Farm Mechanics

PREFACE

More mechanical knowledge is required on the farm than in any other line of business. If a farmer is not mechanically inclined, he is under the necessity of employing someone who is.

Some farms are supplied with a great many handy contrivances to save labor. Farmers differ a great deal in this respect. Some are natural mechanics, some learn how to buy and how to operate the best farm machinery, while others are still living in the past.

Some farmers who make the least pretensions have the best machinery and implements. They may not be good mechanics, but they have an eye to the value of labor saving tools.

The object of this book is to emphasize the importance of mechanics in modern farming; to fit scores of quick-acting machines into the daily routine of farm work and thereby lift heavy loads from the shoulders of men and women; to increase the output at less cost of hand labor and to improve the soil while producing more abundantly than ever before; to suggest the use of suitable machines to manufacture high-priced nutritious human foods from cheap farm by-products.

Illustrations are used to explain principles rather than to recommend any particular type or pattern of machine.

The old is contrasted with the new and the merits of both are expressed.

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

FARM MECHANICS

CHAPTER I

THE FARM SHOP WITH TOOLS FOR WORKING WOOD AND IRON

FARM SHOP AND IMPLEMENT HOUSE

The workshop and shed to hold farm implements should look as neat and attractive as the larger buildings. Farm implements are expensive. Farm machinery is even more so. When such machinery is all properly housed and kept in repair the depreciation is estimated at ten per cent a year. When the machines are left to rust and weather in the rain and wind the loss is simply ruinous.

More machinery is required on farms than formerly and it costs more. Still it is not a question whether a farmer can afford a machine. If he has sufficient work for it he knows he cannot afford to get along without it and he must have a shed to protect it from the weather when not in use.

In the first place the implement shed should be large enough to accommodate all of the farm implements and machinery without crowding and it should be well built and tight enough to keep out the wind and small animals, including chickens and sparrows.

The perspective and plan shown herewith is twenty-four feet in width and sixty feet in length.

Figure 1.—Perspective View of the Farm Shop, Garage and Implement Shed. The doors to the right are nearly 12 feet high to let in a grain separator over night, or during the winter, or a load of hay in case of a sudden storm.

Figure 2.—Floor Plan of Shop, Garage and Storage. The