248 Our Farming. 



on it ; where the tools or buggies are we do not use. One pair of 

 doors, of course, must be left to get sleigh out and in, or buggy. 

 The doors are hung with hinges entirely. There would be no 

 chance for sliding doors, nor would they be as tight. Ours are as 

 tight as doors in the house. I do not believe in half-way work in 

 this line. One often sees tool houses or sheds open on one side, 

 so sun and rain and snow can drive in freely. They may be bet- 

 ter than nothing, but are far from perfect. We have two win- 

 dows below in the tool house. In the plan they are marked o. 

 One is on the end and the other, on the back side, opens into the 

 covered barnyard. We prefer to not have much light in there. 

 When we want light where the tools are, we open a door. Our 

 tool house cost $400, all lumber and timber and underpinning and 

 labor paid for, and painting included. It could be built so as to 

 protect the tools for less money, but we have a good cornice on it 

 and it is a nicely finished job all through. Have troughs carry 

 away water from roof, and the upstair floor is of good , matched 

 flooring, etc., etc. One-half of the tool house is used for storing 

 tools when not in use, but it would not be convenient to put them 

 up so compactly there every night. Temporarily, we need other 

 shelter, and we have it arranged in the handiest manner we could 

 study up. Reference will be made to this point in the next chap- 

 ter, after you get the plan of all our buildings before you. Here 

 seems to be a good place to say something about lending farm 

 tools. Kven as few as I had when we began farming, they did 

 more work away from home than for me. Borrowing was a com- 

 mon practice. I had a new plow, and when I got my little plow- 

 ing done, a farmer wanted to "try that make of plow." After 

 using it more than I had, he said he didn't like it, and returned it 

 without even a new point. If he had liked it, I could have stood 

 'it better, although it didn't make a particle of difference to me 

 financially. I had a good roller, and that was wanted at once in 

 all directions. In those days I never said no was rather young 

 and green. One farmer, living at a distance, was fairer than the 

 rest. He said: "Now, you hurry through with your rolling ; 

 your land can be worked earlier than mine, and I will give you 

 $5 a year for the use of your roller." That $5 was quite an ob- 

 ject then. I did hurry through and he got the roller, and when 

 I wanted it I had to go* after it, and he sort of carelessly informed 

 me later that he didn't use it much after all, and never paid me 

 one cent. Neighbors reported differently, even saying that he 

 used it in working on the road and charged the town for it. But 

 I did not investigate the matter and let it go. Again, I lent the 

 roller to a farmer before- 1 had used it. When I got ready to roll 

 in a crop of Hungarian grass, I met him and told him I wanted 

 to use the roller next day. He replied: " I guess you won't, for 

 it is broken down and it will take some time to get it fixed." So 

 my crop was not rolled in, and that of a farmer very much better 



