186 
Annual Be port of the 
and relation of parts, which also have an important bearing on its 
durability and ease of draff—and finally such a general mechan¬ 
ical knowledge as to be able to keep it in such condition as to get 
the best performance from it, by adapting the whole construction 
to the conditions implied in the use of machiuery. It is well 
known that of two men, one will use a machine with entire suc¬ 
cess, and the other with the same machine will make an utter fail¬ 
ure—the first has something which the yankee calls u knack ” or 
u gumption,” but which is only the faculties, given generally without 
distinction to all who are alive to the work in hand so as to compre¬ 
hend the needs of it; a trained faculty to enter into sympathy with 
the machine, very much as an old hunter fells toward his dog and 
gun which have become as a second self from his constant care 
and attendance, or the wild Arab of the desert, who cares for his 
horse till he shares his tent and affection second to no other being 
in the world. Coupled with all this he needs a small kit of 
tools, a few extra bolts, some copper wire and rivets with which 
to make small repairs, and thus save loss of time in the field 
and expense of going to a shop perhaps miles away; and he should 
never he without his wrenches and oil can, and never fail to go 
over every part of his machine every day to see that no part is 
loose or out of repair. 
We have not forgotten that there is another field in which ma¬ 
chinery may help to lighten labor, and exercise just as potent influ¬ 
ences for good—we mean the home, the household-economy of the 
farmer; for while machinery in the field dispenses with nearly all 
the hired help, (so necessary without it), and thus lightens the labor 
of the housekeeper, so the wringer, the Blanchard churn, the wash¬ 
ing-machine, the sewing-machine, the apple-parer, corer and slicer, 
&c., &c., expedite affairs in the house as other machinery does on 
the farm. 
Having thus very briefly sketched a few of the advantages of 
machinery, we must in justice consider some of the most obvious 
disadvantages, for we have not time to consider them all, even cur¬ 
sorily. The use of machinery has facilitated the raising of the 
small grains, and has thereby about ruined millions of acres of the 
best land in the west, and impoverished their owners, and indirectly, 
s 
in conjunction with the threshing-machine, led to loose, slovenly 
methods of operation, and to a ruinous waste of grain. So, also, 
