Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 395 



not in use and by keeping it well oiled, rubbing off the rust spots 

 when they appear. It also proves what may be accomplished in 

 results by patience and perseverance. 



The usefulness of a machine depends first on its perfect' con- 

 struction with reference to the purpose for which it is intended; 

 next is its care and manipulation. A threshing machine must have 

 teeth and a cylinder, a corn sheller or clover huller must be so con- 

 structed as to scrape the corn off the cob or get the little seed out 

 of the hull. The ensilage cutter and the reaper and the mowing 

 machine and the corn cutter must have knives or they are use- 

 less. The kind of lumber for the casing or the color of the paint 

 is not important, but the other things are essential. 



The steam engine must have a steam box and piston rods and 

 a governor. The color makes no difference. But there are certain 

 essentials to be regarded and that must be provided, or the engine 

 is useless. A watch must have springs and wheels. It's no good 

 without them. The case may be brass or nickle or silver or gold or 

 tin, or it may be without case, and if the wheels and springs are 

 good, the watch will perform its mission. 



I might go on and enumerate machines and essentials to each 

 till I was black in the face, but this is sufficient for a comparison. 

 These machines are made with certain capacities and run at certain 

 speed and in their operation this must be considered. A threshing 

 machine with a maximum capacity of 500 bushels per day when 

 properly run, might by increased speed increase the capacity a 

 little temporarily, but it would be dangerous and certainly shorten 

 the life of the machine. The pinions and axles of this machine 

 must be kept oiled, or they will soon go to rack. The machine must 

 be kept clean and you will never get wheat from it by feeding 

 timothy. Alfalfa fed into a clover huller will not bring clover 

 seed. It is self-evident that you will get from the machine exactly 

 what you feed into it and the mission of the machine is to change 

 its form. 



The dairy cow, as a machine, is in many respects similar to 

 other machines. It's my understanding they now have machines 

 that cut wheat and thresh it and sack it all at the same time, and 

 I suppose later they will attach to the reaper a mill and the wheat 

 will be taken in the straw and converted by a combined cutting, 

 threshing, grinding, sacking machine into flour ready for market. 

 The dairy cow is an intricate piece of machinery. She takes 

 wheat in the straw, or oats, or rye, and threshes it into milk. She 



