The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1870-12-10
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Farm Imp I'm ents.
BY HORACE GREELEY.

COCA workman, IL IS SAID, does not
quarrel with his tools-wnch. If true, I
Judge is due to the fact that he generally
manages to have good ones. To work
hard throughout long day under burn
ing SUP, Is sufficiently trying, without rem
dering the labor doubly repugnant by the
use OF iil-contsived, imperfect, inefficient
implements.
The half-centnry which nearly bounds
my recollection hes Witnessed great i'm
proven ents IL this respect. The Plow,
mainly Of wood, wherewith my father
| broke up his stony, hide bound acres of
New Hampshire pebb es and gravel, in my
early boyhood, would now be spurned il
! offered as gift TO the poorest and most
! thrlttiess farmer among US; and the hoes
| which were allotted to Us boys ii those
| days, alter the YER and better had been
| assigned to the men, would be rejected
with disdain by the stcpidest negro III
| Virginia. Though there is still room for
improvement, we use far better implements
! than our grandfathers did, with q cores.
bonding increase in the efficiency OF our
labor; but the cultivators OF Spain, Portu-
gal, and the greater part Of Europe, still
linger In the dark ages in this respect.
| Their plows are little better than the fork
ed sticks which served their barbarian an
cestors, and their implements generally
are beneath contempt. With such nipple
mcnts, deep and thorough culture Is
simply impossible, unless by the use of the
spade; and he must be a hard worker who
produces peck Of Wheat or half bushel
Of Indian Corn per day by the exclusive
use of this tool. The soil of France is SO
cut up and sub9iVided into little strips of
two or three roods up to as many acres
each-each STRIP forming the entire
patrimony Of tamily-that agricul-
taral advancement or efficiency is,
with the great nass Of French
cultivators, out of the question. Hence.
/ judge that, outside of Great Britain and
Australia, there Is no country wherein an
average years work produces half so much
| grain as in our own; in spite of our SLOW.
eniy tillage, our neglect and waste of fer
tilizers, and the frequent failures of orr
haryestg. Belgium, Holland, and North
| ern France, can teach us neatness and
! thorOUghness OF cultivation; the British
Isles may fairly boast of larger end surer
crops OF wheat, oats, potatoes and grass
| than we are accustomed 10 secure; but in
the selection OF implements, and in the
average efficiency of labor, our best farm
ers are ahead OF them ALL
Bear with me, then, while I interpose a
| of implements, whose solicitations that a
trial. or at least an inspection, be accorded
to their several cOntriyances, are too often
repelied with churlish rudeness. I realize
that our thriving farmers are generally alb
sofbed IL their own plans and efforts, and
that the agent or salesman who insists on
an examination OF his new harrow, or pitch
fork, or potato digger, is often extravagant
IN his assumptions, and sometimes bore.
Still, when I recOllect how tedious and how
back-bre2klug were the methods OF now
lag grass and reaping grain with The scythe
and sickle which held unchallenged sway ID
my early boyhood, l entreat the farmer
who Is petiloned TO accord ten or fifteen
minutes TO tho setting forth, by some az
rant stranger, of tie merits Of bis new
hOr5e-hoe or ted1er, to give the time, If he
can; and that without sour looks or o mieu
Of stOlid Incredibly. The Biblical mont
tion that. In eVin9iug a generous hospital.
ity, We may sometimes entertain ANGELS
! unawares, seems 10 me- IN point. new
implement may he defective and worthless,
and yet contain the germ OF suggest the
form OF thoroughly good one. Give the
inventor Or his representative q courteous
hearing i YOU can, -Yen though this should
constrain you 10 make I'D the time so lost
alter It's Days work would otherwise have
ended.
I suspect that the average farmer of our
completely rural districts would be sur
prigo3, il not Instructed by q days careful
scrutiny Of ire contents of ore Of our great
implement warehouses. So many and
suc4 yarIoua and ingenious devices for
pulyerizing the earth, applying fertilizers
20 the soil, .snting or sowing rapidly,
eradic&lGg weeds, economiZDg labor in
harvesting, &e, VIII probably transcend
not merely his experience, but his imaoi-
nation; and every one r these myriad i'm
PIGMENTS IS useful in it's place. though no
single farmer can afCr3to buy al or half
Of them. It viii yet / think, be found
necessary by the farmers Of q schooI-dis-
tTict, If noC OF township, 70 meet and
| agree among themselves that one viii buy
this implement. another that and SO on,
until twenty or shrty such devices as q
Stump or ROCKEFELLER, Clod-Crusher
Ihr&sning slack.ao, Fanning-Mill, &c,
shall be owned In the neighborhood-each
by separate farmer, wiling 10 live and
let hye-W!th an understanding that each
shall be used in turn by him who needs it;
and SO everyone shall be nearly as well &C
cCmmOdated IS thoughshe owned them all.
For the number and variety Of useful
implements increase so rapidly, while
their usefulness is so palpable, that though
1t is difficult IL farm efficiently without
many il not NOS. Of them, 1t is impossbI
that the young tanner of moderate means
should buy and keep them all. True, be
might hire when lie needed, il what he
wanted were always az hand; but this can
only be assured by some such arrangement
as l have suggested, wherein each under
takes to provide and keep that which he
will most need, agreeing TO lend it when
ever il can be spared TO any other member
81 the combination, who undertakes to
minister III like manner to has need IN re-
turn.
I think few viii doubt that the inven-
tons III aid Of Asricpltnre during the last
forty Years viii be far surpassed by those
Of the forty years just before us. The
magnificent fortunes which, il is currently
understood, have rewarded the inventors
Of the moro Popular Mowers, Reapers, &c,
Of ous day, :, q sure to stimulate alike the
ingenuity and the avarice OF clever men
throughout the cotaz4g years, and so call
Int0 existence t1T th9T, and patents, where
o. hundred will be valuable, and en- or
twelve ersi1ertly useful. Flowing land
free from stITfnps a:ld stones Ciiurot long
be the tedious patience trying process we
have known it, The machinery which viii
at once pulvarize the soil TO p depth Of two
feet, feTtlltze and seed 1t, not requiring 1t
to be tran. ed BY the hoofs OF animals
employed IN subsojln{ ano narrowing,
viii soon be IL general use, especially on
the spacious, deep. inviting prairies OF the
! Great West -Rut / must defer what L
have TO say OF Steam ana its uses in Agri-
culture to future essay
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