LETTERS

Timely publication of privy prints

‘The Old Outhouse’ article in the July 2004 issue caught my attention among the several excellent stories.

Just a week before, I purchased an outhouse at public auction for the Penn State Pasto Agricultural Museum, for which I serve as volunteer curator. Following the purchase, I turned to our library copy of Ron Barlow’s The Vanishing American Outhouse and was delighted to find the exact plans for our new acquisition.

After thinking I might have to pay $100 or more, I was dumbfounded to be the only bidder and paid $5 for the privy shown in the enclosed photographs. This is the famous WPA model, which sold for $5 when built new. The irony is that I had to pay $25 to the local township for a permit just to locate it outside the museum. As shown, it came complete with a concrete floor and foundation – and of course it will not be used.

As a point of information regarding the accompanying story on page 26, July 2004 issue: The estimate of 200,000 outhouses still in use in 1999 in North Carolina seems unusually high. When I retired from North Carolina State University as Professor Emeritus of Animal Science, water quality authorities stated that 8,000 were still operational at that time.

Thanks for a great magazine. I enjoy and save every issue for reference.

– Darwin C. Braund Volunteer Curator, Pasto Agricultural Museum 238 Agricultural Admin. Bldg. University Park, PA 16802 (814)863-1383

e-mail: pastoagmuseum@psu.edu

‘Muddy’ waters

As a child living in the country down south, my family had an indoor bath rather than a ‘path’ (outhouse). Many outhouses were built over ditches, so technically when it rained there was ‘running water’ everywhere.

Now some 50 years later, I won’t drink water from a creek or lake.

– Sidney Love 117 Pine Tree Drive Selma, AL 36701-7270

Editor’s note: Sidney is writing in reference to the Farm Collector July 2004 article ‘The Old Outhouse.’

Cooking up some stove history

I found this stove in the trees on the farm we bought in northwest Minnesota. It has a Sears, Roebuck & Co. tag with model no. 102-152 and stamped on the side is 140-11. It has three legs missing and looks like some kind of kettle fits on top. Can anyone tell me what this stove was used for and the year it was made?

– Leonard Schmaltz 208 2nd St. N.W., Apt. 110 East Grand Fork, MN 56721 (218)681-8419

The Farmall line-up?

I recently attended the Camp Creek Antique Thresher Show, Waverly, Neb. While walking through the lines of tractors, I came across a Farmall F-16. I have never seen or heard of one before. I wonder if some of your readers can tell me something about it. I enjoy the magazine very much.

– John Lad 7112 S. 19th St. Bellevue, NE 68147

Pumping for information

I’m restoring a circa-1900 piston pump. I purchased it from the great-grandson (age 70) of the original owner, who ran a lumber mill in Marysville, New Brunswick, Canada. They made bowling pins.

There is no identification for the manufacturer. I’m looking for identification and instructions or books on piston pump operation.

– Ken Marnoch 3056 Waukegan Ave. Simi Valley, CA 93063

All horses, no play

Farm Collector is a great magazine as I can remember using the horse-drawn equipment. Most of the farms here were 30 to 100 acres each, and they all made milk. We had Grade A, 6-percent butterfat or more, and nobody had a tractor. All the work was done with horses. Once the 120 tons of hay was in the barn in June, we then were cutting corn and filling the silo. Then we were all set for winter. Let it blow, we thought.

I like the information on Cub Cadet tractors, but I don’t understand painting the cooling fins on the engines, it will make them run hot. I have seven air-cooled engines I use, and I have never painted the cooling fins. I use stove blacking, it goes on easy, looks good, and these engines run nice and cool. Most of these engines are over 50 years old.

– Robert Dennis 1052 E. Main Road Middletown, RI 02842