IliLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 179 



boiler; but I do not favor the latter because it will happen that 

 the pump or injector will get out of order and that the engineer 

 will have to take it apart and see what is the matter, and while 

 he is at work at that his water is getting lower and lower all 

 the time and finally, when he gets his pump to work he finds 

 the water has gone out of the glass and how much lower it is 

 he does not know ; and when the glass is up high he will think, 

 ^'Oh, it don't matter — there is plenty of water in the boiler 

 yet," and sometimes there is lots of damage done by thinking 

 there is water when you can't see any, but when a person 

 knows that when there is no water in the glass that it is too 

 low — he never has to guess. The water-glass should be blown 

 out every two or three days. 



Now I will say a few words about engines. The engine 

 should be set perfectly level, solid on a rock foundation, so it 

 ■does not move nor jar any. It should run perfectly smooth. 

 All engines will do that if handled right. They should also 

 run free and loose — not too loose, so they knock and jar, but 

 loose enough to not bind any. If any of the boxing gets a lit- 

 tle loose just tighten it a little — not too much at one time. 

 Care should be taken so that there are no hot boxings, because 

 afer a box has been hot once it is liable to give trouble more or 

 less afterwards. The engine should be kept well in oil, al- 

 though it is no use to waste it, as it does not take much to 

 supply an engine. 



The engine should also be kept clean from dust, dirty oil, 

 etc. Never have the drive belt or governor belt too tight nor 

 too loose. Never open the throttle valve when the engine is 

 on dead center. When starting up, be sure that the cylinder 

 cocks are open and drain all the water out of cylinder before 

 starting, or you might blow out the cylinder head. Start en- 

 gine gradually and do not let too much steam on at once. 



Plenty of steam should be kept to secure good, dry steam 

 lor the engine. If it requires, say, 50 pounds of steam to run 

 the machinery, it is better to have a little more than a little 

 less, because a person never gets the steam too dry for his en- 

 gine. When you open a cylinder cock while the engine is pull- 

 ing her regular load, the steam that comes out should be dry; 

 if it is wet there is something wrong. If you have steam 



