The Farm 87
tering trough, and pours a few pailfuls over his wheels.
Years ago a farmer who was going on a long trip would, the night before, sometimes set his wheels in the long log watering-trough in the barnyard, and turn them occasionally to make the soaking complete. In Europe farmers, on the evening before a journey, have been known to throw their wheels into a pond, when one was handy, and leave them over night.
A New England farmer who took this method of soaking the wheels of one of his old wagons had them all carried off by one of the town deacons who thought they had been thrown away.
The general effect on the wheels of this soaking process is to keep them expanding and shrinking. The temporary effect is all right, but in the end decay and decrepitude are hastened.
