Life and Care oe Farm Machinery in Colorado. 13 
of the total number of sheds the farm animals were allowed to 
run at will, will explain to a large extent why the housing of ma¬ 
chinery apparently does so little good in Colorado. 
•In a large number of cases the housing consists of “going 
through the motions’’ rather than actually preparing the machinery 
for storage and then properly storing it in a suitable shelter. 
MACHINERY SHOULD BE CLEANED AND OILED BEFORE STORING. 
Whether the machinery is to be housed or not, it should be 
cleaned and thoroughly oiled at the end of the season. With such 
machinery as the binder or mower, it is a good plan to thoroughly 
oil all bearings and wearing parts just before finishing the season. 
After removing all dirt, wipe the entire machine with an oiled rag 
or waste. The wearing parts especially should be well greased 
with tallow or axle grease. If the entire machine is to be housed 
these wearing parts do not need to be removed from the machine, 
but they should be removed and stored in a dry place under all 
other conditions. 
HOUSING THE MACHINERY. 
To house machinery does not always do as much good as is 
commonly supposed. In making the investigation, the following 
question was asked many times: “How should farm machinery 
be cared for?” It is usually answered by the farmer: “Everyone 
knows that it should be housed.” This is a good answer as far as 
it goes, but to house machinery under any condition, and not prop¬ 
erly care for it otherwise, constitutes very poor care. 
Machinery may be just as well cared for if it is allowed to 
stand in the shade of a tree, as if it is stored in some of the leaky 
sheds, open sheds, poorly drained sheds, or combined machine sheds 
and hen roosts, such as were found during the investigation. 
There is no question but that to properly house machinery is 
a great saving, as it not only adds a great deal to the life of the 
machine but it also adds to the general appearance of the farm. Ir 
was generally found that where a farmer was interested enough in 
his machine to properly house it, he was also interested enough in 
it to care for it otherwise. 
The investigation showed that the life of farm machinery 
depended a great deal upon the owner. Individual farmers were 
found who took very good care of their machinery and left it in 
the weather, when not in use; others were found who gave their 
machinery very poor care and housed it when not in use. A great 
deal of housed machinery was found which had done no more 
work and was no better or older than some which had not been 
housed but which had been well cared for otherwise. 
Cultivator shovels, plow shears, and attachments, which have 
been removed and greased, should be placed where there is no 
