1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
621 
FARM VS. THE MACHINE SHOP. 
Many a boy with a talent for mechan¬ 
ics leaves the farm to go into a ma¬ 
chine shop. Once there was more chance 
for the development of native talent in 
this line than there is now. Whereas, in 
the small shop, he had a chance to dis¬ 
play originality and talent, he now re¬ 
peats the same operation over and over 
and the monotony is terribly trying. 
Ambition is killed, as in piece work, a 
limit is virtually set to the number of 
pieces for which one can receive pay. 
If one workman is able to turn oft' more 
work, the amount paid per piece is cut 
to all accordingly. This puts a premium 
on “soldiering,” and encourages a most 
undesirable trait in a boy. Added to the 
monotony and the lack of spring and 
hopefulness which the deadening policy 
of restricting the output entails, is the 
continual grime, grease and iron dust 
which is ground into the skin of the 
hands and face, and which it is almost 
impossible to remove. But worst of all. 
and the one important thing to consider, 
is the moral certainty of some minor 
mutilation, soon or later, of the hands, 
or fingers, or both, and the possibility 
of more serious accident. Experience is 
not much of a protection, as it is offset 
by the familiarity with ever-present dan¬ 
ger, which tends to indifference. This 
often results in an accident, for only 
eternal watchfulness is the price of 
safety. Machines go steadily on and on. 
They never tire, they are never dull or 
sleepy, they never glance out of the win¬ 
dow to see a fire engine go dashing by, 
and they have no head to turn, to listen 
or observe, just for an instant, something 
extrinsic to the matter in hand. Slow 
the machinery may be, but it is relentless 
and continuous. One man, working with 
a very slow punch, had his thumb caught 
under it. He had to stand there and 
watch the terrible deliberation with 
which the punch relentlessly crushed 
down, took off the end of the thumb, 
and slowly rose again. Accidents occur 
while using machinery on the farm, it is 
- true, but the differences are the fact that 
horse power is used, and consequently 
when the farmer is working on machin¬ 
ery with his hands, it is not in motion. 
The time during which machinery is used 
is trifling, compared to the time so spent 
in the machine shop. The farm machines 
which are most dangerous, namely, the 
buzz saw, thrashing machine, and busker 
and shredder, are usually run by their 
owners, who make a specialty of it. 
Hence, the danger of accident to the 
mechanic on the farm is incomparably 
less than that to the mechanic in the 
city. 
If a farmer’s boy has an irresistible 
longing to work with machinery, that 
farmer is to be congratulated. Far less 
than the value of one lost finger or 
thumb, would it cost to equip with en¬ 
gine, shafting and a lathe, a little corner 
of a big barn, or an inexpensive struc¬ 
ture may be erected to be used for the 
purpose. The labor on the cement floor 
and forge can largely be performed by 
the home force, and a shop can be erect¬ 
ed at a small cost. Such a little shop 
should be on every farm, and the bene¬ 
fit to it would be incalculable. If the son 
has real ability he can soon earn enough 
from repairs for the neighbors, to aid 
him in getting more training, if he de¬ 
sires, from some technical institute, 
where his home experience will shortly 
cause him to shine among his classmates, 
whose knowledge is but theoretical. 
This shop gives the boy a chance to 
work off his overflow of mechanical de¬ 
sire, arid alternate with it farm work, 
thus keeping his always alert and enthu¬ 
siastic. Coming fresh to his work, he 
would be less liable to injury than when 
confined to one endless round of routine 
toil for eight o r ten hours daily. The 
disgusted weariness from which he often 
suffer- renders him liable to accident, 
due to tired nerves. Neither does he 
handle the tremendously powerful ma¬ 
chines, nor does he have to lift, carry, 
or help in carrying, heavy pieces of work. 
1 he farm boy is an especial mark in 
these shops, for, being muscular and well 
developed, he is put on the heaviest 
work. Another danger is the inhaling of 
iron or emery dust, which is very in¬ 
jurious to the lungs. One can, by patient 
application, be able, in time, to graduate, 
if in a factory where brass work is done, 
to that department where he has the 
spice which variety of danger gives, for 
brass work is poisonous and dangerous. 
To sum up, the monotony, the extinc¬ 
tion of ambition, the dirt and the dan¬ 
ger. render mechanical work in the city 
much less desirable than the pursuit of 
the same occupation in the country. 
ELLEN E. DE GRAFF. 
RAISING GAME FOR MEAT. 
S. J. C., Bush nellsvi Uc, A’. Y.—On page 
127 J. E. L., Cohutta, (la., speaks of a 
“rough tract.” II. E. Van Deman tells of 
uses that can be made of such places. Do 
you think he is in earnest? The reason 
of my asking is this. I know of a person 
having land that can reached by good 
roads, in fact part of the 900 acres is on 
a post road within fivtf miles of a rail¬ 
road station and in Summer the place can 
be reached in three hours from New York 
City. It is in the Catskill Mountains. 
Ans.— Certainly I was writing in earn¬ 
est about utilizing rough tracts as ranges 
for deer and elk. There are millions of 
acres now yielding almost no revenue to 
the owner or anyone else that might be 
made to produce venison in abundance. 
I also mentioned putting Angora goats 
on the rough and brushy lands, and it is 
being done by thousands of progressive 
stockmen, and in nearly all cases with 
good profit. They eat all sorts of brush, 
briars and weeds that almost no other 
kind of stock will touch, and that is just 
what deer and elk will do. If I had a 
rough tract of land offered I surely 
would fence it to hold this class of game 
animals, and get something from it in 
the way of food supply, and a lot of en¬ 
joyment besides. These animals would 
cost almost nothing for care except to 
keep them within the enclosure and pro¬ 
vide hay and other kinds of forage dur¬ 
ing Winter. Even shelter is of little 
use, for these animals are provided by 
nature with such coats of hair that makes 
them almost proof against rain, snow 
and cold. Those who are keeping elk 
tell me that they will lie on the snow 
during storms outside the sheds and be¬ 
cause they prefer to do so. All they 
want is good forage, hay, corn fodder, or 
anything of the kind and plenty of 
browse. The tops of trees that are cut 
down in the woods for any purpose are 
greedily eaten by them the same as hay, 
except evergreens and a few other kinds. 
The tender twigs and buds are very nu¬ 
tritious for all members of the deer and 
goat families. 
To my mind the elk is far better than 
deer in domestication. I have never 
kept any of either, but know those who 
have done so, and that is their experi¬ 
ence. Elk do not require so high a fence 
as deer, strange as it may seem, and they 
are less inclined to retain their wild 
nature, especially if the keeper is about 
them often. They yield the best of 
meat, as I know by having feasted on 
it several times, both wild and tame. 
The objections to the business of 
keeping these game animals under 
domestication are very few. The worst 
is the unreasonable laws in many States 
that forces them to come under the game 
laws. Those of New York are about the 
worst, and were made at the dictation of 
■sportsmen. It is all right to protect the 
wild game from extermination and in¬ 
definite slaughter, but when animals of 
any kind are rightfully obtained and 
kept inside enclosures they are the right¬ 
ful property of the owner and should be 
his lawfully to keep or dispose of as he 
does with his sheep or cattle. The way 
the laws are now framed there are al¬ 
most no States in which this can be 
done, and it is argued that this is to 
prevent unscrupulous “game hogs,” 
poachers and marketmen from handling 
game unlawfully. 
There is no doubt that there is oppor¬ 
tunity for this to be done, but by proper 
regulations, or rather permissions to kill 
and sell domesticated or privately owned 
game animals there need be no serious 
trouble of this kind. There are efforts 
being made in this direction. By writ¬ 
ing to Dr. T. S. Palmer, of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, the latest 
information on this whole subject can 
be obtained. A wild tract of 900 acres 
in the Catskill Mountains ought to be 
utilized by the owner in any way that 
will pay him best, especially if he can 
keep it in forest and produce a meat sup¬ 
ply from it. He has just as good a right 
to raise and sell venison from it at 25 
to 50 cents a pound, net, as pork or beef 
at 10 cents. 
WATER SUPPLY FROM CREEK. 
U . E. L., Louisa, Va .—My house stands 
about 50 feet from a creek of good water, 
arul on a side hill some 10 feet higher than 
the surface of the creek. On the bank of 
this creek I have a gasoline engine, and 
to relieve the women folks from the hard 
work of carrying water I wish to use some 
device to bring water into the house at 
ii minimum of expense and yet in a wny 
that will give satisfactory service. Prob¬ 
ably some of your readers have similar 
situations and can give their solutions. I 
sometimes think a hydraulic ram would 
be the best. The water comes from springs 
and source is less than a mile long where 
it flows by my house, and with heavy rains 
gets out of banks, but on the other hand 
is never dry, and the flow is probably 
never less than 50 gallons a minute. 
Ans. —I think you answer the ques¬ 
tion. Y on have a gasoline engine at 
bank of creek. To get a constant sup¬ 
ply why not attach a pump to the en¬ 
gine, shape up a pool to pump from, 
run a line of say 24-inch or one-inch 
pipe to the house and put in a tank at 
the highest available point? If you do 
not care to buy a tank get some fairly 
clear Michigan pine, say V/ 2 inch thick, 
and make one to fit conditions. A box 
3x3x6 feet long holds 54 square feet, or 
400 gallons. Provide an overflow pipe 
arranged so a flow would be noted and 
pump stopped. Use wire to a float so 
when full the engine would stop. Place 
pipe below frost line and provide drain 
cocks against freezing. From tank pipe 
where needed in the house and barn. 
A hydraulic ram could of course be 
used, but as you now have an engine 
why go to the expense? t. t. p. 
You sharpen a plowshare, a scythe or a hoe 
because with a sharp edge the implement offers 
the least resistance in cutting. We make 
SHIRLEY PRESIDENT 
SUSPENDERS 
with a sliding cord in the back because it offers 
the least resistance to the movements of your 
body. The rigid back suspender is like a dull tool 
SHIRLEY PRESIDENTS” are made in 
Extra Heavy for work; Medium and Light 
Weights for dress; Extra Lengths for tall men. 
Guarantee ticket on every pair. 
Don’t wait until tomorrow, get a pair from 
your dealer or send to us today. Price 50 cents. 
The C. A. EDGARTON MFG. CO. 
801 Main St., Shirley, Mass. 
TO REDUCE COST OF PAINTING 
and still have the Best Paint made, is a vital ques- 
t ion to propertyownersWemakeTHICK PASTE 
PAINT in colors, ready for I,inseed Oil thinning 
in equal parts. Thereby you get the second gallon 
at the cost of oil, and the first gallon at Factory 
Wholesale Price. State size of building, Old or 
New. and we will tell you the cost. REMEMBER 
you can't get a better Paint at ANY PRICE. Write 
today for free satti pies & book. T. G. Spence.Prop. 
NEW UTRECHT COLOR WORKS, P 
53rd St. and 16th Ave., Brooklyn, New York City. 
T'HE handiest camp tool that you can have 
A is the DAMASCUS HUNTING HATCHET. It sells 
for $ 2.00 complete, with leather sheath, straight 
or curved handle. It’s made of the same quality 
of razor steel as the C. A. C. Axe, and will cut 
hard, dry or green wood, knots and all. small 
or big game,bones and all and still hold its edge, 
because it s hand-forged and hand-tempered. 
It makes a dandy house tool also. Has a nail 
claw that takes the place of a hammer. 
II your dealer doesn’t sell it, send us $e.00 and his 
name and we’ll send you the hatchet prepaid. Specify 
weight (IK to 2 '4 pounds) and 
length of handle (IB to 2t in.) We 
make it in regular and wedge 
shapes. Your money back if you 
don’t like it. 
THE C. A, C 
12 I’curl St.. 
AXE CO., 
Boston, Mass. 
Look for this 
Trade-Mark 
34 Potatoes to the Bushel, weighing 61 lbs.” 
I am sending a sample bushel of potatoes weighing 61 lbs., and made up 
of 34 in number, to your agents from whom I bought your fertilizer. The 
yie d is about 300 bushels per acre, and the point is they were grown from a 
poor seeding on an abandoned farm. I used one ton of Swift’s Potato Grower per 
acre an d Rib greatly pleased with Swift’s Animal Fertilizers.” 
Oct. 26 , 1909 . FAXON BROWN, North Adams, Mass 
“ Not a Rotten Potato in the Whole Field.” 
\\ hile the season was very dry this past year, your Swift’. Special Potato Fertilizer 
aid the work. It was so dry that some of my neighbors advised ploughing in the crop 
Ju y 1 st, but I kept on cultivating and spraying it just the same, and had a yield of 
neat ly 700 bushels per acre 0 / large smooth potatoes with very few small ones, and there 
was not a rotten potato in the whole field. I applied three tons on a little more than 
three acres of land and used no other manure on ground that was badly worn out ” 
Dec. 3 , 1909 GEORGE A. MURCH, Old Orchard, Maine. 
a ' ' Deal agents or send for prices. Our terms are easy and our prices right. 
Swiff’s Lowell Fertilizer Co . M .. 
A handy booklet of useful information Sent Free. 
isy and our prices right. 
40 North Market St., Boston. 
Sent Free • 
