Small farms

By Way of Introduction

SUCCESS comes to the man who so works that his efforts will bring the most and the best results -- not to the man who simply works hard. It is the know-how, things-to-do-with and economy that count. Labor-saving machinery has revolutionized many a trade and industry. It has made farming an industry and a science of possibilities undreamed of and unattainable a hundred years ago. But it is not enough for the modern farm to be equipped with the best tools and machinery that shops and factories turn out, to know how to use them and keep them in repair. There are many handy devices, not made in any factory and not sold in any store, that every intelligent man can make himself, which save money and labor and time. Inventive men are constantly contriving simple but valuable things to meet the needs of their own practical experience. We are all the time hunting after and gathering these ideas. Now we are putting a lot of the best ones into this book. We are trying, by words and pictures, to explain clearly just how to make each device. Everything described is tried and practical. Some are old, many are new, all are good for the purpose intended. They represent the practical, successful experience of farmers and other wide-awake workers all over the United States.

This book is broader than its title. The overflow of good measure includes a valuable chapter on the steel square and its uses. Nowhere else has this subject been handled in a way so easily understood, with confusing mathematics cut out. We especially commend this chapter to our readers. We also present some good house and barn plans, that will be appreciated by those who contemplate building.

In addition to the direct benefit to be derived from doing what the book tells how to do, we have in mind the larger purpose of education toward putting more thought into our work and doing what we have to do the easiest, the cheapest and the quickest way. Out of it all, we trust our readers will make progress toward greater prosperity, greater happiness and greater usefulness.

Contents by Chapters

1. Workshop and Tools
The Farmer's Workshop
Running the Grindstone
A Homemade Anvil
Making a New Tool
How to Make a Shaving Horse
A Convenient Farm Horse
A Wire Splicer
Serviceable Homemade Level
To Make a Handle Stay On
A Tool Box Requisite
Soldering

2. The Steel Square
Lumber Rule
The Brace Rule
The Octagon Scale
The Miter Box
Truing the Square
Making a Straight Edge
Rafters
Stair Stringer
The 47th Problem of Euclid
The Rule of 6, 8 and 10
Angles
Plotting Angles

3. In and Around the House
The Step-Saving Dumb Waiter
Rack for Preserves
Transforming a Washstand
Homemade Dresser
Kitchen Window Cabinet
To Let in More Light
A Barrel Cradle
To Protect Baby from Hot Stove
A Box for Clothes
Scoops from Tin Cans
A Homemade Folding Table
A Homemade Butter Worker
Home Cheesemaking
Cutting the Curd
Pressing and Curing
Washes While Reading
Tread Power in the Dairy
A Lamp for Cooking
Hot Water All Night

3. In and Around the House (part II)
How to Cut Bread Even
Homemade Water Cooler
Keep Food Cool in Summer
A Cooler Dummy
An Outdoor Closet
Homemade Refrigerator
Iceless Butter and Milk Cooler
A Ventilated Pump Platform
Cleaning a Well
Dog Power for Pump
Filter for Cistern Water
A Handy Water Filter
Delivering Mail by Trolley
Beauty in a Barrel
Storage Bin for Vegetables
An Inexpensive Cellar
Clothesline Up and Down
A Clothes Horse
A Toilet Closet
Revolving Cellar Shelf
Water Supply for Farmhouse
Installation and Operation
Experience with Water Supply System
Warning Against Fire
Where to Hang a Fire Ladder

4. Barns and Stock
A Handy Feed Basket
Make the Horse Eat Slowly
Stalls Better than Stanchions
Good Ties for Cows
Handy Calf-feeding Device
Management of Kicking Cows
A Handy Milking Stool
The Ever Ready Stool
Cheap Milking Stool
Keep Stools Clean
A Useful Stock Cart
How to Stake out Stock
Feed Box for Field
Cheap Sheds of Straw
Feed Trough for Sheep
A Novel Feed Rack
A Wheelbarrow Sheep Trough
Packing the Fleece
Easy to Handle Heavy Hogs
Heating Water for Hog Killing
A Farm Slaughterhouse
Keep Pigs out of Feed Trough
Movable House for Breeding Sows
Well-arranged Hog Lots
Handy Pig Catcher
Stairs for the Barn
Hang Up the Lantern
Arrangement for Weighing
A Barn Windlass
Grain Box Easy to Empty
Easily Constructed Grain Bins
A Convenient Barn Truck
Takes a Man's Place
A Handy Bag Holder
A Corn Husking Rack
A Homemade Feed Cutter
Saw Root Cutter
Homemade Cabbage Cutter
A Substantial Driveway

5. Poultry and Bees
Feeding Dry Ground Grain
Keeping the Water Clean
A Watering Rack for Hens
Drinking Fountain
Folding Chicken Roost
A Good Poultry Nest
Two Coops from a Barrel
A Box Chicken Coop
A Low Poultry Run
A Portable Chicken Coop
A Homemade Brooder
Movable Brooder House
A Very Cheap Henhouse
A Daylight Chicken Catcher
A Simple Hawk Trap
Scare Away Crows and Hawks
Practical Hives and Hive Making
Device for Extracting Beeswax
Self-feeder for Bees

6. Garden and Orchard
An Iron Hoop Trellis
Plant Supports of Barrel Hoops
A Folding Trellis
Easy Way to Pole Beans
Trellis that Stands Alone
Protecting Newly Set Plants
Making the Hotbed
Making Permanent Hotbeds
Heat for Hotbeds
Cold Frames and Their Management
A Hand Garden Cultivator
A Convenient Garden Stool
Watering Seed Soil Made Easy
Catching Owls and Hawks
Moving a Large Tree
Transplanting Trees
Homemade Fruit Picker
A Truss Ladder
Orchard Ladder on Wheels
Convenient Sorting Tables

7. Field and Wood
Portable Hay Derrick
A Wire Tightener
Fence Wire Reel
Safe Way to String Barbed Wire
A Boxed Stone Boat
A Homemade Road Roller
An Old-fashioned Drogue
A Ditching Scraper
Bridge for a Small Stream
Dam for Farm Pond
Sowing Seed Evenly
Berry Crate Carrier
Handy Loading Device
Rack for Hauling Fodder
Pulling Fence Posts
One Way to Pull Stumps
Simple Land Measure
Storing Water
Getting a Supply of Fuel
Simplest of All Camping Tents

8. Gates and Doors
Keeping a Gate from Sagging
An Easily Opened Gate
A Gate that Never Sags
A Cheap Gate
A Simple Farm Gate
An Easily Regulated Gate
Gate to Overcome Snowdrifts
A Time Saver
Keep the Gate Open
Good Bars for the Farm
Durable Floating Fence
Fence Across a Stream
Temporary Sheep Fence
Fastening Heavy Doors
Hold the Barn Doors Shut
Fastening the Stable Door
Homemade Door Latch

9. When We Build
Important Points in House Building
A Very Convenient House
Building a Block House
A Practical Round Barn
A Well-Arranged Barn
A Handy Small Barn
The Farmer's Icehouse
Location and Building
Framing the Icehouse
Ice and Milk Houses Combined
Small Greenhouses
Material for Construction
Set Glass in Warm Weather
Covering with Hotbed Sash
Wire Fence Corn Crib
How to Lay a Floor
An Inexpensive Veranda

9. When We Build (part II)
Concrete on the Farm
Mixing the Cement
Making Concrete Blocks
To Operate the Machine
Blocks of Different Shapes
Another Style of Mold
Regulating the Height of the Blocks
Filling the Molds
Mixing Cement for Brick
Reinforcement for Concrete
Making a Frostproof Cellar
A Summer Cool Room
A Concrete Smokehouse
Laying a Concrete Floor
Making a Concrete Walk
Cementing a Cistern Wall
Special Uses for Cement
A Time-honored Handy Device

10. Worth Knowing
Freezing Ice in Blocks
Saving the Seed Corn
Rack for Seed Corn
Drying and Keeping Seed Corn
Weight Lifter
Strong and Simple Wagon Jack
A Jack for Heavy Wagons
A Cheap Wheelbarrow
A Wheelbarrow Cheap and Strong
How to Hang a Kettle
A Snow Plow
Temporary Smoking Device
Homemade Heater and Cooker
Use for a Tough Log
A Handy Wood Splitter
How to Split Wood
A Pulling Hammer
Mounting the Farm Anvil
Sorting Potatoes Quickly
Handling Potatoes Easily
Cutting Seed Potatoes
Another Seed Potato Cutter
How to Test Seed Corn
Reading the Results
Killing Insects in Grain
Binding Pins for Hay
Combined Drag and Harrow
How to Handle a Rope
Tying Some Useful Knots
Carrying a Barrel Made Easy
Harness Clamp

10. Worth Knowing (part II)
Substitute for Pipe Wrench
Market Wagon Conveniences
Carrying Butter to Town
To Sharpen Scissors
How to Paper a Room
Choose Judiciously
Paste and Tools
Trimming and Cutting
Hanging the Paper
Practical and Economical
The Farm Blacksmith Shop
Why the Shop Pays
Blacksmithing Not Hired Man's Work
Horseshoe Lever
How to Paint Tin Roofs
Preserving Wood
To Preserve Shingles
To Render Wood Fireproof
Fireproof Wash for Shingles
Petrified Wood
How to Season Wood
Bleaching Wood
Wood Polish
Furniture Polish
Size Stains
Dark Wood Stain
Red Stain for Wood
Liquid Glue
Cement for Metal and Glass
Cement for Broken China
Cement for Crockery and Glass
Mending Glassware
Armenian Cement
Japanese Cement
Roofing Preparation
Fire Kindlers
Mending Pipes with Water On
To Join Water Pipes
Welding Metals
Grinding Tools


Next: 1. Workshop and Tools

Back to the Small Farms Library Index

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