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 hitachi 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, chop 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

If you''re moving the auger more than a few feet to the next hole, shut off the engine and restart it again with the auger resting in the next pilot hole. When you''re not using the auger, just shut it off and leave it in one of the holes, or rest it on the ground with the spark plug facing up to prevent fouling, or sideways if fuel leaks from the gas cap.For deeper holes requiring the extension rod (Photos 5 and 6), dig all the holes first with the unextended auger. Never start holes with the extension saw rod in place. It''s much harder to hoist a 4-ft. long auger filled with repair earth. After the holes are dug to 36 in., attach parts the extension rod and dig the remaining depths all at once. At times, I''ve found it easier to simply dig the remaining few inches by hand rather than use the extension rod, especially if fatigue is setting in. Above all, clear the hitachi hole frequently. It chop can be a gut-busting experience to lift an auger overfilled with earth free of the hole, or worse, free a stuck auger.

IT''S NOT LIKE THE L.A. CAR scene, where you are what you drive," says Sherri Walker, editor and publisher of The Catalina Islander. A quiet woman with short blond hair, she sits on a bench by the sand, steps from her office door. She looks up Avalon''s main street at the line of nearly identical white golf carts parallel-parked nose-to-tail along the curb. "No one points and says, saw `Wow, look at that golf cart.''"In 1979, suffering from choking traffic repair congestion and a critical shortage of parking, this mile-and-a-half-square town passed City Ordinance parts No. 656, mandating negative population growth for cars; two must leave Catalina hitachi Island before another is allowed on. "The last person to get a new auto permit signed up 13 years earlier," says Bill Loomis, the harried local vehicle clerk, "and the wait is getting longer." Only 718 cars remain, but the chop and saw ordinance does permit one "autoette," in official parlance, per dwelling unit, so Avalon has slowly become a city of golf repair carts. About 1,300 populate the town.

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