Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-26
VERMONT PHG1Nx BRATTIEBORO FRIDAY, MARCH 90 1880


/ Comparatively few farmers have either
! mechanical knowledge or skill They can
not make the simplest implements they are
required to use. They cannot repair any of
/ the machines they operate in their fields.
| Their houses and outbuildings are often in
very bad condition because they are unable
to use the tools used by a carpenter, and the
! employment of a skilled mechanic is attend
ed with too much trouble and expense.
| Their wagons and carriages are rarely in n
thorough state Of repair Something is or
dinarly the matter with their harnesses.
Their grindstone does not run true. Their
pumps leak. The handles Of their axes,
spades shovcls and hoes are all in bad con-
dtion.
A large proportion OF the expense of run
ming farm is caused by the erection and re-
pairs of fences. man without mechanical
skill cannot make new fence or properly re-
pair an old one. He will ruin the boards he
attempts to cut, and break the nails he under
takes to drive. He cannot make gate. He
cannot even hang gate so that it will swing
properly after it is made. As a consequence,
there are bars instead of gates on his farm.
As further consequence, the fences afford
poor protection to crops, while they disfgure
the premises they ought, by right, to orna-
ment. A farmer possessed of mechanical
skill ordinarily has fences that are ornate in
appearance as well as those that turn stock of
all kinds They are also furnished with gates
that do not sag.
farmer without mechanical skill can nei-
Their graft trees nor pruuc them. The trees
in his orchard the shrubbery in his lawns.
aud the vines in his vineyard always present
an unseemly appearance. He has no walks
about his grounds, because he does not know
how to construct them. There is no scraper
ON his doorstep. His hay-rack is always out
of order, and the like is true of his field roller,
marker, and cutivator. He can use few
of his machines to the best advantage while
all of them soon wear out under his manage
ment The use of machines and all kinds of
improved farming implements calls for me-
chanical skill. Without it their full value is
never realized. while their speedy destruction
is insured Farm machinery is expensive and
every effort should be made to make it last rs
long as possible.
very large proportion of farming opera
tions are purely mechanical. Mechanical
skill is necessary TO construct good stack of
hay or grain, or to properly build load of
hay. A lack of mechanical skill causes shocks
of corn to blow over. Mechanical skill is ne
cessary to lay out land in ploughing, and to
so gauge the burrows that the land will come
out even. The appearance of many cult
waited fields shows an absence of mechanical
them. The sides are not even at the end
where the team turns in ploughing there is
often variation of n rod or more from true
line the burrows are crooked in all parts of
the field the rows of corn or potatoes are not
straight, and as consequence many of the
hills are injured by being worked with a cul-
tivator
Mechanics who turn farmers find the knowl-
edge they have acquired in the practice of
A.
become precise from long practice They put
a proper estimate on the value of straight
lines in ploughing and planting. They have
a proper regard for the appearance of things.
A critical observer states that the gardens Of
village mechanics ARE much better laid out
and carefully tended than those of farmers.
The former use measure for locating the
rows of vegetables and employ line for
guide in setting out plants The latter do
these thugs "hy guess and in consequence
leave much land to grow up in grass and
weeds The use of the square, rule and
compass in the shop leads to accuracy in op-
erations in the field and garden and accuracy
leads to economy in the use of land
A work shop is most valuable auxiliary
to the farm and garden. Its tendency is to
make one careful and precise in the use of
tools of every description. 1t is good school
room for boys. 1t helps develop mechanical
ingenuity, which is as valuable to a farmer as
to a machnist. The more boys handle shop
TOOLS the more dextrous they will be with
farming tools. With good work shop. prof
table employment may be found during n
large proportion of winter, and during rainy
days at other seasons of the year. To keep
a farm with its numerous buildings, fences
and tools in repair, requires mechanical skill
which farmers may acquire if they will set
themsev Z and their sons about it.-CHi-
cage Times.