B12 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The intelligence of tlie farmers of this generation would make it very diffi- 

 cult to palm off goods of an inferior quality. 



In addition to the above schedule I would recommend some other tools for 

 the farmer that can afford them (and in fact some of them can hardly be dis- 

 pensed with), such as horse hay fork and carrier, hay tedder, mounted spring 

 tooth harrow, and on some kinds of soil a roller; and so I might go on 

 enumerating one article after another, but I will leave the balance for you to 

 fill. But with the implements in the above schedule a man can very success- 

 fully manage a medium-sized farm, with perhaps the inconvenience of troub- 

 ling his neighbors occasionally by borrowing. 



Xow let us suppose that the implements are all bought and paid for. The 

 next thing to be looked after is their care. And what shall that be? Some 

 corner in the barn-yard for the fowls to roost upon ; by the roadside ; in the 

 fence corner in the lot where it was last used, and perhaps will be needed again ; 

 or shall they be properly housed and cared for? 



Many farmers spend hours and days in going from one dealer to another in 

 trying to "Jew" them down a few cents or dollars on the price of their 

 implements, and at the same time take no care or thought in trying to make 

 them last when once purchased. I would not undervalue the importance of 

 purchasing our implements just as cheaply as possible, but if we would spend 

 as much time in caring for them as we spend in trying to get them a little 

 cheaper, we would save more money by so doing. 



Now let us make a little calculation and see what the interest would be upon 

 the above list of articles at the legal rate of seven per cent per annum : 



The interest upon 8760 will be $53.20. Now suppose that we take that 

 amount and invest it in lumber and nails, and by adding a little of the time 

 spent on our streets, sitting on dry goods boxes, or in the stores discussing 

 the good or bad qualities of our neighbors, or the probabilities of this or that 

 political candidate or party, we can have a tool-house that will shelter the 

 whole of them, and in so doing add about one-half to ];heir durability, to say 

 nothing of the pleasure of using a tool that is in proper condition to use when 

 wanted. After having erected the proper tool-house it will avail nothing if 

 the tools are not placed in it. 



Immediately after using a tool it should be properly cleaned and stored away 

 for future use. I do not know that I would recommend taking a plow to the 

 tool-house every night unless it be a steel one used on prairie soil, but I would 

 recommend that it be taken out of the ground and thoroughly cleaned and not 

 left as two plows that I saw several years ago north of Marshall. They had 

 been used for fall plowing, and undoubtedly when left standing in the furrow 

 at night tiie users expected to use them again in the morning, but before the 

 morning came Jack i^ost had made it impossible to stir them ; so the plows 

 were left frozen fast in the furrows until there came a heavy rain, and as the 

 plows were in a hollow the water nearly covered them, only the tops of the 

 handles remaining above the ice the last time that I saw them, which was 

 near spring. What condition do you think, Mr. President, they were in to com- 

 mence spring plowing with? And I think that I could find plows in almost the 

 same condition to-day within perhaps two or three miles of where we are assem- 

 bled at this time. Mr. President, I believe that I can safely say that if you 

 should start from where you are sitting and take a ride of ten miles in almost 

 any direction, with your eyes open, you will find plows, harrows, cultivators, 

 wagons, mowers, reapers, and in fact almost every conceivable kind of farm 

 implement, standing with no walls but thin air, and no covering but the blue 



