The Uses of Tools 



389 



kinds should be determined by (1) the character of the 

 soil; (3) the size of the plantation; (3) the comparative 

 earliness of the required product; (4) the kinds of plants 

 to be grown; (5) the personal ideas of the farmer. 



Tools adapted to the working of clay soils may not be 

 adapted to sand. There should be a tool for each diverse 

 type of labor. An advantage of the variety in tools offered 

 by American dealers is the fact that a tool may be found 

 for each particular purpose. Some farms, however, are 

 overstocked with tools. Too much capital is locked up in 

 them. This fault is usually the result of duplication, — the 

 various tools are too similar, they do not perform different 

 kinds or types of labor. 



It requires nearly as many tools to equip one acre of 

 market-garden as to equip five acres. Consequently, it is 

 relatively cheaper to till a fairly large area, so long as it 

 can be tilled well. The greater the capital invested in 

 an acre of land, the more intensive should be the cropping 

 and cultivation. 



In choosing a tool, the buyer should know (a) what 

 labor is to be performed; (&) what implement will best 

 perform it. Many persons buy a tool because it is per- 

 fect as a mechanism or merely because it is an improve- 

 ment on what they already have. This is well; but it 

 should be borne in mind, after all, that the tool is not the 

 first consideration, — it is not the unit. The unit is the 

 work to be performed or the condition to be attained. A 

 farmer may not ask, therefore, whether he shall buy a 

 spading-harrow : he should consider his soil and what he 

 wants to do with it, and then search for the tool that will 

 best meet the work. 



