VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 26, 1909.
NO. 25
I'se of I'aiiit About tlio Farm.
should   not   be   applied   until   at   least   on solidly, and repair the worst cracks
By R. B. Rushing.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The time is at hand when ths' up-
to-date farmer, the farmer who wants
to make money and at the same time
save money, should be giving some
care to the wooden things on his farm.
I am perhaps rather a crank on the
scare of farm buildings, but I —
haVe been a farmer all my life
and have learned the value of
keeping them up in shape. I figure that I have made many dollars, or rather saved many, because of the care given my buildings, implements, etc.
How have I done it? With ths'
paint pall. Paint ought to be
one of the farmer's best friends.
Perhaps the editor will allow
ins ts> tell just how 1 know paint
will save anil make many dollars
for any  farmer.
Taki' the wagon for instance.
Are its sides cracked, warped and
fil'ed with checks? Are its
spokes and hubs in the same condition? Is the tongue showing
weather-beaten and seamy? Notice carefully and you will be surprised to see how much of this is
so. And what does It mean? It
means, that the life of the average farm wagon is not much
more than six years, while it
should  be  sixteen  or  twenty.
For the first ten years of its
life your wagon should hardly
show a check or a crack. You
say, how can this be done? Get
out your paint pail and paint
your wagon twice a year. This
may sound like an enormity to
those who never paint their
wagons—to them It sounds like a
lot of  work  and  expense.
But It isn't. During the year
1908 I painted three wagons on
my farm myself. The entire time
spent ln painting them twice was
not more than eight or ten hours,
Mnd only required two gallons of
$1.75  paint.
What did I save by so doing?
Those three wagons, (one a low
down ,handy wagon, for use only
on the farm) have been in UM ssn
'he farm now for five years, and
have received two coats of paint
each year, and today are as good
as when new. I figure that I have
saved from $75 to $100 on my
wagons by the use of twelve or
fifteen dollars worth of paint and
a few hours time.
The average farmer can in this
way save at least $50 eash year
'"iring for his farm furniture.
lake the mower. Ordinarily,or in
many cases, it is exposed to rain
■"Hi  wind, sleet and snow.       One
hour and 15 cents worth of paint     	
will suffice to protect this mower
for half of a season. Usually the beam
°f the plow is checked and cracked; if
wooden, or if steel, the paint is weath-
•r-beaten. A single coat a season, five
minutes work and 3 cents worth of
Paint, will save It. Rake, hoe and
shovel handle can be painted in only
:| f,'W minutes and their lives doubled.
If a first class paint is purchased it
■hay be thinned one-half with linseed
oil for the first coat. This makes the
baint thin enough for the wood to absorb  a   part   of   it.       The   second   coat
four days after, by which time the
first coat will have become hardened.
But it is the buildings on the farm
on which one can save most. It is a
curious fact I have observed that many
farmers give almost no thought to the
painting of their houses ,out-sheds and
barns. The farmer who has not built
anything since  the  big advance  in  the
and holes. Go to some reliable dealer
and buy some of the best prepared
paint and some raw linseed oil, which
you can get for half a dollar a gallon.
Don't get cheap paint. For the first
coat take one gallon of oil ,and mix
with one gallon of paint and apply this
liberally all over the barn. This first
coat will be so thin it will soak into the
To  Make   a   Homo .Made   Refrigerator.
By S.   I.   Parker.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
As very little ice was put up last
winter, the question how to keep butter,
milk and other perishable articles for
the table is of vital importance, and
any new method or way of keeping
things of this kind cool, receives a
— ready attention by all housekeepers.
Below I will give you complete
description how to make a home-
mails- refrigerator that has been
tried and found to keep milk and
butter about as well as a regular
issd one. Anyone can quickly
build it and the only thing necessary to buy is two hinges for the
lid.
Get a good solid tight box, a
star soap box will do, put a tight
fitting lid on it and fasten to the
box with hinges so it can be rais
ed up whin desired. Now take
a strip of felt or some flexible
cloth and tack on the top edges
of the box so the lid will fit down
against  it perfectly tight. This
is to keep any insects from crawling in the box under the lid. The
lial should be fastened down with
a hook, or you can lay a heavy
weight upon it.
Now whitewash the inside of
the box with lime; this is to kill
any wood taste and make it perfectly sanitary. Now bury the
box in the ground on the shady-
side of the house, allowing about
two inches of the top to remain
above ground. Now get quite a
large box and knock off the top
and sides, and set it over the one
buried like a buggy top over the
seat. There should be enough
space between the boxes so the
lid of the buried box can be
swung up without striking. Cut
some sod and lay on the top and
up against the sides of the largo
box and your refrigerator In
ready for uss-.
If you  wish you    oan make a
door for the large box which will
make  a  double   protection.
Leipsic,   Ohio.
Government       Buildings       at       Fort  Benjamin   Harrison,   near   Indianapolis.
price of lumber naturally does not take
this into consideration. There are
thousands of barns thruout the country, now well on the road to ruin, that
could be given 10 years, addition to
their usefulness if paint were used upon them this summer. I want to
show just how many an old barn may
'.e saved for several years.
Suppose that you take a dozen evenings, or two or three spare days, and
first repair the buildings as well as
possible. See   that   the   boards   are
woosl and into the cracks, acting as the
best preservative in the world. Allow this flrst coat to dry and harden
four days. For the second coat use
two gallons of paint to one of oil, and
by the time this is on, the result will be
a, surprise. Except on very close inspection, (when of course one will be
able to see the filled checks and cracks)
your building will look as good as new.
And from now on further checking and
cracking of the wood ceases, provided
painting is kept up when it is needed.
S< ope of July Crop Report.
In July the Bureau of Statistics
of the Department of Agriculture
will make reports upon forty-one
crops, whieh are covered by sixty-five  separate   questions.
An estimate will be made of
the acreage of corn, potatoes, tobacco, flax, sweet potatoes, rice,
and sorgum; the amount of
wheat on farms on July 1; the
average weight per fleece of wool;
the conditions on July 1 of corn,
winter wheat, spring wheat, oats,
_ barley, rye, potatoes, tobacco,
flax, rice, hay (all), timothy,
elover, alfalfa, millet, kafflr corn, pasture, Canadian or English field peas,
beans (dry), lima beans apples,
peaches, grapes, pears, blackberries,
raspberries, watermelons, cantaloupes,
oranges, lemons, hemp, broom corn,
sugar cane, sorgum, sugar beets, hops,
and peanuts; the production compared
with full crop of strawberries; the condition on June 25 of cqtton; the average farm price on July 1 pf corn,
wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat,
potatoes, flaxseed, hay and cotton.