The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-04-15

hay which had been beforehand pitched
up by men into haycocks there was no
man on the ground. A young girl was
driving the team over the hay which lay.
in this case, without being even raked
up. Her father, the owner of the farm,
had his hands full spreading out the
hay, or loading it as the machine brought
it up to him. The team walked at a
fast pace around the field and when it
was back by the gate big load was on.
A minutes work disconnected the loader
and saw the team well on the way to
the barn where the hay fork had already
unloaded the preceding load and the
wagon stood ready to go back to the field
while this load was being unloaded.
With the hay fork at the barn, and
one horse to run it, and with two wag-
ons constantly in use either loading or
unloading, that particular hay crop
was handled with a surprisingly small
human force and at speed which made
the writer wonder as he mentally wan
dered back, not so many years, to the
time when he had himself helped with
several others in getting in the hay crop
in the old, slow way.
Space does not permit review of all
the interesting labor saving machinery
which the farmer has an opportunity to
secure this season, even though the con-
sideration of new farm machinery must
always be an interesting one to farmer
and city dweller alike. Suffice it to say
on this point that the Mccormick NOW
ers, binders, and corn harvesters are still
handled by this firm which has as great
faith in implements bearing that name
as they did when the junior member of
the firm was employed by that company.
These implements are even better than
last year. A full stock of repairs is car
ried to protect all farmers whose ma
chimes may happen to play in hard luck,
which however is not often. 1t may be
said right here that Payne & Graham
expect to carry Mccormick goods in
stock indefinitely. In fact they will
carry them until something appears
which is their superior, and from their
experience with McCormicks in the past
they have no reason to think that they
can possibly find such an excuse for
years to come, since the Mccormick al
ways has and evidently always intends
to keep in the very front in making la
Dor saving farm machinery.
In considering farm savings there is
another matter which, if not exactly in
the line of farm machinery, cannot es-
cape consideration entirely, and that is
the matter of fencing. Time was when
the farm furnished all its own fencing
Now, rails are not so plenty and lumber
is not to be thought OF. The old barbed
wire stretched one strand at time, is
too inconvenient, too wasteful, and too
dangerous. Some form of readymade
wire fencing seems more than ever
necessary The firm handles the Page
and the Kokomo fencing. Both are good
although the Kokomo seems to be the
favorite in this county, both on account
of the diamond shaped form in which
the wire is woven, and because it sells
at a lower price than the other 1t is
made of a hard steel galvanized wire
which makes 1T seem practically inde-
structible. The price. contrary to the
notion of many, is not high. In fact
some farmers who have used it claim
that the value of the rails IN an old
fence will, if the rails are sawed up into
wood, be sufficient to pay for the wire
fence which displaces it. Ibis may
not be literally true but it shows that
the expense is not as great as many
suppose.
If anything more is said at this time
it should be in the nature of congrat-
ulatory reference to the members of the
firm themselves. Mr.. Payne, the senior
member has been connected with the
firm since its first organization. The
junior member has been but little less
intimately associated with it. At first,
merely stationed here as block agent
for the Mccormick machines, he took
an active interest in the business. es-
pecially along the line of assisting in the
sale of the machines he represented.
Something more than four years ago
however he became identified with the
firm which then assumed the name of
w E. Payne & Co., Mr.. Graham being
the company. Last December however,
the officers of the trust decided to com
bine the work of the block agents Of
the five different makes of machines
which entered into it and offered MIR.
Graham the same position with the
new organization. Here he would have
an assistant but would have to superin-
tend the sales of all five makes and
would have been obliged to give up his
interest in the Owosso firm to devote
his entire time to the work of the
harvester company. After think
ing the matter over carefully he sur
prised and disappointed the managers
by declining their offer, which was an
attractive one, and remaining with the
firm which he and his partner, Mr..
Payne had worked together for four
years and longer to build up. The
name was then changed, to show the
personnel of the firm more clearly, to
Payne & Graham, as it now stands.
Both men are known from one end Of
county to the other, are liked and re-
spected, and given the credit of knowing
farm machinery from start to finish.
Better even than the latter they are
credited with the reputation of getting