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ISfew Farmers'' Alliance ISfeeded 



ARTICLE FOLK 



The farmer is generally supposed to be a man predisposed to form 

 alliances and he has found many of these alliances highly advan- 

 tageous. There are openings for alliances in other directions that 

 will prove to be no less profitable. One such association is three- 

 cornered, and includes the farmer, the lumberman, and the paint 

 store, with the wood-preserving plant considered as an adjunct of 

 the paint store. 



Few expenditures that the farmer can make in paint for his 

 wooden buildings pay better than a judicious investment. The profit 

 is two-fold. It pays in money saved, and it pays also in tlie im- 

 proved appearance of the buildings. The wood lasts longer and it 

 look" better, both of which are valuable considerations. 



There was a time in the rural districts of the country when a 

 painted residence was a rare sight, and no one expected to see a 

 painted barn, corncrib, or smokehouse. Paint was costly and wood 

 was cheap. It was less expensive and more convenient to put up a 

 new building when the old had rotted down than to lengthen the 

 service of the old buOdings by painting them once in ten or twenty 

 years. 



A change has gradually taken place. Those who had houses of 

 sawed lumber began to use paint when they felt they could afford 

 it; and among the fairly well-to-do. the unpainted residences are 

 now found principally on the frontiers or in remote settlements. 



The trouble is, many a farmer imagines that he cannot afford to 

 paint his house, though he is amply able to do so if he would prop- 

 erly consider the matter. Houses of that kind can be seen in nearly 

 all parts of the country, even along the lines of railroads in old- 

 settled communities, and they are more numerous in interior settle- 

 ments somewhat removed from through routes of travel. It seems 

 to be a characteristic of many farmers that the further they are 

 removed from the sight of the traveling public the less inclined they 

 are to fix up their premises. The prevailing idea with many seems 

 to be that nice houses are chiefly to please the eye of outsiders. 

 That view is proper as far as it goes, but it is very narrow. 



Log houses and log barns are now scarce in this country. Most 

 that remain were built a long time ago and are serving their time 

 and will disappear a few years hence. In the old settled parts of the 

 country the log house is practically extinct. A few are stUl built 

 on the frontiers. Log buUdings were never painted. It would be 

 of doubtful economy to paint them if they were still being built. 

 But all buildings constructed of sawed lumber should be kept painted, 

 except the very cheapest and the roughest. 



It is argued by some that the lumberman "s interests are inimical 

 to the interests of paint stores, because the lumberman wants to sell 

 as much of his product as possible. whUe paint preserves wood, and 

 the more use of paint, the less call for lumber for rebuilding and 

 repair. No progressive lumberman takes any such narrow view as 

 that. He has no desire to see buildings rot down in order that he 

 may sell lumber to build more. Experience has taught him that it 

 is not the farmer who lets his buildings go to pieces for the want 

 of paint who is the profitable customer of the lumber yard. Such 

 a fanner is apt to be a makeshift man, living from hand to mouth. 



The fanner who paints his buildings and takes care of them is 

 the man most frequently in the market for more lumber. He is 

 able to buy because he has taken care of his property and has derived 

 a profit from it. Paint is to a large extent the visible index to the 

 farmer "s prosperity, progressiveness, and intelligence. Rightly or 

 wrongly, the farmer is judged by the appearance of his buildings. 

 If a lumber seller goes out to look for customers among farmers, 

 he will not fool much time away about the premises where the un- 

 painted ramshackle buildings tell a story of stupidity and stinginess, 

 but he will go to the place where the buildings look prosperous. 



Paint adds immensely to appearances, but its real value lies in 

 its preservative properties when applied to wood. . Aside from al! 

 questions of vanity or commendable pride, buildings ought to be 



painted. It pays well to do it. The man who buys lumber for out- 

 side work owes it to himself to use paint. Otherwise he is not getting 

 the most out of his purchase. Billions of feet of as good lumber 

 as ever grew have rotted in this country. That lumber would still 

 be giving good service had it been protected by paint. Every friend 

 and advocate of wood is interested in seeing it placed where it will 

 give the best possible service, and treated in a way to insure it. 

 Lumbermen would not sell a foot less material than they do if every 

 board that goes from the mill were made to last twice as long as it 

 does. There are so many ways to use wood that those who have 

 found it profitable in one place will continue to buy it for service in 

 some other capacity. 



When wood is exposed to the elements, as in the case of weather- 

 boarding, it will last three or four times as long if protected by 

 paint, and sometimes the increase is ten fold. In the eastern states 

 there are houses of which painted weatherboarding has been in place 

 much more than a century. A case to the point is the Washington 

 mansion at ilt. Vernon. That has lasted more than 150 years with 

 no visible sign of decay. Such long use affords a striking contrast 

 with the rapid deterioration of house siding and other lumber exposed 

 without paint to the influences of ordinary weather conditions. 



The modern farm that deserves the name of up-to-date exposes 

 very little lumber in an unpainted condition, in the buildings from 

 the largest to the smallest. The residence, the bams, sheds, grana- 

 ries, and even the poultry houses, are painted. Decay is powerless 

 to work much harm to the buildings belonging to such a plantation. 

 Tet that is precisely the place where lumbermen find their best 

 market. What is bought in the way of lumber goes into additional 

 buildings and not to replace or repair the old. 



Another class of material goes to the well-regulated farm. It is 

 posts rather than sawed lumber. Posts and other parts of fences 

 are occasionally painted, but it is not customary on the ordinary 

 farm. In many instances it would be profitable to do so; but the 

 fencing material that goes to the farm is generally rather rough 

 stuff, and sufScient paint to cover it would be quite expensive. 



Preservative treatment applied to th'e posts is preferable to paint. 

 It suits conditions better. The life of the post is doubled, unless 

 it happens to be a wood that lasts a long time in its natural condi- 

 tion. Decay of fence posts costs the farmers of this country large 

 sums yearly. Benewals are expensive in both money and labor. The 

 post problem is becoming a serious one. In most wooded regions 

 there is plenty of post material of kinds that decay quickly when set 

 in fences, and little of the lasting kind. 



Preservative treatment, for posts of that kind, acts like paint on 

 weatherboarding. Woods of poor lasting properties, such as beech, 

 sycamore, elm. and pine, can be made durable without excessive cost. 

 By that means many a farmer can procure posts on his own land, or 

 in the neighborhood, and will not be under the necessity of paying 

 freight charges on material from a distance. 



The tendency of the times is to make farm timbers last longer. 

 Formerly little thought was given to that side of the matter. There 

 was plenty to be had and loss from decay was lightly considered, 

 ilany farms were little else than rotting heaps for enormous quan- 

 tities of forest material; but a change is taking place and it deserves 

 to be encouraged. 



Cost of Not Using It 



The preservative treatment of timber is a potent factor in con- 

 servation, since it reduces the consumption and makes inferior species 

 available. At present about twenty per cent of the crossties, but 

 less than one-third of one per cent of the lumber used, is treated. 

 The boy's definition of salt was: "Something that makes some- 

 thing taste bad when you don't put it on." The same definition, 

 ■with a slight change, would apply to wrood-preservation: some- 

 thing that costs most when you don't use it. 



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