The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-07-16
1MpRovExssrs IN PARKING.

Although the application Of labor-ssving
machines to agriculture Is far behind the
application OF snch agencies to the niechan-
&c arts and manufactures, stil 1t is wonder.
full how much more work can be done, and
how much more produce can be raised BY
the farmer OF to-day than by bis father
forty or Fifty years ago. II was stated in a
payer read before the Social Science asso-
citation at Cincinnati on the patent system
of the United States-by Air.. Carroll u.
Wright, that fifty years ago, when corn
was planted by hand, two ncrcs a day was
good work for n man; now an Illinois
farmer with a check-sowcr and horses can
plant fifteen acres q day. doing the work OF
seven mcn under the old system. Before
the OF corn. shelters. Smelling was
done by hand, and three to five bushels n
day was a mans work now W men with
n shelter driven BY a farm engine can turn
out l 500 bushels a day at a cost Of one half
cent a bushel. Seed sowing is now done
by machines at the rate of twenty acres a
day. and much more evenly aud thorough
ly done than in the old days of broadcast
hand sowing. In 1915 the Mccormick
reaper was first introduced, and 100 Of them
built at Cincinnati. but it did not come into
general use till 1852. 1t enables one man
and n team to perform the work of seven
Graders. But even the reaper did not bind
Liz u hANR hAlNs ftCN ea9 ~ ~ AoaA taAE I
ago the farmer had to pay binders SO q
day. In 1878 the first self binder was
introduced, and now n combined reaper
and binder, drawnb by a pair of horses, and
a man, will cut and bind twelve to fifteen
acres of grain per day, doing the work of
twelve men. Less than fifty years ago cot
ton was claaned-thnt is, the fibre sepa-
rated from the secd-by hand, ut the rate
OF four or five pounds of cleaned cotton TO
the hand per day. Now with n gin it is
cleaned at the rate OF 1000 pounds q day. |
Twenty years ago the rule was for one man
with n horse and pillow to cultivate twenty
acres of corn now the rule is for one man
with q sulky cultivator drawn by n pair of
horses to take care of eighty acres. In
1870 there were 5000, 900 persons reported
engaged in agriculture in the United States,
and the product of their labor with the aid
OF machinery WINS PSF. 600. 900 bushels
wheat 761 .O00, 900 bushels corn 2S2, OOO,-
900 bushels oats; IA, 900, 900 bushels rye
90, 7G1 900 bushels barley 5000, 900 bales
cotton 1900, 900 pounds lax II, 746
tons hemp; 27,310, 900 tons hay; 49,
035, 900 pounds rice 2G2, 735, 900 pounds
tobacco; 1G4 900, 600 bushels potatoes and
smaller amounts OF other crops. But II
this immense agricultural product had been
raised entirely by the allow and feeble pro-
cesses in use fifty years ago, IL would have
required % 900 900 persons, instead OF only
0,00e, 000.
Our agriculture possesses one great ad-
vantage over our manufactures which saves
It from the results of over-prodnction. : It
has n foreign market for all the surplus 1t
can yield We cannot eat any more bread
now than we ate twenty yeans ago, although
one mar can produce four or Ave times as
much but we can always And a foreign
market for what we dc not ourselves com
sume-and this saves the farming interest
from the breakdown which excessive pro-
duction brings to manufactures We're it
not for this foreign market, we would have
to break up our farm machinery and 20
back to the old hand methods, to prevent
the land from being glutted with uncon-
sumed produce st. louis Republican.