USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > Prairie Farmer's directory of Hendricks County, Indiana, 1920 > Part 2
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Seek to deal with men of known integrity in business. If not expert, and the horse to be bought is a dear
Splint
Curb
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PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY
one, it will be good policy to employ a veterinarian to make a critical ex- amination. Better visit the stable when not expected and see the horse in the stall. There some things can be learned that will not be seen when the horse is warmed up. You should be able to enter and leave the stall on the left side of the horse, without being received with a bite or expelled with a kick. Note, too, if the horse digs a hole in the floor by pawing, or chews his manger and hay rack, which may indicate cribbing and wind suck- ing, or weaves from side to side, or pulls back on the halter. Make him "stand over" and note if he jerks up a hind leg, or hops over. The hopping may indicate spavin lameness, which quickly disappears when the horse is warmed up.
The jerking up of a hind leg may be accompanied by quivering of muscles and tail and such a horse is a "shiv- erer" or "crampy" and afflicted with incurable St. Vitus' dance. The symp- toms of the latter disease become more apparent as the horse backs out of the stall, but quickly subside with slight exercise. If the animal has "string halt" the jerking up of the hind legs is continued as long as the horse is in motion, he does not warm out of it. When a horse is brought out for inspection "on a run" or "dead jump" it is impossible to detect spavin lameness or chorea and even string halt may not be noticed. This will be more certainly the case if the horse is turned loose in deep snow, or plowed land, or in a straw bedded pad- dock. This commonly is done. Some- times an old plug that has scarcely animation enough to get out of its own way will kick up, strut and trot, proud as a peacock, when suddenly the halter shank, previously cut part way through breaks and the old pilgrim imagines he has broken loose by his own great strength. This trick is often tried. Never allow the dealer to keep the horse "in the air."
After making an examination in the stall watch the horse for a while as he stands at ease on a level floor. Maybe he cannot stand at ease. If a foot hurts, soon that foot will be thrust forward; if two hurt each will be thrust forward; if two hurt, each will be advanced turn about; if four hurt the horse will rest each foot in turn.
And do not forget to walk around the horse that every part may meet the eye. Often one side is a pretty pic- ture, the other marred. See both sides, for often the animai is turned toward the wall if an eye is out, a big bare spot present or some unsound- ness there that had best be kept hid- den. A "watch" or "wall" eye can see, but it is unsightly. The tour of inspection around the horse discloses such blemishes.
Remember about not buying a pig in a poke, so remove the blanket from all fancy harness and see that the halter has no springs and trusses to press down upon the nostrils to pre- vent high blowing and "roaring." Many a man has neglected to remove a horse's hood before buying and af- terward has discovered that it hid a cropped, lopped, or split ear, fistula of the base of the ear, a "poll evil" or some unsightly blemish.
Don't get too close to the horse when making the preliminary exam- ination. Ex-Governor Hoard, of Wis- consin, once said that in farm business matters a man may hold a cent piece so close to his eye that it keeps him from seeing a big silver dollar a little further off. So if one rushes up and grabs a foot, before viewing what the French term the tout ensemble-the assemblage of all points-he misses the comprehensive estimate of the horse as a whole and that is of most importance. When one has looked the horse over from a little distance and from all points of view and has seen how the animal stands and be- haves it will be time enough to scru- tinize each component part of his an- atomy. First we shall see him move away and back, at a walk, then at a trot, and finally we shall gallop him. Be there when he stops and so decide as to the soundness of his "wind." It is not enough to test the "wind" by standing the horse close to a wall and suddenly threatening to strike him with a whip. The sudden fright may cause the animal to grunt loudly, but this does not necessarily prove that such a "bull" is unsound in wind.
Many sound horses grunt when so threatened, or even when one goes to mount. In the latter instances it is a nervous "expression" and nothing serious. When watching the horse at rest one should note that he does not
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FARMERS AND BREEDERS, HENDRICKS COUNTY
1
Sidebone
Spavin
heave at the flanks, cough or pass gas from the rectum. These are the symp- toms of "heaves"; but the "heavey" horse may be "shut" or "doped" with drugs so that temporarily the symptoms do not show. Usually they will quickly appear if the horse is given all the hay and water he wants and then is gal- loped. Roaring sometimes is tempora- rily relieved by plugging the nostrils with a sponge or squeezed half lemon. Discharge is also prevented by this means. It is best to locate these at once than have them sneezed into the feed box when the horse is yours.
At both walk and trot the horse should go straight, level and true, each joint perfectly fixed, the soles of the feet well turned up, as he goes away, and no "padding," "winging," in or out, "forging," stumbling or toe dragging noticeable. Lameness should be absent. If the horse passes muster when in motion and his style, action and conformation are suitable, he next may be critically examined as he stands at rest. He should stand square and firm on each foot. The profile of the front and back of each leg should show no abnormal bends, curves, puffs, swellings, or lumps. If any one of these things is seen its nature will have to be carefully determined. The eyes should be sound and of the same color. The pupils should dilate in the dark and contract when the horse is brought into the light. Angular, wrinkled eye- brows and sunken eyes denote previous attacks of "moon blindness" (periodic
ophthalmia). "Smoky" or "opaque," or "pearl grey," or "curdy" appearance of the cornea (anterior chamber of the eye) denote more serious stages of the disease or blindness from cataract or glaucoma. A brilliant sparkling prominent eye ("glassy eye") may be stone blind from paralysis of the ret- ina and optic nerve. The ears should neither be absolutely unused, nor ab- normally active. The former may in- dicate deafness; the latter, impaired vision, nervousness or vice.
See that a thread from ear to ear under the forelock, does not keep lop ears upright and that a leaden ball, suspended from a thread in the ear, is not preventing undue motion. The horse should let one handle his ears, his poll (back of ears), the top of the neck, where the collar will bear, and the withers, where fistulous openings or their scars so commonly are found. Fighting against such handling indi- cates a reason for fear and the rea- son usually is that a twitch has been used on the ear and the horse may be hard to shoe, have sore neck from the collar, poll evil or fistulous with- ers, or have suffered a previous opera- tion for such disease.
Handle each part upon which har- ness will have to bear and see that it is sound and free from sores, tu- mors or abscesses. The nostrils should be large, under command of the will, rosy pink inside, not slit and free from abnormal discharge. See that the breath does not smell foul and
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PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY
that the teeth are sound and the jaws not under or over "short." Examine the back. It should be strong, broad, straight, free from sores and well muscled. Pinching the loins is un- necessary. A ticklish horse will squat when so handled but the test does not detect weak kidneys. Note that the ribs are well sprung, the underline fairly straight, the abdomen capacious, the flank not tucked up and the coupling short and strong. See that no wounds or abscesses are present high up on the right flank, as the re- sult of tapping for flatulant colic. With the left hand on the horse's loin, as a support, stoop and examine sheath, or udder as the case may be, and other parts high up in the groins.
Examine the tail, which should be strong, not artificial ("joined on") and not rubbed bare from itchiness. Lift it and see that the black skin below is free from tumors, the anus clean, well pursed up, free from scurvy substances or streaks of mucous; or, in the mare, that the space between rectum and vulva is intact and that no discharge comes from the latter. Looking from the rear, compare one hip with the other. If one is "knocked down" that side will be steep. At each side of the tail is the tuberosity of the ischium. Like the point of the hip (ilium) this often is fractured, leaving one side depressed. All parts of the shoulders, neck, barrel and hindquarters should be smoothly and deeply covered with sound muscles.
'Now examine each hoof. Cracks, rings, ridges and meatiness should be absent, frogs and bars prominent, soles slightly concave, heels wide, coronets (hoof heads) open and strong, hoofs waxy, smooth and ample in size. Ob- ject to a horse that has steep narrow heels with a deep cleft in frog, also one that has chronic corns, chronic thrush, "dropped" (convex) soles, or hoof walls showing toe or quarter cracks.
Make sure that the elbows are free from hard or soft tumors or abscesses called "shoe boils" and that the knees are free from hairless scars and are straight, wide, deep and strong. All joints should be large, clean, bony
and strong. This is of the greatest importance. The joints cannot be too large so long as the size is made up of large, clean sound bones, ligaments and tendons. Beware of puffs, meati- ness and bony growths which give the wrong sort of size. The knees should have perfect flexion, no matter what work the horse has to do. They should not be bent forward (buck knees) nor bent backward (calf knees). Splints close to the knee are serious; but low down, on an adult horse, they are practically harmless, unless struck by a shoe. Splints, ring- bones and spavins are bony excres- censes. Splints come on the cannon bones, along the course of the splint bones (small metacarpals and metatar- sals).
Ringbones are found high, medium or low, on the long pastern, and often involve the short pasterns. Bone spavins are found at the lower, front, inner aspect of the hock joints. Bog spavins are soft bursal distensions of the hock joints, above and in front of the seat of bone spavins. Thoro- pins are bursal distensions seen at the sides of the hocks, towards the rear and when pressed on one side bulge out on the opposite side. "Wind galls" are similar puffs in connection with the tendons at and just above the fetlock joints. A curb appears as a hard enlargement giving a rounded bulging contour to the profile of the back of the hock joint, looking from the side.
Splints are most easily seen by standing in front of the horse, then examining further by feeling the parts involved, first with the foot standing down firm, then with it off the ground. Ringbones are best seen from a side view of the profile of the long pas- tern. The hand may have to help in their detection. To examine for spav- ins look between the forelegs at the inner, lower profile of each hock. The hard "knob" on one hock probably will prove to be a bone spavin. A small spavin is called a "jack" and it is apt to prove serious and grow to be a large spavin. Spavin may also be detected from a quartering view of the hock, or from the rear.
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FARMERS AND BREEDERS, HENDRICKS COUNTY
Corn Planter Adjustments
By C. O. Reed, University of Illinois, in Prairie Farmer
Not all of our implement troubles are to be found in the plow or in the binder. The corn planter has troubles of its own, and it is the purpose of this article to discuss some of the corn planter principles and troubles that are often misunderstood.
Accuracy in Drop
Some corn growers say that accu- racy of drop is not an important fac- tor with them because two kernels in one hill and four in the next gives an average of three kernels per hill and that is the number desired. The fallacy of this statement is very ap- parent when we stop to consider that in such planting we have not the de- sired three kernels in either hill; and if the soil is three-kernel soil, two kernels per hill are too few while four kernels are too many. The result is probably a loss in each hill.
A certain soil may give the best yield with either two, three or four kernels per hill, but after it has been ascertained which number of kernels is best every effort should be made to secure that number in each hill where the soil conditions remain constant. The variable drop devices on planters afford ample opportunity to shift from two to three or from three to four kernels per hill as the soil conditions through the row may demand, but the advisability of permitting inaccuracy in drop from hill to hill is question- able.
The first two requisites for accu- racy in drop are (a) seed of uniform size, and (b) the selection of the proper seed plate. Hand tipped and butted corn or machine sorted corn will give seed as uniform in shape and size of kernel as is practical, but unsorted seed may be relied upon to cause inaccurate dropping.
Testing out the planter to make sure that the proper plate is used is to be strongly advocated. Last year's plate may not be the best one for this year's seed, for if there is a slight difference in the average size of ker- nels between the two years, a corre- sponding change may be necessary in
the size of the seed pits in the plate used. The following table taken from laboratory tests shows the danger of carelessness in selecting the seed plate. The planter was set to drop three-kernel hills, and the plates "small" and "large" were plates next size smaller and next size larger than the proper or right sized plate found.
Right Small sized Large
plate plate plate
Per cent of blank hill. 9.34 .00 .00
Per cent of hills containing
1 kernel .29.36 .26 .28
Per cent of hills containing
2 kernels .37.54 8.66 5.3
Per cent of hills containing
3 kernels .20.48 88.12 81.28
Per cent of hills containing
4 kernels 2.66 2.84 11.48
Per cent of hills containing
5 kernels
.62 .12 1.66
These figures tend to show that a slight mistake in plate selection may lead to a direct loss in stand. There may be but a very slight difference between two pairs of plates-so slight perhaps that we can not detect the difference by eye-but a test of the two pairs will quickly show that one of those pairs means a good drop while the other pair is dangerous and its use should be avoided. Testing can be done when time at the barn permits and will not only mean a sav- ing of time in the field but will also enable the operator to avoid a mis- take before it is too late.
Each operator will have his own method of testing out the planter but he should heed these three rules: (1) Let each test consist of at least 50 or 60 hills; (2) run the planter parts at field speed; (3) do not give up until the best plate is found. Probably the quickest way to test is to run the planter in the farm yard, providing the chickens do not get the corn be- fore we can count it. Rainy day test- ing on the barn floor is a little more troublesome but can be very success- fully accomplished by two persons as follows: Jack the planter up over a blanket stretched tight on the floor so that the furrow openers will be about three inches above the blanket when
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PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY
the depth lever is thrown forward. One man can then turn the drive wheel, trip the check arm and call out the number of kernels dropped, while the second person records the count. After each hill is dropped the kernels are brushed away by foot of the man turning the drive wheel. Glancing at the drop without recording the count simplifies the process but it is not an accurate method and should be avoided when possible.
Accuracy of drop may be secured further by keeping the seed hoppers at least half full at all times.
Blank Hills at the Ends of Rows
Accuracy of drop depends also to some extent upon the speed of the valve. It sometimes happens that at one end of the row we will happen to stop the team just as the button on the check wire has begun to force the check arm. The valves work so slowly at such a time or stop at such a point that in some planters the seed at the top of the boot drops clear through to the ground instead of be- ing intercepted at the bottom of the boot. Two hills drop at once, then, and when we have turned around there are no kernels at the lower valve ready for the first hill on the return trip. On some planters we may overcome the difficulty by foot dropping one hill while the team is turning. On other planters the only remedy is to stop sooner at the end of the row or to drive ahead at usual speed until the wire has released the check arm.
Accuracy in Check
Considerable attention is usually given to securing accurate checking,
but a word regarding the adjustment will not be amiss. Accurate checking means possibility of closer cultivation and less loss by cultivating out hills. The manufacturer has found that un- der usual conditions the check wire will travel from one to three inches across the field, and inasmuch as the slack will always be ahead of the machine, he designs his planter to drop the hill at a distance behind the button equal to one-half the travel. On the return trip the hill is again dropped behind the button and thus the hills should check in spite of the wire travel. It can readily be seen then that if our shoes or furrow openers are. dropping nearer to or farther away from the button than half the wire travel, our system for securing good checking will be materially interfered with and adjustments must be made at A in Fig. 1.
This tongue adjustment will vary on the different makes of planters. On some it is at the rear end of the tongue, but it will be found on all the popular makes. As a rule the front frame of the planter should be run level, and it can be so run with a properly drawn check wire. But different ten- sions on the wire drawn by different drivers may necessitate throwing the front frame slightly out of a horizon- tal position. If the planter drops too close to the button, make such tongue adjustment as will drop the furrow openers back a little toward the wheels. To some extent tightening the check wire will accomplish the same result in the check. Forcing the furrow open- ers a little ahead by means of the tongue adjustment will cause the hill
Fig. 1. Tongue Adjustment to Secure Accurate Checking
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FARMERS AND BREEDERS, HENDRICKS COUNTY
A
B.
A Spread Check Fork May Cause Stringing
to be dropped a little close to the but- ton, or having the check wire a little more slack will have the same result in the check. In testing for accuracy of check by digging up hills, select hills pretty close behind the planter. Ad- justing the neckyoke straps will also affect the check. The adjustment shown in Fig. 1 is also a means of maintaining a good check when differ- ent heights of teams are used and when the difference cannot be compensated for by adjusting the neckyoke straps.
Uniform tension in the check wire must be maintained if accurate check- ing is to result. Some drivers even go so far as to make allowance for the expansion and contraction of the check wire due to varying temperature from day to day, but this is getting too par- ticular to be practical. It is practical, however, where planting is being done up and down a slope, to pull the wire tighter when setting the high stake.
Uniform Depth of Planting
In planting over a rough field, a more uniform depth can often be se- cured by floating the furrow openers, but when this is done the operator should keep the openers under foot control so that the shoes may be forced to their depth in dry spots and kept from planting too deep in moist, soft spots. There are a number of shoe gauges now on the market which attach to shoes to insure uniform depth when floating is desirable. Such attachments should prove valuable if properly used where the conditions demand. String- ing of the hill may be caused by (a) dirt in the boot, and (b) by a spread check arm. Trouble from the first cause will probably be due to the team having set back on the planter while the shoes were still in the ground. Clean out the boot bottom thoroughly and the rest of the remedy is obvious.
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PRAIRIE FARMER'S RELIABLE DIRECTORY
Trouble (b) is less easily detected. If the check arm is spread as is shown at B in Fig. 2, the wire button will let go of the check arm before the valves have been forced wide open, to the re- sult that the kernels will be strung out in the row rather than being dropped well together. By means of a ham- mer, drive the arm halves together to their original position, but in so doing care must be taken not to get the halves so closely together that binding of the wire will result. The check arm halves can be left straight as shown at A in Fig. 2. Some opera- tors find that stringing is due to a bad- ly worn shoe. If this is determined to be the cause, new parts must usually be supplied.
Clutch Troubles
Clutches on the various planters differ so widely in design that no spe- cific rules can be given that would apply to all makes. Failure of the clutch to grip or release can often be overcome by thoroughly cleaning the . parts, and if the striking forces are worn round, new parts may have to be secured. On most planters this means but slight expense and a little patience.
Timing the Plate Rims
Breakage may necessitate removal of the rim which drives the plate. This rim is timed with the pinion on the shaft which drives the plates from the clutch, and when the rim is replaced on the machine the "time" must be re- established. If the plate rim is out of time with the pinion, inaccuracy will result because the plate itself will not stop at the proper time.
On some machines the cog teeth of the rim and pinion are so marked or constructed that it is very easy to ascertain the proper relation between the two castings. Before removing the rim the operator should carefully seek any such guides so that he may know just how to replace the parts. If no guide is found on the arm and on the shaft pinion, make a mark on each by means of a cold chisel, and then in replacing parts bring these two marks into the same relation to each other as at first. It sometimes happens that after replacing a rim or adding a new one, it breaks as soon as it revolves. This is due to non-timing.
The question is often asked: "Is the disc furrow opener preferable to the ordinary shoe runner?" The sin- gle disc opener has better penetration than the shoe and will cut through trash to better advantage, but it throws the soil to one side and cover- ing is made more difficult. The dou- ble disc has less penetrating ability than the single disc, but covering can be `more easily accomplished after it.
In hard, thrashy ground, then, the disc opener should prove preferable to the shoe opener, but in a well pre- pared seed bed, well free from surface trash, the shoe is strongly advocated because of its simplicity. The planter with disc openers cannot be consid- ered a heavy draft implement, but the discs carry bearings which must work in soil and one may always expect trouble with such a combination.
MRS. LENA STEVENSON MANN Household Editor of Prairie Farmer
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FARMERS AND BREEDERS, HENDRICKS COUNTY
Binder Troubles and Adjustments
By C. O. Reed, University of Illinois, in Prairie Farmer
To have to await the services of an expert when every minute of the har- vest days is money is not only an ex- pensive practice, but in most cases is an unnecessary one if the operator will only use patience and good judg- ment and try to understand a few very simple principles of what seems a complicated machine. The purpose of this article is to aid the operator in his most common binder troubles. To cover the ground in the most log- ical and concise manner, let us con- sider troubles under the three general heads: general binder troubles, bind- er head troubles and knotter head troubles.
Starting. If possible, start the new machine on a road or in a pasture before going into the grain field. Use plenty of kerosene and run the ma- chine empty for about five minutes, taking notice that every duct to bear- ings and every oil hole is open. Then apply lubricating oil. When you are ready to enter the grain with a new machine, raise the machine well up, tilt the platform forward; open the throat of the machine by throwing the butt adjuster forward and start in with about one-half of a full swath. After five minutes work the machine is ready for maximum results. If compelled to make a full swath at the start, cut the grain extra high.
Never change the adjustment of a new binder head before going into the field. It may miss a few bundles at first, but do not adjust. Apply a lib- eral amount of coal oil to the knotter head and the trouble will usually dis- appear.
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