the proper thickness, finish them off so badly that the farmer is put to
great inconvenience and expense to put them in working order. Two years
ago I purchased a straw-burning engine and boiler made by an Eastern
firm. Before it had run ten days the boiler began to leak at the
saddle-bolt holes. The engineer tightened the nuts as far as possible,
but could not stop the leaks, which at last became so bad that we had to
stop work and take the engine to the shop. Upon taking off the saddle
and taking out the bolts it was discovered that they were too small for
the holes in the boiler, and that they had been wrapped with candle wick
and white lead to make them fill the holes, and that a light washer had
been put on each bolt between the head and the inside of the boiler.
This washer kept the lead in its place, and prevented the boiler from
showing a leak when first fired up. The water pipes in the fire-box soon
gave out and became utterly useless. Upon inquiring of the patentee of
this straw-burning device, who was supposed to have put it in my boiler,
he stated that he had had nothing to do with it, but that it was put in
by the firm selling these engines, and "as cheaply as possible." Before
I got this boiler and engine in fair running order I had spent hundreds
of dollars and had to do entirely away with the water grates.

Last summer, needing another tharshing engine, I was induced to buy
one of the same make as my old one, but with a different straw-burning
device. The firm who sold it to me agreed that it should have none of
the faults of the old one. Well, I got it, and, upon hauling it out to
my ranch, and getting up steam, I found it to be much worse than the
first one I had bought. The boiler leaked at nearly every hole where
a tap had been screwed into it. It took an engineer, a boilermaker, a
blacksmith, and a fireman several days to get it in shape so that we
could use it at all; and after we did start up, the boilermaker had
to be sent for several times to stop new leaks that were continually