Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the reading is so delightful…
Hello from Hazard. We knew we couldn’t stall Old Man Winter for too much longer, and here he is – although the deer hunters are happy for tracking help and we could still use the precipitation in some areas, so the snow has its good points, too.
Our thanks to five readers who responded to Item No. 666, although we have a slight difference of opinion as to the tool’s use. That shouldn’t surprise us with this spade, as it could have many uses on a farm.
Walter King of Fremont, Ohio; Joseph Hair of Elyria, Ohio; and Dale Gregg of Sycamore, Ohio, agree that Item No. 666 is a tile spade, which Hair calls an “open tiling spade.”
Les Howell of Beach City, Ohio, hazards the guess that the spade could be used to dig peat in a peat bog, and Fred Heaberlin of New Castle, Pa., adds that he used a similar tool in the 1920s and early ’30s to clean silage from the wood sides of a silo and to level the silage off as they blew it in top of the silo.
We appreciate Mark Wasick of Copley, Ohio, sending in the photo.
Item No. 667 is a mystery item shared by Terry Bancroft of Madison, Ohio.
If you’ve got an idea of what it is, or was used for, send us a note at: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.
