16 replies to this topic

[downtownjr]

I was helping a friend do some wiring in an old farm house this Saturday and found something interesting...a 1919 copy of "How to Do Things" by the Farm Journal...Wilmer Atkinson Company, Washington Square, Philadelphia. It has a group of old hints and information. Back then Farm Journal sold for $2.95 for three years and the 572 page book .

Pretty cool old stuff like different devices to keep a milk cow from kicking or to hold a cows tail. Even a simple idea for emptying a 50 gallon barrel...you simply lay the top part of the barrel down on a 4 x 4 post and put a pipe in the highest area of the lid. You roll the barrel down the post...the pipe moves down and gravity allows the liquid to flow...so it fills the bucket with the liquid from the barrel.

Also, my favorite...emergency wrench...take a long bolt that has two burrs (nuts...they talked funny in 1919) and adjust them to the position needed to accept the nut or bolt head you want to remove. Cool.

Anyway, I am having a blast. Cool read that is for sure. Next articles...harvesting the ice crop and growing your own fence posts

My hat is off to Farm Journal for cool stuff even in 1919. Love to see some late 1890/1900 stuff.

[urednecku]

LOTS of that stuff have been forgotten over time. Sure could use some those ideas many times a day around a farm.

[Feed Hay]

growing your own fence posts? Like to hear what that is about, wouldn't that take awhile?

[somedevildawg]

growing your own fence posts? Like to hear what that is about, wouldn't that take awhile?

All they had was time.....and as grandad used to say, money ran out way before time....

[NDVA HAYMAN]

Mine always said " The interest is eatin up the principal"

[Vol]

Neat old idea??? Try paying cash for a major purchase. Very hard to do as by the time you have accumulated enough funds...greed tends to set in and then you hate to spend it .

Regards, Mike

[hayray]

I like the idea about using the bolt with two nuts for a wrench, that may actually come in handy.

[Teslan]

My wife is from Panama so we usually go there to visit her family around Christmas time. They grow their fence posts there. They have incredibly fast growing trees. If they need a fence post they just cut a branch, stick it in the ground where they need it and it will root down right there. Pretty nifty. Then after a time they cut the tree down except for the fence post part. Some fences have a post every 2 feet or so. Or even less.

[urednecku]

My wife is from Panama so we usually go there to visit her family around Christmas time. They grow their fence posts there. They have incredibly fast growing trees. If they need a fence post they just cut a branch, stick it in the ground where they need it and it will root down right there. Pretty nifty. Then after a time they cut the tree down except for the fence post part. Some fences have a post every 2 feet or so. Or even less.

What kind of tree is it?

[Teslan]

I was told by my wife that it is called a diphysa americana or in English it's called a Macano. http://ntsavanna.com/living-fence/

[Vol]

I was told by my wife that it is called a diphysa americana or in English it's called a Macano. http://ntsavanna.com/living-fence/

Pretty interesting Teslan....says the Macano is a legume....you tried baling any of the leaves yet?

Regards, Mike

[urednecku]

Soon as I get a chance I'll check them out. Might be a nitch market around here, or if they do grow here might save $$ on my fences.

[Teslan]

Nope no baling leaves yet. LOL. Though last Christmas when we were in Panama I saw more bales of hay being trucked around then I had ever seen before when we visited. The farming there is interesting. At least compared to where I'm from. Very small very hilly fields with lots of hand labor done by the native indians. Mostly vegetables and rice grown.

[Nitram]

Пожалуйста, уходи

Thought I'd been drinkin when I tied to read this. Lol

[Nitram]

5ft piece of 2in schedual 40 pvc glue cap on end then you can stick pitch fork in bale (round) place over wooden handle and keep the fork where you need it. Ps don't drive too close to the bale...don't ask!

[rjmoses]

I use a length of PVC pipe to hold my center post for double wide gates, i.e., two 10-12' giving me a 20-24' gate opening.

I sink the PVC pipe in the post hole, then just stand a 4" wood post in it. If I need just a small opening, I open just one side. If I need the full width, I open both gates and pull the post. The PVC pipe keeps the post hole from filling in and makes the center post easy to remove.

Ralph

[Mike120]

Thought I'd been drinkin when I tied to read this. Lol

Sorry Martin!!! I guess the Mods deleted the original posts where a Russian spammer posted something (I can't remember what) and I told him to "Please go away"