The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-12-07

suppose 1t is hardly necessary 90 tell
| your readers that they should store
/, away the farming implements. They
know this well 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 not familiari-
| 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
ject 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 Ia
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, year 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 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, Guilt
vatOrs, mowers, rakes, reapers, etc.,
will not be needed for six months.
Spend day in storing them
But before you cook Your hare, saws
Mrs. Glass, first catch IL: so before you
can store away your farm machinery
under shelter you must have a shelter.
This is the great bugbear. A shelter
costs SO much, farmers say. Not
necessarily so. A good shelter an
swering every purpose, can 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 very good
shelter, all you want unless you have
money to spend for beauty. Itmay got
be SO durable as one painted and rooted
with shingles, but it will save You
enough money to erect painted, shin
gle-rOofed shelter in few years. A
straw shed, if dry, makes very good
shelter.
After you have built the shelter it il
not enough to draw the farm machin-
cry under it. 1t must first be cleansed
of all dirt. Drawing pillow through a
composition OF aluminium and aqua
pura may put a 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
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 good job of pIow-
ing with rusty pillow, a good job of NOW
ing with a rusty mower, or a good job
of drilling with rusty drill. This APP
plies as well to the minor implements
of farming. Bright spades, shoyels,
hoes. and forks will do better work and
with less labor expended in their use
than rusty ones. As soon as 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