The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-05-16
Care Of Farm Machinery.

Machinery and farming implements
are injured more by exposure than by
using them in the fields. The cost of
renewing or repairing them is in a large
measure preyentible. Commenting on
this matter, AgricWLtitre, paper in
tended for the tenant farmers of En-
gland, says: There is no department
of the farm upon VIII CHI more careless
ness exists than in that of farm ma
chinery, nor is there one in which more
money is needlessly wasted, for where
We find one farmer who intelligently
uses the machinery of the farm We
will find twenty who neglect them. 1t
is but too generally the practice for
farmers to hold their implements as
things that require no attention at their
hands, and there are farms upon which
there is no provision for storing such
under cover; whilst on others you will
find damp, open shed. into which
they are put during the winter, to be
brought out, when wanted for use. COW
cred with rust, and necessitating a visit
to the implement-maker or the village
blacksmith before they can be put TO
work. Farmers such as these will al
ways be found declaiming against the
cost and useleSsness of farm machinery.
And well they may: but they appear to
be utterly oblivious of the fact that it is
owing to their own neglect that the
greater portion of the expense is in
cured. Cleanliness to the machine is
the equivalent of ablution to man; dry
shelter equivalent to Clothing and
dwelling; oil equivalent to food and
drink. Without these the frame of man
decays; without these the implement
decays. AS man can not do without
these essentials for a heightened time,
and then go 10 a doctor to be made
whole, SO machine, left without them
through the winter, can not be restored
to its normal state by the Implement
maker or the blacksmith. The imple-
ment may be cleaned and patched up.
but where rust has laid upon it its cor
rosiye grip it is Immediately injured,
and its working life is shortened. These
are facts that can not be controverted;
and on every farm, be it large or small.
where implements are in use. it will
pay, and paw well, TO treat them in a
rational and common-sense manner.
Farmers who thus subject their ma
chinery to bad treatment would receive
a practical lesson of much value by Wis
iting large Engineering establishment,
remarks~a correspondent of Scotch
journal, and noting the scrupulQus
cleanliness and brightness of the ma
chinery in uSe-not a speck of dirt that
can be removed, each Joint oiled and
working smoothly and noiselesslv.- Per-
haps it may be said that implements
that are worked out of doors can not be
kept like those in foundry. Perhaps
not; but much can be done that is now
but too frequently left undone. Dur
ingfhe recent harvest we were in a
corn field on small farm in the Eng
lish lake district. The tenant was him.
self driving T1wo-horse COM
oined mower and reaper. and We re-
marked upon the excellent work he was
making His reply was that it had
been in work for fifteen years, and had
not cost him IS .many shillings during
that time in repairs, whilst Similar ma
chimes in the district had to 90 to be re-
paired eyery season-siL said he, for
lack of a little trouble, 8 sap Of oil, and
a dry bed during the winter months.
At the end of days work. half an
hour is proitaSly spent in wiping down
a wet machine, and giving it a rub
over with OIL taking good care to al
WAYS keep the frictional parts in easy
working order BY means Of oil. At the
end of the season extra care should he
used in thoroughly cleaning machinery
that Aasr 10 lay by during the winter,
and inoilinsand Painting. if necessary.
10 ward off rust They then should be
housed in 4 dry building, on a wooden
floor. il practicable. but should certain
ly never be allowed To stand all through
the winter months On 3 damp earth
floor. These precautions will pay ioI
themselves many times over. and the
Implements. when required for next
years Use, can be made available with |
very little trouble Another and valu- |
able point should not be overlooked. If, |
after the wear and tear of cutting, a !
machine is seen to be in need of repair, !
let it be done at once. DO not leave
the repair over until spring. for there
is The probability of lis being forgotten
until it is absolutely wanted. Let it DO
done in the autumn. when there is time
to see that it is done properly. If left
to the busy time in the spring, there is
the almost certainty OF the work being
and valuable time lost in con
sequence of a break-down.-C htca2'
Zines.