370 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Paintinfj Ihols. 



It may not pay to paint a barn, except for the improved appearance, but it 

 Avill pay well to keep every implement on the farm well painted. An occa- 

 sional coat of paint will almost double the length of time an implement made 

 partly of wood will last. It requires little skill, as paints can be bouglit already 

 mixed, and ready to apply. Any farmer boy can paint a sleigh or wagon, and 

 after a little practice, and with a little advice from any painter, he can paint 

 and varnish a buggy, and for all practical purposes do almost as good a job as 

 they do in the shops, leaving off, of course, the striping, which to my taste, 

 adds no more to the beauty of a vehicle, than would stripes around the body 

 add to the appearance of a horse. Hoes, rakes, shovels and other small tools 

 should have a coat of paint every year, as they are often left out doors, and the 

 paint would keep tlie handles from getting brash, and liable to break easily. 

 I would paint all tlie small tools a bright red, it gives them a neat appearance, 

 the color will not fade or soil easily, and being such a showy color, a hoe or 

 shovel can be seen across the field when accidentally forgotten. Who has not 

 hunted half an hour for a hammer, or other small tool, and find it at last right 

 where he suppose he had looked a half dozen times, when had it been painted 

 a bright red, it would have been the first thing the eye would have seen. 



I have known of a mowing machine cutting fifty acres of grass in one season 

 witiiout any breaks, and scarcely any apparent wear, and of another equally 

 as good at the beginning, sent to the shop for repairs that cost ten dollars, 

 before ten acres were cut. The first was used on clean, smooth soil ; the other 

 on an uneven field, with buslies and grubs scattered here and there. "With the 

 same usage the first machine was good for more than ten years; the latter for 

 not more than three. 



Said a farmer, I like the two-horse cultivators, they do good work, but I use 

 one all up in two years, as my land is a little rough ; I can hardly afford to 

 pay out so much cultivating. 



Men who will work land year after year, that is so rough that it won't pay to 

 use machinery on it, had better take Horace Greeley's advice, and ''go west," 

 and get a prairie farm. They may half starve along, and by the rise in value 

 of their land, caused by their neighbor's improvements, finally come out ahead, 

 but they cannot make anything raising crops on such land at present prices. I 

 have known as much loss from breaking of implements on stones and roots in 

 a field in one 3'ear, as would pay for putting the field in permanent good con- 

 dition. 



There are farmers all over the State with large farms, who barely make a 

 living because it takes all the profits on the better portion of the farm to make 

 up for the loss on the poorer part. 



If a farm is rough and uneven, it will pay better to clean up a portion of it, 

 make it smooth, so that implements can be safely used, give it^all the manure 

 made, and all the work, and have a good crop on that part,';]^than to have a 

 half-crop on the whole. 



The wheat crop of this county for the last two years, averaged a fraction 

 over twelve bushels to the acre (54,003 acres, GG7,071 bushels). The total 

 amount of the wheat could have been raised on one-half of the land, had it 

 been under a good state of cultivation, and for a little more than half the 

 expense. 



Many farmers subject themselves to great expense by often changing the 

 style or general character of their farming. For a year or two nearly the 



