Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1891 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. & Remedy for the Abase ot Farm Machinery—The Sheep Raising Industry Notes About Hogs—Use Care with Horses Instead or Medicine—The Poultry Yard—Household Hints, Etc. The Care of Farm Machinery.

TT"V,ARM machinery t“V. is an item of greatest expense in farm economy, and the careless manner in which it is often cared i \\J for between crop 1 and harvest seaI sons, has added greatly to its cost » to many. Tho 1 JR life of a plow, harvester, or Jy other implement W may be prolonged V at least one-third by care and fair ■JIOP usage. If the careless farmer will consider this

Item of worse than useless expense, he will be surprised to see how much his wasteful methods are losing him. Now that the harvest season is over, the valuable machinery used in this work should be cleaned up, oiled and pat under good shelter. And so of all other implements when the season is over. An old farmer who reformed on this line several years ago, and kept account of his Implements, says his former wastefulness and careless manner of keeping implements he found would cost him more than all the taxes he had to pay annually. Now he carefully cleans and oils his implements and stores them in dry places, and when the season comes again uses first coal oil to cut the hardened oil on the working parts, and he is ready with new light-running machinery to go into his fields. His own experience has been to make his farm implements last and do good work twice as many years as formerly. It is these little wastes, which in themselves seem trifling, but are many sided, and become a great burden to those who do not note and avoid them. On this subject Hollister Sage, in Farm and Home, gives some suggestions for the erection ot a suitable building for the shelter of tools and machinery. He says: It is not to be wondered at that manufacturers of agricultural machinery get rich. The owner of farm machinery would do vastly better to go in debt for means with which to build a tool and machine house, than get trusted for new implements with which to work his land and then leave them to Nature's mercies. The indispensables' itt a td6T hVJiish are a tight roof and dry flooi*. For the fibrmer it is doubtful if anything is superior or in the long run cheaper than shingles. For floor lumber will do, but a welldrained, slightly raised floor made of coal-ashes, engine cinders, clay qr brick is preferable, being more durable and stronger. But a floor of this kind positively must be well drained of the machines will be injured by dampness from below. Where' a site can be secured next the road and sloping from it, the sills laid on low walls can be filled level with the flooring. This will pack down hard and give great satisfaction. On

level land it is better to raise the ground in front of the tool house to the height of the floor than to use an incline, as itis easier to roll the stock in and out. An excellent building erected for this purpbsoT saw in Worcester County, Mass. It is built like the drawing. The little doors enter a shop eight feet wide across one end. Rolling doors protect the remainder of the front. They are hung so as to pkss one another or the small doors and the convenience is perfect. Wagons or machines out of order may be taken bodily into the shop where wrenches, etc., quickly put them to rights wet days. The shed is twenty feet wide and may be made of any desired length. A roiling platform Bxl2 feet covers an aperture in the upper floor through which sleighs, rakes and other light things are raised by pulleys for storage. A piece of scantling fastened to the wall near the flodr will prevent mowers and wagons from marring it with their hubs. Abundance of light should be let in and the fowls kept out the same as snow and other.destructive agencies. ConTsnii-nt Bag-holder.

It is very annoying to try to put grain into a bag alone. Of all the Various holders devised, I like the one shown in illustration the best, says J. W Luckey in the Practical Farmer. No description of it is needed. Any farmer ,can see from ‘the picture how it is made and *ised. I have found it

very handy. It can be folded up and put away when not in use.