River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-11-06
American and English Farm Machinery


In a paper in Scri6ner for November on
"The Agricultural Distress of Great
Britain" Mr.. p. I. Quinn gives the re-
suit of personal comparison of English
and American farm tools as follows:
American manufacturers of farm tools
shape them in such a way as TO do the
work with the least physical labor. The
English manufacturer, an the other hand,
has pride in making everything sub.
stantial, heavy and solid, without any re-
gard TO the weight or strength needed.
Why, there is more wood and iron in an
English farm-cart than would make two
American carts, and yet with their superb
roads they load theirs no heavier than we
do ours. An English manure fork is Of
the same size and pattern it was half
century ago-a square, rough tine should.
cred near the point-calling for the great
est amount of force in loading or unload.
ing. The American fork is round pol.
ished tine, taperlng gradually from the
point to the base, and calling for the le.si
power. The weight of an English pillow
is at least three times that of ours and its
length about twice, and yet it takes
neither wider nor deeper furrow-slices
than our best plows. In fact, one pair OF
horses attached to one of our best pattern
plows will do from third to half moro
work in the same number of hours than
an English farmer with his long, unwieldy
pattern that is out of all proportion, both
in length and weight, to the work it is
intended for. The same is true of the
English harrows, cultivators and all of
the implements | found in common use
for turning or cultivating the soil. The
ordinary wooden mandrake is clumsy,
heavy thing, having from third to
half more wood than is actually neces-
sary. In many instances, In going
through England, l have counted eight
and ten hands gathering hay into win
drows with these hand-rakes, an operation
very seldom, if ever, seen now in the
United States. In many of the agricul.
tural districts which | visited farmers
cultivating from forty TO hundred acres
of land still continue to cut their grain
crops with the reapihg hook and cradle.
The English cradle has q sythe blade OF
ordinary size and length, with two short
wooden fingers. The man cutting with
this cradle throws the cut grain around
against the uncut standing grain. An.
other man follows the GRADER, equipped
with piece of stick about three feet in
length with an iron hook on the end oft,
and gathers the cut grain into sheats and
places them on the stubble before the
next swath can be cut The American,
or what is commonly called the "Y ankee,"
cradle has wide scythe-biade similar in
size and length to the English, but instead
of two short fingers it has four long ones,
and the operator cuts the grain, which
falls on the fingers and which is thrown
into sheat on the stubble entirely out
of the way OF the next Grader who fol-
lows, leaving the cut grain ready to be
bound, one man with lis doing the work
of two in England. In taking on the
subject with an intelligent farmer in Es-
sex county, England, had difficulty in
convincing him that the long fingers of
the yankee" cradle would not nor could
not get tangled up in the straw, nor could
| induce him to send and get an Ameri-
can cradle, although he was complaining
of the high price OF farm labor when
compared with the low price OF farm
produce.