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All multi-cylinder engines share a common trait - their cylinders do not fire in sequence. I was taught it was to cut down on vibration, but there may be other reasons as well, like ease of manufacturing the crankshaft, etc. Since the distributor turns in what would be called a linear manner, it becomes necessary to "cross" some spark plug wires in order to make the sparks occur at the right time for each cylinder. This can make for completely simple but incredibly confusing problems, especially for garage mechanics who work on various brands of engines randomly. For that reason, many engines (especially V-8's) have their firing orders cast into the manifolds in large numbers in very visible places. Getting back to our tractors, a person who didn't know about this would instinctively hook the wires up to fire 1,2,3,4. And these engines will generally run on only two cylinders, so the fact that they have only half power isn't discovered right away.
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