The Russellville Democrat., 1884-05-15
Storing Away Farm Machinery.

I suppose it is hardly necessary to tell 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 tho carelessness of farmers in this respect had notfamiliari- ty with it worn of 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 secs implements shel- tered instead of being left unprotected.
 It is popularly supposed that the ob- feet 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 eats 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 clements is more destructive to machinery than the wear and tear of use: yet the farmer neglects, year after year, to store away his implements se- 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- ters. corn-planters, wheat-drills, culti- vators, mowers, rakes, reapers, etc., will not be needed for six months. Spend day in storing them
 But before you cook yorr hare. says Mrs. Glass, first catch IL; so before you can stora away your farm machinery under shelter you must have 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. It must exclude sun and rain; that is all. A shed, sided with boards nailed horizontally to posts set in the ground, and roofed with boards laid on pole rafters, will do this, and do it well. It may not be beau tiful thing, but it will be very good shelter, all you want unless you have money to spend for beauty. ltmay not be so durable as one painted and roofed 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 is not enough to draw the farm machin- cry under it. It must first be cleansed of all dirt. Drawing blow through q composition of aluminium and aqua pura may put pretty fresco on the mold board, but you must wash of that fresco before you put the blow away. Brighten up the steel parts and paint the woodwork Give the steel parts a coating of tallow or coal-oil, to prevent their rusting. If the floor of the shed is of earth, blocks 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. It is impossible to do good job of plow- ing with rusty blow, agood job of fmow- ing with rusty mower, or good job of drilling with rusty drill. This ap- plies as we'll to tie 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 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.