Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-14
Storing Away Farm Machinery.

your readers that they should store
away the farming implements. They
know this we'll enough, however poorly
they may put their knowledge to prac-
tice. A person travelling over the coun-
try would wonder at the carelessness of
farmers in this respect had notfamiliari-
ty with it worn off the edge Of surprise.
In the Eastern States he will find farm
machinery best taken care of. AS he
goes westward he will find the careless
ness increasing, and by the time he
reaches Kansas and Nebraska he will
wonder when he sees implements shell
tered instead of being left unprotected.
1t is popularity supposed that the OBJ
iect of farming is to make money. The
farmer is accredited with no better mo-
tive for working than the love of gain.
He tolls early and late for dollars and
dimes. But when we consider the way
he treats his farm machinery we are
constrained to think that he has no re-
gard or care for money, and that he la
bors to obtain money to purchase farm
machinery only to let the wind, rain
and sun destroy it. For the action of
these elements is more destructive to
machinery than the wear and tear Of
use; yet the farmer neglects, yeas after
year, to store away his implements Sc
cure from sun and weather.
At this time the busy operations of
the farm are drawing to a close. The
season of cultivation is almost ended.
The ground for grain has been pre-
pared, the seed has been sown, the
plants cultivated, and, with the excep-
ton of corn, the crop has been harvest
ed. Flows, harrows, rollers, stalk-cut-
tiers, corn-planters, wheat-drills, culti-
vators, mowers, rakes, reapers, etc.,
will not be needed for six months.
Spend a day in storing them.
4 aBut before you cook your hare, says
Mrs. Glass, first catch it; SO before you
can store away your farm machinery
under a shelter you must have q shelter.
This is the great bugbear. A shelter
costs SO much, farmers say. Not
necessarily SO. A good shelter an
swering every purpose, a be con
%structed at small cost. 1t must exclude
sun and rain; that is all. A shed, sided
with boards nailed horizontally to posts
set in the ground, and rooted with
boards laid on pole %rafters, will do this,
and do it well. 1t may not be a beau
tiful thing, but it will be a very good
shelter, all you want unless you have
money to spend for beauty. Itmay not
be so durable as one painted and rooted
with shingles, but it will save you
enough money to erect a painted, shin
gle-roofed shelter in a few years. A
straw shed, if dry, makes a very good
shelter.
After you have built the shelter it is
not enough to draw the farm machin-
cry under it. 1t must first be cleansed
of all dirt. Drawing a pillow through q
composition of aluminium and aqua
pura may put q pretty fresco on the
mold board, but you must wash off that
fresco before you put the pillow away.
Brighten up the steel parts and paint
the woodwork. Give the steel parts q
coating Of tallow or coal-oil, to prevent
| their rusting. If the floor of the shed is
of earth, blocks a couple Of inches thick
should be placed under the implements
to keep them off the ground.
Sheltered implements not only last
longer than those not sheltered but
with them better work can be done. 1t
is impossible to do a good job Of plow-
ing with a rusty pillow, agoodjob ofmow-
ing with a rusty mower, or a good job
of drilling with q rusty drill. This ap-
plies as we'll to the minor implements
Of farming. Bright spades, shovels,
hoes. and forks will do better work and
with less labor expended in their use
than rusty ones. AS soon IS any OF
these implements are no longer needed
they should be cleaned and put in their
places.
Sheltered tools are less liable to break
than those not sheltered. Breaks are
always vexatious because they invaria-
bly, occur when the implement is in
use, and then delays are expensive and
annoying.-Cor. Prairie Farmer.