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VOL. XLIX. NO. 2o9i. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22 , i89o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
rEntered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1890 by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.j 
farm C0jti.es. 
TOOLS USED ON A 93-ACRE OHIO 
FARM. 
J. H. WARN. 
A SHORT time ago I received a letter 
from the Rural New-Yorker ask¬ 
ing me to have my farm machinery photo¬ 
graphed for it. In compliance with this re¬ 
quest, the implements were photographed 
on December 23, while the mercury was 63 
degrees above zero. The machinery was 
arranged in a clover field where the wheat 
stubble and young clover had been cut in 
August. As we did not have a shower 
from then until late in November, the clov¬ 
er has not made a heavy growth ; but it is 
a solid mat on the ground. Considerable 
pains were taken in arranging the machin¬ 
ery so that no two pieces could interfere 
with each other; but upon the arrival of 
the photographer it was found that he 
could not include them all as they stood, 
and we were obliged to draw them closer 
together, having to move nearly every 
piece and leave some out altogether. 
Beginning at the upper left-hand corner, 
you first see a full-sized, narrow-tired wag¬ 
on with a home-made box holding 65 
bushels without the extra portable side¬ 
boards that can be placed on in a minute. 
In front of this stands the light spring 
wagon with a team attached. The three 
seats come handy many times ; besides, on 
the removal of two seats I have often 
carried 1,500 pounds to market with it. 
Next is a pleasure carriage with a horse 
attached. Next comes a double team with 
what is called a three-quarter wagon, hav¬ 
ing wheels three feet six inches and four 
feet high with three-inch tires. As a stone 
road is being constructed on each side of 
my place, I am obliged to use a wide tire 
from November 15 until May 15. Next is a 
farm wagon with rack, wheels 2X to three 
feet high with four-inch tires. You should 
hear my men praise this low wagon at hay¬ 
ing time. As it was winter time (though 
not cold), we decided to put in the 
cutter and sleigh. A piece of canvas 
hangs on each wagon; each piece is 
large enough to cover the entire 
load, and seldom, if ever, does a wagon go 
away from the farm without one. In front 
stands the Advance hay-tedder, which I 
would hate to be without. Then comes 
another hay-rack. All my racks are built 
15X feet long and seven feet wide, in order 
that we may be able to put on a load with¬ 
out pitching it too high. Then come the 
Thomas hay-rake and a Buckeye and 
a Champion mowing-machine. Some may 
ask why not have one wide-cut instead of 
two-4X-feet cut ? When these machines 
were bought a good many stumps still re¬ 
mained, and we could get around them 
Letter with a narrow machine than with a 
wide one. Besides, the tedder and horse- 
rake work better behind the narrow-cut 
machine. Next comes my little Milwaukee 
binder, weighing only 1,150 pounds, and 
only 11 feet 10 inches wide; cut five feet 
wide. I have ridden this machine to cut 
three different difficult pieces of grain 
where the owners of three other different 
machines had given the job up and left the 
field, while this machine went on and did 
satisfactory work. By the side of this 
stands the truck. In front are three walk¬ 
ing plows, besides the Cassady sulky plow. 
Next is the only successful potato-digger 
ever operated in this section. This is the 
Hoover digger, manufactured at Avery, 
Ohio. When the ground was in No. 1 con¬ 
dition, I have dug from 600 to 700 bushels 
per day with two horses: but when the 
ground is somewhat heavy I drive four 
horses abreast, making a very solid team. 
Behind this stands one of the latest im¬ 
proved Kemp manure-spreaders, spread¬ 
ing 40 bushels of manure in from one to 
two minutes—more evenly than can very 
well be done by any man with a fork. 
Next comes the “ bug wagon,” built here 
at home. Many times have I driven to the 
well, attached the hose to my Buckeye 
pump, filled the 50-gallon cask, put in nine 
cents’ worth of poison, and poisoned one 
acre of potato beetles, and returned to the 
well in 25 to 28 minutes. This beats 
picking the beetles by hand, and is also 
ahead of sifting on poison and plaster 
with a tin can or a piece of mosquito 
netting. In front stands the Aspinwall 
potato-planter, with fertilizer attachments, 
which drops any sized piece of potato at 
any desired distance apart much more 
evenly than it can be done by hand; be¬ 
sides, it marks the row, furrows out the 
trench, drops the seed, while the advance 
coverers put on about IX inch of fine 
fresh earth; then the fertilizer is scattered 
over the row ahead of the coverers, which 
leave above the row a ridge that can easily 
be rubbed or harrowed level. 
Next in front stands a potato-sorter of 
my own make. The potatoes are shoveled 
in at the upper end while a boy turns the 
crank, the dirt dropping out in the first 
box ; the small tubers go in the next, while 
the large ones come out bright and clean 
at the lower end. (We neglected to put the 
boxes under the machine). This machine 
will sort potatoes as fast as a man can 
shovel them in. One of my neighbors 
sorted 600 bushels in four hours with it. 
Next come a disk harrow and an Albion 
spring-tooth. This is the tool I use to fit my 
potato ground for wheat; after the vines are 
raked and burned or drawn off, the ground 
is harrowed over once with this tool, going 
crosswise ; then on rubbing or rolling ir 
down it is ready for the drill. This mode 
of getting in wheat is very cheap, and I 
would not have more work done on the 
ground if any one would do it for nothing. 
PHOTOGRAPH OF TOOLS USED ON A NINETY - THREE - ACRE OHIO FARM. Fig. 42. 
