10 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETT. 



some reliable i)arty who has tried it and is fully capable of adjusting its parts 

 and judging of its merits. 



It also often happens that a machine will do good work while new, but after 

 a little wear will fail to sustain a good reputation, and we think from our ex- 

 perience and observation that the more complex a macliine is tlie more liable 

 it is to get out of order. When one contemplates the purchase of an imple- 

 ment he should ask himself the following questions : Will this implement or 

 machine do the work better, quicker, and with less cost than can be done in 

 any other way? And in counting the cost one should take into consideration 

 the first expense and the interest on the investment while it will remain in 

 good working order, and the necessary power to be applied. And in estimating 

 the durability we should resolve to care well for the implement or not purchase 

 at all. And I may say here that a sheltered place for tools and machines 

 should be one of the first investments of any horticulturist. It will not pay 

 any man to purchase implements of any kind unless he will use them properly 

 and take good care of them. There should be an assigned place for each one 

 under a good roof, and when not in use they should be there and no where 

 else. It will not do to "put de rake wid de hoe, and de hoe wid de rake," and 

 leave them both out in the garden to rust. No man can do a good day's work 

 with a rusty hoe or spade. Even a wagon will hist three times as long, doing 

 the same work, if sheltered from drying winds, sun, and wet, than it would if 

 always left exposed, besides tlie annoyance of breaking down in some unex- 

 pected moment when one is in a hurry. 



It is always well to look over implements before the season arrives when they 

 will be needed, and see that tliey are in order before they are wanted for use. 

 I used to know a man who had a habit of taking bolts out of his wagon in 

 winter to fix his sleigh, and in summer he robbed his sleigh to repair his wagon ; 

 and in his barnyard and lane was a motley collection of these old relics of his 

 make-shift policy. As a rule implements or machines that are designed for 

 several kinds of work, fail to accomplish either as well as those intended for a 

 specific purpose and for that only; and yet I am aware that there may possibly 

 be some rare exceptions. We find it even so in utilizing hand labor. I re- 

 member when but a small boy, that one day a raw Irishman, fresh from the 

 "old bog," came along and applied for work. He was asked " What can you 

 do?" Pat's reply was, "lean plow and I can sow; lean reap and I can 

 mow; I can skim the pot, and lick the paddle; bedad I I can do iverything. "^ 

 lie was considered most too smart, and got a free pass to the next house. I 

 would not in the least deprecate the Yankee style of general adaptation, or 

 the ingenuity which would lighten our labor or enable us to do more and do it 

 better, in this short life, than we could without these praise-worthy efforts. 

 We are glad that while brain may go faster than muscle, that genius is ever 

 reaching out a helping hand to the weary laborer on his journey through life, 

 and he who fails to appreciate her laudible exertions deserves a place so far 

 in the back-ground of human existence as never to be seen or even heard. 



President Lyon : I have not heard the oldest horticultural implements 

 alluded to, yet I can hardly believe we have outgrown their use entirely. I 

 refer to the fingers. 



C. B. IStowell, Hudson: As far as their use in sowing seeds is concerned, 

 to men who sow onions by the acre they are sadly behind tlie times. 



Porter 13eal : ^Ir. Mann's electricity idea throws the thumb and finger too 

 far in the shade to be noticed at all. 



