CHAPTBK IX. 



THE FARMER'S WORKSHOP. 



" The farmer's workshop now our notice claims ; 

 The work-bench, screw, the yawning jaws and planes, 

 Augers to bore, chisels to mortise, grinning saws 

 To cut and rip, hammers with potent claws ; 

 The shaving-knife, and set of bits and brace, 

 All well arranged, each in its proper place." 



518. EVERY farmer needs a good workshop, where he can 

 appropriate to some useful purpose his leisure days in winter, and 

 stormy days at any season of the year ; and every energetic 

 and thoughtful farmer will have a shop, and will avail himself of 

 the advantages and conveniences which a shop and a few tools 

 afford. There are scores of farmers (and be it said to their 

 shame) who squander away time enough in one season in loafing 

 about places of public resort, to make all the harrows, gates, 

 etc., that are needed on a small farm, and to do all repairing 

 of implements, if they only had a bench and a few tools. Fur 

 thermore, it" is a good discipline for any farmer to exercise his 

 skill in the use of tools, and if a skillful and ingenious farmer 

 will only become accustomed to repair his implements, if he pre 

 pares his timber for such purposes beforehand, he will have the 

 satisfaction of knowing that, all things considered, his repairing 

 is done better than he is accustomed to have it done by regular 

 mechanics. The idea that farmers should have a set of tools, 

 may appear somewhat ridiculous to many people, and mechanics 

 will sometimes deride such a thought. But it is not to be ex 

 pected that a farmer, unskilled in the mechanic arts, will be able 

 to handle tools with all the facility and exactness of an expe- 



(365) 



