The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-08-13
MACHINERY ON THE FARM.
rom tie Rurui Nep Yorker.

From tie R,roi New Yorker.
The early cutting Of hay which has
become the fashion now because it is
profitable could not have been done
this wear but for tho admirable now
ers which are distributed in every
neiehborhood. Instead of the hay
harvest lingering along through July
and far into August, as was formerly
the case when the farmer and his hind
man nibbled away day after day at one
side of badly-lodged clover field
with their scythes, the mowers have
cleaned the fields out in short order.
Grass, as rule, has been cut and re-
ceived when it ought to be-the ted
der following the mower, the horse
rake, the tedder, and the horse pitch
fork relieving the farmer of the stiff
ing and perspiring work of unloading
and slowing away. Then the time
saved! Half the help and one-ffth
of the time is required that used to be
in the good old days when scythes,
boys to spread the hay, handrakes,
and ordinary pitchforks and farm
muscle had this work to do. Then,
also, blessed is the man who invented
hay caps-those canvas or cotton con-
Germs that are pegged light over a
cock of hay as soon as shower
threatens. Thousands of tons of hay
have been saved from depreciation
this season by their use, and thou
sands more ought to have been. Be-
sides, they are just as useful on barley
cocks, or cocks Of barely and oats,
and on shocks of wheat and oats.
Next come the reapers, selfraking
or otherwise, which save the laborious
swing of the cradles and the r.king of
the swaths preparatory for binding.
Grain can be cut when it ought to be,
bound at once, set in shocks, capped,
and then received in the ricks or on
the scafolds, or, which is fast becom-
ing the practice on the larger grain
farms, drawn light to the combined
thresher, separator and cleaner, set in
the field and thrashed and stored in
bags, the straw being left where it grew.
No man need send illy-cleaned grain
to market, nor SOW foul seed at seed
ing, for the tanning mills, otherwise
known as separators, are now so per-
fected that the heavy grain can be
separated from the light, the cheat
from the cookie, the grass seed from
the clover, &c. Indeed, there is no
kind of separation the farmer requires
that cannot now be done with the i'm
proved machines that are put upon
the market.
Next comes the fall blowing and
fall seeding. Here are the labor-sav-
ing machines again! Gang plows on
wheels, the driver riding and manag-
ing the plows, turning two burrows
with more ease and quite as we'll as
he used to turn one. An extra horse
or two is all that is required in the
heavier work. The improved bar
rows or wheat cultivators help to pre-
pare the ground where further pull
verization is necessary. Then the
drill, which distributes the seed, both
grain and grass, sowing with it fertili-
GERS if desired, and rolling the ground
compactly upon it, is all done on
many farms at a single operation.
Again, the door yards and grounds
about homes need not wear ragged
clothing longer-that is, there is no
need of neglected look about the
house because, forsooth, the farmer
and his boys cannot get time to cut
the grass and weeds. A lawn mower,
Of which there are plenty Of good ones,
costs but trifle, can be used about
shrubbery and among flower beds
where it is difficult to swing scythe,
may be furnished the women folk,
whose pride alone will tempt them to
push it over the lawn and yard for
the sake of the tidy appearance it Sc
cures. If this is thought to be too
heavy work for the women, let us say
that we have seen mowers that q girl
twelve years old could force through
the grass without much exhaustion
and delighted in doing so. There is
therefore, no excuse for neglecting the
lawn grounds about the house be-
cause help is 90 scarce.
When it comes to cutting corn,
there are machines that are drawn BY
one or two horses that cut one or two
rows at q time as fast as team can
walk and deposits it in gavels ready
for the binder; husking machines to
do the husking, and we shall have
Gave now, adapted to some soils and
localities potato-diggers to save us
this back-torturing work.
So we might go on through almost
every phase of farm life to show what
improved implements are doing to
revolutionize labor on the farm and
relieve the farmer and his family Of
hnce grievous burdens But where.
fore? Don't everybody know it?
PORK RA1sING.-A correspondent
of the Germantown Teleqraph writes