Babbitting Boxings.—Babbitting boxings is one of the repair jobs on the farm. Some men are careless about oiling; sometimes sand cuts them out. Every year some boxings need rebabbitting. The melting ladle should be large enough to pour the largest box. Usually a 5-inch bowl is about right. A large ladle will pour a small box but a small ladle won’t pour a large one. In cold weather the shaft and box should be warmed to insure an even flow of metal. Pasteboard is fitted against the shaft when pouring the cap or top half of the box. Pasteboard is fitted around the shaft at the ends of the box to keep the melted metal from running out. Never use clay or putty, it is too mussy and the babbitt is made rough and uneven at the edges. Some skill is required to fit either wood or metal close enough to prevent leaks and to do a neat job.
If the boxing is small, both top and bottom may be poured at once by making holes through the dividing pasteboard. The holes must be large enough to let the melted metal through and small enough to break apart easily when cold.
CHAPTER III
GENERATING MECHANICAL POWER TO DRIVE MODERN FARM MACHINERY
At one time ninety-seven per cent of the population of the United States got their living directly from tilling the soil, and the power used was oxen and manual labor. At the present time probably not more than thirty-five per cent of our people are actively engaged in agricultural pursuits. And the power problem has been transferred to horses, steam, gasoline, kerosene and water power, with electricity as a power conveyor.
Fifty years ago a farmer was lucky if he owned a single moldboard cast-iron plow that he could follow all day on foot and turn over one, or at most, two acres. The new traction engines are so powerful that it is possible to plow sixty feet in width, and other machines have been invented to follow the tractor throughout the planting and growing seasons to the end of the harvest. The tractor is supplemented by numerous smaller powers. All of which combine to make it possible for one-third of the people to grow enough to feed the whole American family and to export a surplus to Europe.
At the same time, the standard of living is very much higher than it was when practically everyone worked in the fields to grow and to harvest the food necessary to live.
Farm machinery is expensive, but it is more expensive to do without. Farmers who make the most money are the ones who use the greatest power and the best machinery. Farmers who have a hard time of it are the ones who use the old wheezy hand pump, the eight-foot harrow and the walking plow. The few horses they keep are small and the work worries them. The owner sympathizes with his team and that worries him. Worry is the commonest form of insanity.