The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1891-05-06

fuii performance OF turning the SOIL ana
then, by the application Of our steel cul-
tivators, spring harrows and cast
iron rollers pulverizing the soils, top
dressing with lime and barnyard manure
with an implement called manure
spreader.1 prepare the ground for seeding
and then drilling the soil carefully, have
at least a reasonable prospect of large
return for our labor.
We may also be permitted to refer to
the time when the husbandman cut his
grass with the primitive Dutch scythe,
which required good mower to cut one
acre of the virgin grass as days work,
followed by half grown boys, spreading
it TO dry, and then, followed perhaps
next day with jolly crowd Of women
making the hay, followed by the wagon
removing il to the barn, and the sturdy
young men toiling to get it into place
Of safety, of few tons Of inferior hay,
whilst now one man, with a pair of hors-
es, will with his mower cut down eight
or ten acres of grass in one day. Perhaps
next day, by his improved spring-tooth
horse hay rake which was only intro
duced some thirty years ago prepare it
for loading, and when drawn to the barn,
with the aid of his pulleys, rope fork
and hay carrier. store it away in very
short time, far larger quantity and
much superior hay. effectuaily in the
barn.
Or, again, we may refer to the primi-
tive modes Of cutting grain with the sick
le when the farmer would, days or
weeks before, tx his day, invite his
neighbors to assist, about one reaper to
each acre to be cut, and when they would
toll from sunrise to sunset to get the
grain upon the shock preparatory to re-
moving it to place of safety and during
the shortest days of the winter, in pass
ing through the country, in almost every
barn could be heard the pounding,
pounding, pounding with a fail to sepa-
rate the grain from the straw or hear
the humming of the tanning mill to sep
arate the grain from the chat, whilst at
present, with his improved reaper and
self-binder, and good team of horses,
with perhaps one man and boy, cut ten
to twelve acres Of grain per day, shock it
effectually, and during the balmy days Of
autumn, with the aid Of small engine
and separator, and the assistance of few
neighbors thrash and separate the grain
from the chaff and store six to seven hun
dred bushels Of grain in ten hours. We
may also be permitted to refer to the
farmers packing grain TO the water mills
of the ueighborhood, and in seasons of
scarcity of water attaching their teams to
mill, thus consuming perhaps eight to
ten hours Of their time to get their small
grist home for use.
Some Of my hearers here to-day mag
remember when the travel of the country
was principally performed on foot, horse
back, or by stage coaches, at the rate Of
three to five miles per hour, and the
transportation Of goods by Conestoga
wagons, moving at the rate Of perhaps if-
teen miles per day, and averaging about
two hundred miles to each horse, while
at present single locomotive, with q
railroad, now carries at the rate of five
hundred miles day the same quantity
OF goods which three score years ago it
required seven hundred and fifty horses
to haul at the rate of fifteen miles day.
And yet, contrary to Interpolation Of the
farmers of that early day, their products
of every kind bring much larger price
and find more ready sale, with far more
prompt returns.
Many of my hearers can call to mind
when it was claimed our climate was too
cold and severe to raise wheat or corn
when wheat and corn was brought in
considerable quantities from Westmore-
land, Fayette and Bedford counties to
supply our inhabitants with bread for
their families and feed for their stock,
whilst for the past few years cur bread
has been the product Of our own wheat
fields, and quite a surplus Of i shipped
to other markets and by the cultivation
of large fields of corn instead Of the
patch Of roasting ears dealers are entie-
ed here to purchase our famous breedsof
heavy drsugh. and light driving horses,
and well-fed cattle, to supply the distant
markets.
All of this We may safely trace to the
skill and tireless energy of our sturdy
yeomen. And there are few localities
that can boast Of more vast resources and
greater activity for the rapid and won
derful improvement Of the cultivation Of
the soil thsn Somerset county. And
whilst such great strides have been ae-
complished in the way Of agriculture.
we should apply ourselves more diligent-
ly, meet more frequently toexchange our
views and give each other our expert
enee in order TO progress more rapidly
in the science and effectiveness of sgri-
culture
We may safely infer from the rapid i'm
provement made in the science Of agri-
culture in the last twenty years, which
are clearly perceptible TO all intelligent
farmers, greater strides in the future can
and viii be accomplished by the aid of
the science Of ehemistry--the analysis Of
soils, by which the prediction made for
! ty years ago, That a farmer may carry
to his fields folded in his pocket banker
chief a concentrated manure that will
enrich his land as much as many wagon
loads would now
! Some persons have predicted that it
j would yet be clearly demonstrated that
from the tallest forest tree to the tiniest
blade Of grass, through the application of
chemistry, they could be made to grow
four times as fast as they do naturally,
and with almost no additional trouble.
Ifthat prediction be true, OF which have
no doubt, it would be nothing to raise
four crops to a season, instead Of one.
Less than fifty years ago, field almost
within the hearing of my voice compris-
ing ten acres was covered with cinque
foil and sheep sorrel that would scarcely
have pastured three head Of sheep, and
for the last ten years that same land, by
scientific cultivation, has produced large