Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-04-24
Gbe farm.
How to have a Neat Farm.


To those whoiafe DESTROYS Of giving
a more orderly appearance to their
premises, but who don't quite know
what to take hold Of first, Hearth and
Home offers some helpful hints: Take
ayoke of cattle or span of horses, and
put them to wagon or cart. Fasten
a stone boat behind. On the stone
boat put a crowbar, pick, hoe, a
spade, an AK, a saw, bush-hook or
scythe, a hammer, nails, spikes, a few
bolts of different sizes, a monkey wrench
and such other tools as you will be
likely to want, and drive along the side
of every fence on the farm. If you
come across a piece of board or bro
ken rail throw it into the wagon. III
you find aplow point, cultivator tooth,
broken reaper guard, horseshoe,
an oil-can, or an old hoe, put it on the
stone-boat and bring it home. Stones
may be thrown on and drawn to some
convenient place. If a board is loose
on the fence, put nail in it. If a
gate Says, straighten it up. IF there
are any bolts in the gate, see that the
nuts are tight. Take man or boy,
or both, along with you. You will
find plenty of work. If there is plank
bridge across a stream, see that the
sleepers are not rotten. The hot sun
has probably warped the planks, and
they will need another spike or two
If there are any sticks or weeds in a
ditch, remove them, and throw out any
dirt that may have been trodden in
from the side by the cattle or hogs
In this way go over the whole farm.
Then attend to the barn-yards. Pick
up anything that may be lying around
and put it in it's proper place. Boards
that are of any use should be placed
in pile by themselves under cover
Those that are useless should be sawn,
and split up into kindling, to be piled
by itself in the wood-shed. If there
are any loose stones in the yards, draw
them off. Scrape up all the scattered
manure or, dirt, and place it in a COM
pact heap where it will ferment, or
draw it at once Oh the grass land and
spread it. Go into the garden and see
if thereis any rubbish there thatshould
be removed, or any sticks or pieces of
boards or tools to pick up. Possibly
you will find some barrel slaves or
hoops about. Make kindling of them.
Ifthere is any old iron about the prem
ises, it is a good time to dispose of it.
It is worth one and half cents per
pound. Old implements, machines,
tools, etc., that are worn out and of no
further use, had better be knocked to
pieces and the iron sold. If there are
any parts that may be useful in repair
ing, they should be preserved by them
selves. This is true of the wood work
as well as of the castings. Almost
everything, sooner or later, comes in
use on farm. But unless you have
abundance of room, it does not pay to
lumber up the premises with useless
implements and machines.
Have all your bags mended; mark
them and hang them up. Mark all
the forks, rakes, hoes, spades, shovels,
corn cutters, etc. Rub them over with
petroleum, and put them in their pro-
per places. Ali harvesttools and ma
VAAAOo olloulu NC Pa1utOu Will poGIO-
leum and slowed away. If you are
short of room, much space may be
saved by taking the wheels off the steel
toothed rake, and the poles and cutter
bars of the mower and reaper. Any
one who has not tried it will be aston
ished how many implements and ma
chimes may be slowed away in small
space. This. will do for a beginning.
Then, when any implement is done
with for the season, rub it over with
petroleum and stow it away. When
once things are in order, it is a COM
paratively easy matter to keep them in
order; but still it is daily work. It
is, however, work that pays over and
over again.