The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-01-01
The Care Of Tools.

The great tax imposed on the farmers
of the West is for implements to cultivate
and harvest their crops. Much of this
tax is selfimposed and might be avoided
If farmers took even reasonable care Of
their implements. No class of men give
so little attention, or take so poor care OF
the Implements they use, as do farmers.
If engineers gave as little care to the loco
motive and stationary engines under their
charge, they would not last half as long
Is they do now, while accidents would be
more frequent. If the machinery of fac
torv received NO better care than the ma
chinery Of farm receives, the operatives
would be out of employment large pro-
portion of the time, and the stockholders
would receive less dividends than the
original stockholders in most railroads.
Men best qualified to know, state that
farm implements receive more injury dur
ing the time they are not in use than
during the period they are in operation.
This loss is the result of carelessness,
pure and undefiled. 1t deserves to be
ranked as a sin rather than classed as an
act of omission. 1t is one Of the causes
of hard times that could easily be pre-
vented.
Perhaps one reason why farmers are so
careless about their implements is that
they were not accustomed in early life to
anything very complicated. Most of the
costly machinery now used ON farms has
been introduced within the past few
years. At the period of its introduction,
prices of produce were high and farming
was in a prosperous condition. This
state of things did not tend to make
farmers careful and painstaking. They
began to be careless with their machines,
and the custom became second nature
Possibly, some farmers take little or no
suitable care Oftheir implements because
they do not know what suitable care is.
Generally, however, the carelessness one
sees manifest in plows, harrows, reapers
and mowers, being left out OF doors dur
ing long and changeable winter, is the
result of prOcrastination. 1t is not the
intention at the time of leaving them to
let them remain in the fields, where they
will be handy to use next season, but they
are left temporarily, on account of the
hurry of farm work; and having become
rusty, and being frozen in the ground, it
is concluded that they will not be injured
much more by letting them remain.
All tools require to be kept in dry,
and, if practicable, a tolerably warm
place. Moisture causes the decay of
wood and the rusting of metals. Freez-
ing causes injury to wood by expanding
the pores where the moisture is CONCEAL
ed. In most respects the upper, rather
than the lower, part of a building is the
best place to store tools. In the first
place they are completely out of the way,
do not require to be moved about, and
are less liable to accidents. The barn
floor is not the best place in the barn to
store implements. They are in the way
there. Men and boys are liable to stumble
over them, and if cattle and horses break
loose in the night, double damage is
liable to be done. Dirt of every kind col
lects on barn floor, and more or less of
it will find its way into the journals of a
machine, or will adhere to all kinds of
surfaces. The friction OccasiOned by re-
moving hay and straw that has fallen on
painted surfaces will give them, at least,
an unsightly appearance.
In many respects scaffold at the end
of barn is better place for tools than
is the ground floor. All things consid-
cred, place near the roof makes the best
depository. There they occupy no room
available for other purposes, and there
the temperature will ordinarily be found
to be the warmest. Farmers might take
hint from carriage makers, who so often
put their choice materials on supports in
the top of their shops, partially for con-
venience in getting them out of the way,
and partly because OF the favorable tenn
perature. A painted surface will come
out in the spring in the best possible con-
dition if the article is inverted when
putting it away. All the dust and grit
fall on the side that is less conspicuous
and the least exposed to wear when the
article is in use. This suggestion will
apply to plOws, harrows and cultivators,
as we'll as to more costly implements.
All iron and steel surface should be
clean and free from rust when they are
put away, for rust seems to encourage
further rusting, as minute spot will
spread to much larger dimensions. Petro-
leum, hogs lard, or fat of almost any
kind will afford protection against rust
ing by keeping away the moisture and
air. A coating of these substances can
DE much easier removed in the spring
than coating Of rust. Moving and
reaping machines should be taken apart
and thoroughly cleaned before putting
away. All the gummy substances should
be removed from the journals by the use
of piece of hard wood, or other suitable
substance that will leave no scratch, and
if the substance is unyielding it should
be softened by petroleum, naptha, or
the surface should be wiped dry with a
soft cloth or loose cotton, and then COW
cred or rubbed with oil.-Praiyie Farmer.