speed than you want, and then runs down, you are likely to say
at once, "Oh I know what the trouble is, it is the governor." Well,
suppose it is, what are you going to do about it, are you going to shut
down at once and go to tinkering with it? No, don't do that, stay close
to the throttle valve and watch the governor closely. Keep your eye on
the governor stem, and when the engine starts off on one of its high
speed tilts, you will see the stem go down through the stuffing box and
then stop and stick in one place until the engine slows down below its
regular speed, and it then lets loose and goes up quickly and your
engine lopes off again. You have now located the trouble. It is in the
stuffing box around the little brass rod or governor stem. The packing
has become dry and by loosening it up and applying oil you may remedy
the trouble until such time as you can repack it with fresh packing.
Candle wick is as good for this purpose as anything you can use.

But if the governor does not act as I have described and the stem seems
to be perfectly free and easy in the box, and the governor still acts
queerly, starting off and running fast for a few seconds, and then
suddenly concluding to take it easy and away goes the engine again, see
if the governor belt is all right, and if it is, it would be well for
you to stop and see if a wheel is not loose. It might be either the
little belt wheel or one of the little cog wheels. If you find these
are all right, examine the spool on the crank shaft from which the
governor is run and you will probably find it loose. If the engine has
been run for any length of time, you will always find the trouble in one
of these places, but if it is a new one the governor valve might fit a
little tight in the valve chamber and you may have to take it out and
use a little emery paper to take off the rough projections on the valve.
Never use a file on this valve if you can get emery paper, and I would
advise you to always have some of it with you. It will often come
handy. Now if the engine should start off at a lively gait and continue
to run still faster, you must stop at once. The trouble this time is
surely in the governor. If the belt is all right, examine the jam nuts
on the top of the governor valve stem. You will probably find that these
nuts have worked loose and the rod is working up, which will increase
the speed of the engine. If these are all right, you will find that
either a