Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1912-04-26
FARM MACHINERY
lBy W. u. Love in the Washington
Agriculturist.)

| F""llS houSSu aud cared Tor is IN evil
dence on every hand, and even the
casual observer can pick out the
shiftless farmer from his thrifty
neighbor by the manner in which
he cares for his machinery. Poor
care indicates shiftliness. waste and
a necessity for buying more machin-
cry soon. Good machinery we'll
housed and kept in good repair indi-
Gates thrift, prosperity and long lived
machinery. Few people realize the
enormous sums spent annually for
farm machinery in the United States
by the farmers. In 1899 about "a
per cent of all the crops raised. or
| 9,715,970, was spent for farm
machinery Hence it is important
that the repair and maintenance of
machinery be considered, because of
the saving to the farmer.
1t is estimated by conservative
men that the average life of poorly
housed and repaired machinery is
less than one-half what it should be,
or IN other words, a piece of ma
| chinery which has been used one sea-
son and allowed to weather until the
next season, is in worse shape than
after two seasons of work with
| proper care. 1t has been stated by
| the late Professor King of Wisconsin
that pillow which has been used and
allowed to stand out in the weather
| the rest of the season is in worse
shape than one that has been oper-
ated two seasons with proper care.
This is due to the oXidizing or rusting
of the polished parts; the rust doing
more damage than the result of a
seasons work.
The maintenance OF farm machin-
cry naturally divides itself into three
heads: CD Housing and protecting
from the weather; CO repairing,
and CD painting.
| 1t is no sign that a piece Of machin-
cry is well housed and cared for just
because it stands under a roof. for
the shed may be leaky or have water
standing in it during the rainy sea
son; besides this, the machinery may
serve as a hen Yoost or bed compan-
ions for hogs, calves. cattle and
horses. In such cases machinery
may be broken after being stored. or
stock may be injured. A good ma
chine shed should have a dry floor.
which may be earth or otherwise
and sufficient room to accomm odate
the farm machinery without too
much piling up or unnecessary move
ment of machinery to get at the par
ticular implement wanted
A shed 90 feet by 40 feet. rooted
one way and opened on the high side
to admit the machinery, will house
all the implements needed on a 1861
acre farm. The opened side may
have sliding doors or panels to keep
out livestock and chickens. Along
this line it will be advisable to note
whether your implement dealer al
lows new implements to stand out in
the weather or not and if he does
they most certainly depreciate in
value
At least one-half of good care con-
sists in keeping the machinery prop
erly repaired, in good adjustment
and thoroughly oiled when is use.
When machinery is being housed
it should be well cleaned, oiled or
creased to prevent rusting This is
a good time to note all repairs that
should be made before next season S
work begins; write these on a tag
and fasten the tag to the machine
| During the winter season go over the
machinery and make the repairs that
are needed. When at work a ma
chine should be in as near perfect
adjustment as possible, to do the best
work with the least draft. Often
times an improperly adjusted part of
a machine not only increases the
| dfdll On the tenn, nut many Tim eS
leads to the ruination of other parts.
| All bookings and gearings should fit
up snugly, but not too tightly, and
be well fabricated with some good
lubricating oil This brings up the
question of lubricating oil and there
are many good lubricants on the
market; likewise many that are poor,
which get gummy and dry up, or else
are too thin and of a poor quality
to give good service Usually the
higher the speed of the machinery
and the lighter the work, the thinner
the oil which should be used. pro-
vided it is of good quality While
for the slOw-moying, heavily loaded
parts heavy lubricant of some kind
should be used. For ordinary farm
machinery, a medium thin oil OF