The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-18
Mechanical skin for Farmers.

Wm j. Fowler, in Philadel phia' Press.
1t was Cicero who remarked in reference to
the requisites for success in his profession that
all knowledge was important to one who would
be an orator This observation may now DO
made Of the farmer. There is no information ON
any subject that come amiss to him, and i'm
these days of improved labor saving machinery,
mechanical ingenuity is essential to the highest
success
believe that many complicated agricultural
implements have been positive damage to their
purchasers. Occasionally farmers with natural
genius for mechanics get hold of some compli-
Gated machine and make a success of it. For
every one who does this there are two who fail
1t is probable that much moro machiu-
cry fails to pay its first cost in farming
than in any other vocation. The grow
ing scarcity and dearness of labor forces
farmers to buy labor saving inventions, especial
ly those necessary to the harvesting of crops
The farmer who sees self-blnder doing coed
work under skillful management does not recog-
nlze how largely this success is due to the man
in charge of it. His own grain is suffering, and
he buys some machinery which he does not COM
prehend and cannot manage.
For many farmers it is safer to hire the use OK
intricate machines, wnen it Is necessary, than to-
purchase them. 1t may seem expensive to pay
some man 81. so, or even more acre to harvest
and bind grain, yet it may be less costly than to
purchase the machinery, unless the farmer have
special ability for this work. We shall find the
division of labor in this respect as advantageous
in farming as it has been iii other kinds Of busi-
ness young man with some genius for usiUg
machinery may proftably work few acres. and
employ his time in harvest in running self bind
ing reapers, and after in threshing grain. His
time at other seasons can be employed III man
aging tile-draining machines, or IN removing
stumps and stones from rough land.
When we come TO implements complicated
enough to tie knots and bind bundles it should
be understood that nobody without natural gen
JUS for mechanics or an especial apprenticeship
III the business can manage them. Yet, they aTa
purchased by thousands who do not understand
the first principles Of mechanics 1t is to tho
credit of womans mechanical skill that so many
and various kinds OF sewing machines are sue
cessfully run. With coarser implements fog
farm use it is very different. / am certain that
number of improved harvesters which have
been cast aside could be made successful in tina
hands of men with the skill to use them.
AT the same time we must take farmers al
they are. Machinery should be as simple as pas
sihle for the average. And yet it is the duty OF
young farmers to give more attention to mechan-
lcal devices, with the certainty that all tle
knowledge thus gained Will be increasingly USE
full as the years roll by. More attention should
be given the laws of mechanics in country
schools. Ii this leads young men away from the
farm 1t will be no loss, though the opportunities
for working machinery so great
on the farm that a young man having liking
for this business may well regard himself as
especially adapted to a farmers ife 1T is cer-
tain that for those possessing skill enough To
manage farm labor saving Implements tho
drudgery of farming is far less than it used to
be when all grain was harvested with sickle or
cradle Yet, it is quite often remarked by farm
ers that harvesting is as expensive as it ever
was. In other words the larger part of the
benefit from labor saving machinery has thus
far Injured to the benefit of those who do the
work rather than of the capital which employs
them. This is curious commentary on the ig-
norant prejudice of workmen, who a few years
ago, threatened the destruction of harvesting
implements designed TO relieve them from much
of their severest labor.
When working man can be found who has
the skill to manage any kind of implement he is
entitled to and should receive higher wages than
one equally ably physically but whose ability
consists in brute strength. Really the skillfI
man is nearly always the most powerful physic-
ally. His muscles may not be stronger, but ha
better knows the use OF them and makes fevse
false motions.