1 
A 
iicrican Agriculturist, January 13, 1923 
25 
es, I Lend My Tools To My Neighbors 
But—There Is A String Attached That Brings Them Home Again 
T here are two problems, or perhaps 
it should be said two ends of one prob¬ 
lem, that come to every farmer. They 
are the problems of lending and borrowing 
tools. If a man has to borrow tools, he feels 
as if he ought to lend them. Yet he hates to 
lend certain valuable machines, for one who 
does not understand them will do more dam¬ 
age in a minute than can be repaired in a 
week. On the other hand, no man, unless he 
has been farming a long time, and success¬ 
fully at that, is likely to 
have all the tools he needs 
for every occasion. 
Assuming then that it is 
necessary to lend some 
thipgs, one runs up against 
the difficulty that most 
neighbors find it far easier 
to come after a tool than to 
come back with it. And 
then some neighbors have a 
pleasant habit of relending 
the tools without consult¬ 
ing the owner, and then 
forgetting where they are. 
I am the proud possessor of 
a drag scraper. I needed 
one, and as no one had one 
in the neighborhood, I 
bought a machine which by 
the way is too small. The 
medium or large size is bet¬ 
ter. 
One day a neighbor bor¬ 
rowed said scraper, and as 
usual he failed to bring it 
back when he was finished- 
with it. Instead he let 
someone else have it. I did 
not need it for some months 
and paid no attention to it. 
When I did want it, it could 
not be found. 
Some months later, it 
was found at another 
neighbors, some four miles 
from the first, and by piec¬ 
ing out from both ends, I 
found that at least five men 
had had it while it was 
away. I loaned a fellow a 
pair of steel triple blocks 
which have never shown 
up. I let them go one day 
when I was in a hurry and 
not having impressed on 
my mind who the borrower 
was, did not make a note of 
it. 
started the day that they took it home and 
it ran until they brought it back, whether 
they used it every day or not. I use the 
spreader every day as long as the cows are 
in the stable, and every three or four days 
when they are on pasture. Therefore I do 
not want to be out the use of the machine 
any longer than possible. I found out that 
when the charge ran as long as a machine 
was _ away, there was no trouble about its 
coming back. I decided I would make a 
Experiences Demanded Change 
of Policy 
These experiences forced 
the conclusion on me that 
sornething had to be done. 
I decided to have a new 
policy in regard to lending 
things. I had already made 
Value op \92l 
Hav Crop op 
hew 'ioRK 
88,no,ooo 
8 . 9 ^ 
to pay for the use of it. It was inspiring 
to see the difference in the promptness with 
which tools came back after this regime went 
into effect. The time was reduced from 
months to days. 
As to the borrowing end of the problem, 
I soon found that whenever I borrowed any¬ 
thing, it was about even chances that it 
would break while I had it. Even if it did 
not, the trouble of going after it and taking 
it back was more than enough to pay in-. 
terest and depreciation on 
it. So I have bought a 
pretty full line of tools. I 
did this before the present 
high prices however. Those 
things that I did borrow, I 
always offered to pay for if 
it was such a thing as 
should be paid for. I have 
made exceptions of my two 
next neighbors in this, but 
of no one else. 
I have now a hard and 
fast rule that nothing is to 
go off the place without my 
express permission. That 
does away with having the 
hired man let something 
go, and the next year, when 
there may be a new man, 
with no one knowing where 
the tool is. 
VAscohsin fkNwsywAWW CalifcJkNia lumois 
Ohio 
The Importance of New York in American Agriculture—No. 4 
The production of hay is not only an important agricultural industry in New York but is 
prominent in the East in general. New York stands prominent as the largest producer of 
this crop which amounts to practically 9% of the production of the entire United States. 
Pennsylvania is also well up ‘among the leaders. 
it a rule never to lend such tools as binders 
or corn-binders. *If anyone wanted the use 
of these, he could hire the work done and I 
would send a man and team. The man 
would be responsible for the machine. I 
hired out my manure spreader several times 
at $1 a day and the man who took it was 
to be responsible for all breakage. Well, 
they always paid for the breakage, but 
they did not put in the repairs. By the 
time I put these in for the third time, I 
swore off on renting this tool out. 
There is no more pleasant job than 
putting in links and slate in a manure soaked 
spreader—if you like that kind of a job. In 
letting the spreader, however, I learned one 
thing. I made the stipulation that the rent 
nominal charge for any tool that went off 
from the place, a charge that would not 
amount to anything if the tool was returned 
promptly, and would soon pay for it if kept 
a few months. The tools most borrowed and 
kept in this way were a jack and a scraper. 
Rental Avoids Disagreeable 
' - Clashes 
I have seen some rather 
disagreeable results of bor¬ 
rowing, which could have 
been avoided by a business¬ 
like arrangement. A neigh¬ 
bor loaned his manure 
spreader to a fellow and he 
broke it. He left it stand¬ 
ing outdoors for several 
years, the owner having 
meanwhile moved away. 
At last the owner got tired 
of waiting for the man to 
fix it and bring it back, 
as he had continually 
promised, and finally sued 
him. He got the value of 
the machine. If there had 
been a hard and fast bar¬ 
gain I have spoken of, the 
owner would have had the 
machine back in a week or 
so, and the renter would 
have been out only the rent 
and the repairs. 
There is one thing that 
would be a good thing, but 
which I have never done, 
and that would be to have 
a notebook in which the 
borrower would sign a re¬ 
ceipt for the tool, dated. 
This would do away with 
Nominal Rental Charges Bring Tools Home 
I made the charge nothing the day the tool 
was taken and ten cents a day as long after 
that as the borrower kept it. I simply trans¬ 
ferred the worry about the tools coming back 
from myself to the other fellow. 
This charge is not enough to bother any¬ 
one wishing the use for a day or two of one 
of these tools. A man v/ho wants to use one 
a month should buy one himself, or expect 
any uncertainty, but with the ten cents a 
day qharge, there is seldom any difficulty. 
The tool comes back before there has been 
time to forget. 
As to the charge, none of the men that 
I have loaned to have made any kick. They 
all agree that if the tool is needed at all it 
is worth ten cents a day to a man. Some who 
would not otherwise wish to borrow feel free 
to do so, and there are a few who do not feel 
like borrowing under these circumstances. T 
am perfectly willing to pay for ajiything 
I borrow, and in fact would rather do so. I 
guess the whole thing can best be governed 
by the golden rule—“Do unto others as you 
are willing to be done by.”—A. H. DE Graff, 
N. Y. 
( 
A. 
