The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1879-03-15
Written for The Bo'timore County Union.
NOTES ON DULANY'S VALLEY, MD.
BY An EXILE.
No. vi.

No. vi.
In the year 1922, or thereabout, Mr.. Isaac Fish
err, standing with his hands in his pockets sadly
gazing on a machine then lately put into opera
ton in Mr.. ID. d. Fitzhugh's great barn, at the
foot of Windsor hill, on spot over which the
plough has long been passing was moved by his
feelings to exclam, "there will soon be nothing
for a poor man to do These machines will ruin
the country 1t might be supposed that the in
dividual thus lanenting the anticipated decay Of
manual labor was himself a. laborious person,
whose own interests were imperiled by the intro
duction of machinery. Strictly speaking this was
not the case. Mr. Isaac Fisher was poor enough
to be sure, but he had never seemed eager to avail
himself of the advantages supposed to be enjoyed
by the poor prior to the machine era. He did not
like steady work, but preferred odd jobs. His
services were in special request ut cider making,
for he would cooper old casks and calk the troughs
and put himself outside of quantities of apple
juice in all its stages. He had in fact manifested
industry in nothing so much as the production of
a numerous brood of children which he reared in
a cabin of a single room, deep in the wood on the
northern skit of the Valley.
Now Mr.. Fisher not learned nor a wise
man. The remark of his above quoted was by no
means new, and the line of thought which suggest
ed it has passed through many another muddy
brain from Jack Cade to Dennis Kearney. 1t WAS
not that he desired to do the work the machine
before him doing, but it touched his pride to
see that one of the few things he could do if he
would could be done better and cheaper by mere
wood and iron. lie felt nstinctively that the
ancient rights of his class were invaded, and the
spirit of conservatism was aroused in his breast.
If this sort of thing were to go on he might-well
it would be hard to say how he could be much
worse off than he was-but it seemed plain to him
that Providence was Obvated and the natural
order of things disturbed by the devices of men.
have no intention of arguing the great ques-
ton of labor wing machinery with Mr.. Fisher
those disposed to argue with him. 1t is one that
has been much discussed recently, and the Fisher
theory has had large following. One thing
however, may be observed, that those opposed to
machinery for the most part draw the line which
is not to be overpast just where they themselves
happened to be standing, adopting all the i'm
provements to which they have become accustOm-
ed, but setting their faces against any further ad-
vance. Thus Mr.. Fisher, Directing to the thresh-
ing machine which he saw that day for the first
time, had not a word to say against the tanning
mill in the same barn, which had, so to speak, be-
come acclimdted before his day and generatiOn.-
Yet wemust remember that Muse Headrigg in "Old
Mortality" was dreadfully scandalized at the in
PRODUCTION of that device as anew-fangled machine
which "dight' the corn from the chaff by n wind
of human continuance without waiting for dis
pensaton of wind on "the shealing hill" as became
good Christian people
But the macnlne winch drew IOrtn Jnc remark
of Mr.. Fisher was in truth one which would not
w-a-days be regarded as formidable thing,
except perhaps for the tendency it exhibited un-
der certain circumstances for scattering fragments
of iron broadcast among the operators in its front.
1t was thresher, the invention of an AnnapOlitan
of all people in the world-which Mr.. Fitzhugh
had CHANGED to see and resolved to try. 1t con-
sisted of wooden cylinder faced with thin cast
iron plates with certain grooves and perfOratOns,
vi md fatio -harS mr. ruh
armed with similar plates. Between the cylinder
and the rubbers the straw thinly spread pass
ed, and under favorable conditions fifty bushels of
wheat and even more might be threshed out in a
day; but bunch of damp straw united
sheaf band was sufficient to choke it, while peb-
BILE or a nail or any other unyielding substance
accidentally getting between the opposing plates
would produce fearful smash, sending pieces of
iron to the front in showers. 1t could not have
been really very dangerous, for do not remember
any one getting badly hurt in this way but such
breakages were not rare, and their occurrence,
with the other casualties incident to the very i'm
perfect machine, sadly reduced the average Of its
days work. Taking it"by and large" twenty five
bushels day was about its capacity, with four or
five attendants and two horses to prope it.
Such was the first threshing machine ever seen
in the Valley-nor prior to its introduction had
there probably been dozen of any kind in the
whole State of Maryland. 1t marked the first
step in advance upon Sam Howard and his kind
who used to pound out some five or six bushels Of
wheat day and "tie the straw" A sturdy little
darkey was the said Sam who in the summertime
without other garment than tow Shirt would
increasingly ply his fail, whose steady rhythmic
beat might be heard around for nearly a mile the
liyeleHg day. 1t was either Sam Howard and
fail or the treadng floor with all the horses on
the farm. Sometimes the operation of treading
out the grain would take place in barns, but it
was oftenest done out of doors upon the ground.
1t was rather jolly-at least for the boys--this
gathering in of all the equine resources of the
farm, except the very young colts, and having a
domestic circus on the straw. The condition of
the grain threshed out by such means had GER
tainly nothing to recommend it. There
other thresher Of the same kind at Hickory Hill,
the estate of Mr. Yellott, which played its part
with the drawbacks above described to the salts
faction of its proprietor; but these two the
only ones of that description in Baltimore county.
The first reaper ever seen in operation, probably
in Maryland, but certainly in Baltimore county,
exhibited at Clynmalyra, the fine estate of the
late Mr.. Henry Carroll, about the year 1910. 1t
was the invention of 0bed Hussey, who built it in
Ohio and was a complete SUGGESTIVE inventor
himself being present and assisting the operation
of the machine by handling the rake with which
the gavels were swept from the platform to the
ground. | think that same machine was pur-
chased by Mr. Carroll and may possibly be still
somewhere, in whole or in part, on his premises
1t was long time before any real improvement
was made on this pioneer implement, which was
undoubtedly the model which all subsequent
successful reaping and moving machines have
been built.
The Valley, which did not adopt the reaper more
early than the rest of the county, deserves the
credit of the first wheat drill which was construct
ed and used by Mr.. Jeremiah Yellott on his pres
ent farm, think in the year 1889. 1t was copied
from one belonging to Mr.. Evan Garrett, of Ches-
ter county, Pa, which Mr.. Yellott saw in the
course of a tour of inspection which he made that
year through York, Lancaster and Chester coun-
ties, with view to his own improvement in agri-
cultural practice. The Chester county drill was
cheap and simple affair." not patented, which be-
heve Mr.. Yellott built chiefly with his own hands.
1t performed satisfactorily for number of years,
| but of course would compare very unfavorabIy
with the modern drill now in such universal use.
1 do not think the corn drill ever became very
popular in the Valley, planting chequer- wise be-
ing preferred-a style that no Eastern drill that
have ever heard of accomplished. 1t is said,
however that this is done without difficulty in the
great corn-felds of the West by drills in common
use there. George Page 4 Co., Of Baltimore, made
an excellent drill for planting corn one way. This
| implement adopted by Mr.. H. M. Fitzhugh in
| putting in the large crops of white field-beans
| which he made a speciality. In the year 1S45 he
raised upwards of 500 bushels of remarkably fine
| quality.
No. VI wU be concluded merit Deek.