They create the conditions necessary for the continuous growth of labor productivity and for improving the standards of both crop cultivation and animal husbandry. The experience of leading workers has demonstrated that an unlimited increase in crop yields and livestock productivity can be achieved when the effective use of machinery is skillfully combined with advanced methods of agricultural and biological science. The dissemination and practical application of scientific achievements and advanced experience constitute the responsibility of all agricultural specialists. Every agricultural specialist, every manager of a collective farm or state farm, and every agronomist should possess a sound understanding of the fundamentals of agricultural mechanization and electrification, be able to comprehend the operating principles of various machines and mechanisms, and guide their proper use. The course Agricultural Mechanization and Electrification is intended precisely to serve this purpose. This textbook is designed to help students acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills relating to the construction and operation of agricultural machinery, the adjustment of its mechanisms, the organization of the proper use of machines, and the mechanization of various agricultural processes and sectors. In each chapter, greater attention should be devoted to studying those machines and processes that are of the greatest production significance for the particular region, territory, or republic concerned, while correspondingly reducing coverage of material of lesser importance to the area. Theoretical instruction should be combined with practical training involving the direct use of machinery.