The Operation, Care and Repair of Farm Machinery. . - Revival of the How-to Bible - book review

Whole Earth,  Spring, 2002  

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The Operation, Care and Repair of Farm Machinery John Deere 2000; 239 pp. $12.95 Lyons Press; Originally published by John Deere Company, 1937

Barns and Outbuildings and How To Build Them Byron David Halsted 2000; 235 pp. $12.95 Lyons Press; Originally published by Orange Judd Company, 1881

Horses, Mules and Ponies and How To Keep Them Henry William Herbert 2000; 425 pp. $12.95 Lyons Press; Originally published by Orange Judd Company, 1859

Other books in the series: Farm Appliances * Farm Blacksmithing * Farm Conveniences * Farm Machinery * Farm Motors * Fences, Gates and Bridges * Handy Farm Devices * Harris on the Pig * The Homestead Builder * Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties * Village and Country Residences

The Lyons Press has put out an extensive series of reprints of practical books in the spirit of the Foxfire books. Like them, this series of classics comes from the source of old-timey know-how. The books present immense detail and practical and complete references, particularly since most in the series (which includes fourteen titles) were intended as textbooks. The original texts were first published between 1880 and 1937, but the bulk of the information is as applicable today as it was a hundred years ago.

I first learned to drive and work with a farm tractor when I was a teenager, and no guidebooks were anywhere to be found. What it would have meant to me to have the words of John Deere himself to guide me. Tractors are pretty much the same today as they were then. The same basic components are at work; tractor logic is the same; the same principles apply to working the soil. In reading The Operation, Care, and Repair of Farm Machinery I felt comforted knowing that I was sharing common knowledge with farmers of a century ago.

I am a farmer whose carpentry skills are limited to chicken coops and harvesting sheds. But if I could hold Barns and Outbuildings in one hand and a hammer with another, I just might be able to make some progress in that area. Barns and Outbuildings covers a broad range of designs, illustrations, floor plans, and building instructions. It is a charming collection of beautiful and practical ideas to answer structural needs that are still necessary: pigpens, tool houses, as well as a host of barns designed according to the whim of the owner and the lay of the land.

Now that I'm getting comfortable with aspects of farming that I've learned the hard way, I can take on Horses, Mules, and Ponies, an arena where I have never ventured. The comprehensive knowledge from pre-Civil War America in regards to horse care is much more practiced and detailed than anything that could be written today. This remains one of the bibles of horse breeding, care, and riding. Particularly interesting to me was "How to Physic a Horse--Simple Remedies for Simple Ailments," which drew heavily on the principles of homeopathy in diagnosis and treatment. --David Guyer-Stevens

"The importance of having the correct amount of suck in the share cannot be emphasized too strongly. Too little underpoint suction will cause the plow to "ride out" of the ground and cut a furrow of uneven depth. Too much will cause "bobbing" and heavy draft. In both cases, the plow is difficult to handle. If the landslide suction is too great, the bottom tends to cut a wider furrow than can be handled properly, and the reverse is true when the landslide suction is not sufficient. --THE OPERATION, CARE, AND REPAIR OF FARM MACHINERY

"A warm dry pen is necessary for the health and comfort of the pig. Cold and damp induce more diseases than are charged to these causes.... But the difficulty is to have a door that will shut of itself and can be opened by the animals whenever they desire. The engraving [below] shows a door of this kind that can be applied to any pen, at least to any to which a door can be affixed at all. It is hung on hooks and staples to the lintel of the doorway, and swinging either way allows the inmates of the pen to go out or in, as they please. --BARNS AND OUTBUILDINGS AND HOW TO BUILD THEM

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