The Winslow mail., 1897-09-18
TOPICS FOR FARMERS
A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR
OUR RURAL FRIENDS.
The Farmer ShouId Use Good Imp1e.
ments and Buy Only What Is Needed
Qualities Needed to Make a Good
Farmer-Genera1 Notes.
Tools for the Farmer.

AOO1S IOT the II ar mGr,
That the farmer or gardener may be
successful, the next thing to having
good, rich soil lying we'll and well
drained naturally or properly under
drained is to have the best of tools
Some tools are necessary, and, annual
ly, more or less tools must be bought.
but be careful as to what and how you
buy. Plows, harrows, cultivators and
most farming implements are now
made on wheels that they may be the
more easily used and the more easily
transferred from field to field. | had
often wondered years ago why these
tools were not made on wheels-har-
rows especially, as they are so difficult
and dangerous to load on wagon. or
even on a sled. 1 suppose this is the
main reason this tool has had more
fence-corner protection and exposure
in the field than any other.
In buying tools my rules are these:
| get only those l need. Tools not
needed are useless, and to get them at
any price is to throw money away. 1
get those most needed first, and then
the way seems to open somehow 10 get
others as necessity demands. 1 want
my own tools-dO not depend on bor-
rowing. Neighbors that have good
tools do not like to lend them, and any
how I cannot afford to spend time to
run after them and return them after
waiting, perhaps, some time for their
owners first to do their own work.
try to get the very best of the kinds
l buy. 1t pays best in the long run.
Secondhand tools are generally dear
at any price. The other day l bought
secondhand buggy to hack about
with dirt cheap, as l thought, but be-
fore could use it had to get a new
pair of shafts, new this and new that,
and repair here and fix there, until it
has become very dear buggy, and is
an old one still. Then a lot of old
things lying around are an eye-sore,
and no recommendation to a farmers
taste, tact or thrift.
There are several makes of good
ploWs, good harrows and good cultiva-
tors, but think it wise to prove the
different makes and then choose the
best. A plow that will not scour in all
soils, that will not run deep and steady
and cut and turn nicely and smoothly
a good furrow, is poor toOl-should
be let alone.
would not now purchase harrow
or cultivator that was not on
good high wheels. A few years ago l
purchased a horse hoe-an excellent
tool, by the way, but the wheel was SO
small that to me it was a nuisance.
made pattern, and got one cast fully
three times as large as the one furnish
ed by the company, and it is a success.
Going to and from the field, running
along the rows, at the ends, in turn
ing-in short, in all kinds of work, the
large wheel is vastly superior to the
small one.
So, when 1 came to buy a hand
wheel hoe, tried to get one that suit
ed me in other respects with wheels
from twenty to thirty inches high, but
failing to find one at the time to suit
me, l concluded against my better
judgment to take one with small
wheels-about ten inches highland
how annoying they were! Every little
clod, or stone, or depression was in
the way. 1t was difficult to run across
it's own markings So at considerable
expense l made and attached a wheel
broader in the rim and about twenty
four inches high, and thus converted
the troublesome, provoking tool into
one of pleasure.-Practica Farmer.