1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
375 
or cows will brin}f you per month, and now we want 
to show you what it is as an investment. If 200 cows 
can he had in a radius of six miles of this point, that 
will give us 2J^ gallons of milk per day each, or 4 500 
pounds for which we pay, say, 90 cents per hundred, 
which amounts to S40 50. 
UDNMNG KXPK XSES DAILV. 
Kor expert butter maker.$2.00 
For helper. 1.00 
Kor boxes, etc. 2 00 
For coal and oil. 1.25 
Forlnsniapce. .10 
For Interest at 12 per cent. 1.48 
7 83 
Coat of milk.40.50 
Total 
$18.33 
With our system we make 4 to 41^ paunds of butter 
and five to six pounds of cheese to the hundred pounds 
of milk ; therefore. 
4,500 pounds milk 
j 202J4 pou: da butter at 25 c. 
I 225 pounds cheese at 6 c... 
.$50 OIK 
. 13.60 
Oroes receipts from 200 cows per day.$61.12K 
Our Iccome per day la.$04.'2K 
Our expenses per day are. 48.33 
Therefore our net gain per day Is...$15 lOK 
And per month a dividend on Investment to st.>ckholders.$443.85 
“The prices paid for milk range from $125 to 80 
cents per 100 pounds, being lowest in summer and 
highest in winter. Each patron’s milk is weighed as 
it is brought in and tne number of pounds placed to 
his credit. A sample of each patron’s milk is put 
through a Babcock milk tester, thoroughly and sim¬ 
ply showing the butter and cheese value of each lot of 
milk delivered, and in the presence of the patrons ; 
and they receive pay according to the quality of the 
milk furnished. Peed your cows well and get large 
returns. It is then passed through the centrifugal 
separator which rapidly separates the cream from the 
milk, and so thoroughly that not a trace of cream 
can be detected in the milk. Only gilt-edge butter is 
made by our system.” 
In this particular case some of the stock was not 
taken. Some men stood out and won their cases in 
court, so that the actual cost of this plant was not 
very far from two-thirds of the figure given above. It 
was enough, however, and it is believed that any one 
of three or four dairy supply houses that could be 
named, could equal it for $700 to $1,000 less than this 
cost. 
The main and most discouraging trouble is trying 
to run a good plant without sufficient milk to pay 
expenses. Here the cost of an “expert butter maker” 
was estimated at $2 per day, and his time was charged 
at $75 per month. He would not for a long time at¬ 
tempt to kill the goose by teaching any one of the 
company to take the place. But, now the factory is 
established and a few are raising cows to support it, 
it is to be hoped that farmers generally within six or 
eight miles will see in this their opportunity to shift 
their farming enough to get a regular income from 
milk, and, at the same time, be enriching their farms 
by keeping dairy cows, and growing clover, cow 
peas. Soy beans and the grasses, instead of doing so 
much cultivating for cotton, corn and wheat. These 
are all good, but less acreage on a higher plane will 
yield more crop and cash returns. 
. [PROF.J F. E. EMERY. 
“ A BALL AND SOCKET JOINT.” 
It’s the Mower’s Heart—Keep It in the Right Place! 
WHY FARM MACHINERY WEARS OUT. 
The Proper Pitman Connection. 
Many of the readers of The R. N.-Y. will buy new 
mowing machines this year. To those I would say, 
look carefully to the manner in which the pitman is 
connected to the knife head and do not, in any case, 
buy a machine that does not have a ball and socket 
joint at this place. Don’t allow the agent to deceive 
you by saying that his machine has a ball and socket 
joint at the crank pin that is equally as good as if at 
the knife head. The ball and socket is the only proper 
joint for the connection of the pitman to the knife 
head. It is at this joint that the machine first begins 
to give out. If this particular connection is not kept 
perfectly snug, but is allowed to get worn so as to 
have much play, it will demoralize the whole machine, 
and the crank pin and pitman shaft will soon give out, 
the bolts will become loose, and the machine will be 
gone before one becomes aware of it. Every one 
familiar with the steam engine knows that the con¬ 
nection of the pitman with the crosshead (which cor¬ 
responds to the knife head of a mowing machine) is so 
made as to take up the least mite of lost motion. 
Were it not so, as soon as there was any loose play at 
this point, the engine would begin to pound, and, if 
not attended to, would tear itself to pieces. If this 
be true of the steam engine, is it not much more 
necessary that the connection in the mowing machine 
be kept snug, as this is much smaller and works much 
faster than that of the engine ? 
How the Old Machines Gave Out. 
Nearly all of the mowing machines were formerly 
made with a simple hook and eye to connect the pit¬ 
man to the knife head. How many farmers remember 
how the hook on the pitman would soon become so 
badly worn as to leave a large space between it and 
the sides of the eye. The eye also would be worn 
oblong. The machine would draw hard, and when 
going through heavy grass, the team would have to 
be started up quickly, or the machine would stop, or 
the knife bar would break a few inches from the 
head. It is of but little use to mend these bars unless 
the hook and eye are both repaired, as they will break 
again. 
Is not the following a true picture of blacksmith 
life in the mowing season with such machines ? The 
farmer had noticed just before finishing mowing the 
season before that the machine seemed to work harder 
than usual. There was more ncise, and it “ran jerky,” 
as he said. He resolved to have it overhauled before 
the next season came around, but neglected to do so, 
until the hayieg was upon him The machine was 
started, but he had gone but a few rods when the 
knife head broke. The new bar was put in and the 
old one sent to the blacksmith to be mended. The 
new bar seemed to work all right, and, as the eye had 
not been worn, the season’s mowing was finished. The 
next year he started in again, and, after a few hours’ 
work, the bar broke about where the first one did. 
He sends to the barn for the one that had been mended, 
goes a few rods, and off it comes right where it had 
been mended. This is too much for his patience. He 
declares that he will go to the shop this time himself, 
and he will give that blacksmith a blowing up for not 
doing his work better. He drives up to the shop, 
horse all in a foam, and himself not much better, and 
calls out: 
“ Here Mr. Blacksmith, I’ve got a section bar here 
that you mended last season. I have not used it until 
to-day, and I did not go over 10 rods before it broke 
again. Now what do you think of such work as that? 
I can’t afford to pay for work done in that way ; be¬ 
sides my men are all thrown out of work and it will 
be $10 damage to me at the least. I want it mended 
at once ; besides I will have another one here for you 
to mend so that I can get it to morrow.” 
During this talk the blacksmith has been carefully 
looking over the break and finds that it is not his 
fault. He says to the man : 
“ My dear sir, the trouble is with your machine, and 
not with the mending, as that, you will see, was well 
done, and has not come apart where it was welded, 
but broken square off.” 
He replies that it is not the fault of the machine ; 
he knows better than that. He has used it but two 
years, and knows that the machine is all right. 
The blacksmith says, “ Well, if your machine is all 
right, how happened you to break it in the first place, 
and how did you happen to break this other bar ?” 
This is a clincher for him, he had not thought of 
that. Still he is not convinced, and wants it mended 
at once. Picture the rage on his face when told that 
it will be impossible to do it at once for there are half 
a dozen broken bars there now, besides two or three 
mowing machines to be generally overhauled that will 
take as many days, and “I cannot do your work until 
the others are done. If I could only impress it upon 
you farmers to bring your machines here long before 
the haying season begins, it would save you a lot of 
trouble and expense ; besides I would not be abused 
for what I am not to blame for.” 
In this particular case, I mended one of the bars, 
and let the man go home, but told him that he would 
probably break it again, and if he did, to bring the 
machine when he came back. Sure enough, he came 
the next day with the machine, saying that he broke 
the bar before he had mowed half an hour. I found 
that the hook on the pitman had worn so that an 
ordinary lead pencil could be slipped into the eye by 
the side of it. Consequently there was so much play 
that the points of the knives did not entirely pass the 
edge of the guards. The grass would not all be cut, 
but would be pulled into the guards and stop the 
knives ; then they would break. On a mowing 
machine with a ball and socket joint at the knife 
head, this trouble can never happen if the lost motion 
be kept carefully taken up, as provided for. 
A Weakness In Farm Machinery. 
A few years ago, I wrote several manufacturers of 
mowing machines calling their attention to this par¬ 
ticular point. Those that replied said that they could 
sell all the machines that they could make just as they 
were. 1 think nearly all of these manufacturers have 
since adopteu the ball and socket joint. Whether it 
was because farmers had refused to buy their machines 
unless they did, I am unable to say. There is another 
point to which I wish to call the attention of the 
farmers: It is the manner of making the boxes in 
which the pitman shaft runs. When mowing machines 
were first made, these boxes were made of Babbitt 
metal. Manufacturers, finding that machines made 
in this way lasted too long, have adopted the plan of 
making the boxes of cast iron. It is very easy to make 
the farmers, who are not as a general thing machin¬ 
ists, believe that cast iron being so much harder than 
Babbitt metal, will last longer. Therefore they will 
readily buy the machines without questioning the 
matter. Yet it is a well-known fact among machin¬ 
ists that two metals of nearly the same degree of 
hardness should not run together. Go into any 
machine shop wherever you will, and you will not 
find the bearings and boxes of the same metal, if there 
is to be any great friction. In the very shops where 
the mowing machines are made, you will find the 
boxes made of a softer metal than the shaft bearings. 
Then why not adopt the same practice in the making 
of machinery for the farmers ? Is it because the 
farmers are not posted on these matters and are easily 
“ gulled” that the manufacturers of farm machinery 
take advantage of their ignorance ? If so, how much 
longer will the farmers be content to be called “ igno¬ 
ramuses ?” It is but a short time ago that 1 was 
talking with an agent who sells a great many farm 
tools yearly, about these particular points of the mow¬ 
ing machine, and he replied that there was not one 
farmer in 100 that knew enough about machinery to 
know any difference. I am satisfied that if the ma¬ 
jority of farmers would study this matter right it 
would not be long before the manufacturers of farm 
machinery would be vying with each other to see, not 
how cheap they could make the tools for the farmer, 
but which could make the best. I do not mean to be 
understood that there are no good farm tools made. 
Wagons have been brought to a fine point of excel¬ 
lence ; also plows, forks, hoes, shovels, etc. But the 
tools that come under the head of machinery are still 
behind. Too much malleable and cast iron is used 
where wrought iron and steel should be. 
Stocking the Farm Work Shop. 
I have been asked what tools are really necessary 
for keeping implements in repair on a well managed 
farm. It is not necessary, as some think, to have a 
large kit of tools to do ordinary repairing. Some 
things cannot be repaired on tbe farm, but for ordi¬ 
nary work, every farmer should be provided with two 
handsaws, one for cutting off and one for slitting, a 
drawing knife, a jack plane, a ratchet bit-brace, a few 
bits, say, one each of ^4, %, 4, % and %-inch, and a few 
gimlet bits for screws ; these bits should be for use in 
the bit-brace. There should be a few twist drills for 
iron; there should be for the bit brace, of sizes, 
3-16, 4, %, 7-16 and 3^-inch. There should be 1, 
14, 14 and 2-inch augers; a few chisels, 4, 4 and 
1-inch, and a mallet. Don’t use a hammer on chisel 
handles. One nail hamner and one riveting hammer ; 
a screw-driver, a pair of nippers and wire cutters com¬ 
bined ; a bench vice of iron, with not less than three- 
inch jaws ; a 10-inch monkey-wrench and half a dozen 
S wrenches of different sizes, to use on machines 
where the monkey-wrench cannot be used ; the latter 
may be made of steel by the blacksmith. There should 
also be a good ax. and grindstone. Get a grindstone 
that works by foot-power; don’t have the little boy 
turn it. These tools should be of the best, and not 
what we too often find on the farm, such as are bought 
at the 99-cent store. Twenty-five dollars should buy 
them all. There should also be kept constantly on 
hand, a few bolts of different sizes and lengths ; also 
screws, nails and a few iron rivets of different sizes. 
But don’t wait until they are needed before getting a 
supply ; and, above all, don’t depend on the neighbors 
for them. Since beginning this article a neighbor has 
sent over for 10 nails. A few copper rivets and copper 
nails of different sizes and lengths will be found con¬ 
venient to mend harness. Tnere is hardly a farmer 
in the country that, if equipped with these things, 
would not save their cost each year, in loss of time 
alone, spent in running to the shop for slight repairs. 
If a small portable forge, with a light anvil and pair 
of tongs were added to the above at a cost of another 
