Splendor In The Grass

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Deere thinks there are profits in targeting suburbanites with smallish yards too. The company launched an entry-level line of lawn tractors last year, priced from $1,500 to $2,500, selling Deere-brand tractors for the first time outside its dealer network, through the Home Depot. The chain has since sold more than 200,000 units, one of its most successful launches in lawn-and-garden gear. Even these beginner models, like the L130, have feature lists out of an auto showroom: "more leg room," "deluxe-comfort" seat, two-pedal automatic transmission. Jeff Barron, a power-equipment specialist at a Home Depot in McDonough, Ga., says some customers with modest yards want to impress the neighbors with the iconic brand: "There are people who buy one, keep it in the garage and have somebody else use it to cut their grass."

But that's not what McCall is doing. Come Halloween, he attaches the wagon to his X595 and takes local kids for hayrides. The halogen headlights proved handy when his mother-in-law came to baby-sit. "It was 9 o'clock at night," McCall says. "The kids were wound up. I was getting aggravated, so I decided to cut the grass." Not everyone, however, is enamored with his Deere. At a recent homeowners' association meeting, a neighbor asked if McCall might recuse himself from a Lawn of the Month contest, owing to the unfair edge his tractor gives him. McCall says he doesn't intend to back down.

--With reporting by Mike Billips/Atlanta, Wendy Malloy/Tampa and Michael Peltier/Tallahassee