Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-30
Treating Fence Posts.


is becoming general among the best
farmers. Common coal tar Is melted in
large iron kettle and the end of the
post immersed in the tar to a point a
foot higher than it will be set Tar can
/ be melted in small kettle and APP
piled with a paint or whitewash
brush. A correspondent says his neigh
Dor has tarred cedar posts along the
roadside and ends of his 220 acre farm
that were set twenty-five years ago
and not to exceed one-half dozen have
had to be replaced In that time. which
proves beyond all argument that tar
ring or treating posts with preserva-
tive pays many times over. Fence
post timber is getting scarce. and the
price of posts Is advancing each year.
The farmer should preserve his posts.
Farmer Can "Use" Auto.
The following article appeared in a
recent issue OF an agricultural paper:
"a few years ago a very strong feel
ing prevailed in the rural districts
against the automobile. This was due
to the fact that farm horses were not
accustomed to the So called "go-devils
and accidents were by no means un-
common. For time there was an
effort to create a sentiment against the
automobile so as to legislate it out Of
existence, but that feeling has almost
entirely passed away. Concessions
made on the part of automobile owners
and the exercise of a. greater degree
of tolerance on the part of farmers
have amicably solved the whole diff
Guilty, the result being that the auto
mobile among all classes is more pop
ular today than ever. With the in
crease in the number of machines used
driving horses have become more ac-
customed to them and accidents today
are few and far between.
1--WE are acquainted with a few
farmers who own automobiles, and
we find that these machines are more
highly priced by those who make use
of them on the farm than they are by
the city man. AS the farmer is accus-
toned to handle machinery, he is able
to- use and not abuse his machine,
and as he is his own macIinist he
keeps it from getting out of Keller by
always having 1T in the best of run
ming order. He knows that it is not
the wear and tear during use that is
hard on farm machinery, but the lack
Of care, and, fortified by this knowl-
edge, he can get much greater serv
Ice out of an automobile than can
the average man who possesses no
ability as mechanic.
Horse feed in these times comes
high, and the horse eats whether he
works or not; the automo bile, while it
IS standing still, costs nothing to main
tain. A twenty or twenty-five mile
Journey is days work for the aver
age team while with the automobile
this distance is covered in about an
hour. AS the road drag comes into
more general use the automobile will
Increase in popularity, in our opinion,
because it satisfies a real need on the |
'arm. 1t ds not necessary for us to
the uses to which it can be
put. as each farmer knows full we'll
now often the can use good driving
lorse or a coed team If these are !
and when you consider that |
he. time of a horse can be cnt in two |
md even better than that thu conclu-
'ion must be ,rea ched that the automo-
,ile will be of the greatest service to
when it becomes the dis
ance annihilato1' for the farmer as it
low is for the large body of automo-
,ilists who recognize dts value for get
ing over the ground quickly"