The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-02-11
FARMING.
BY s. B. SMITH,

| think it is to the advantage Of
mankind generally, to occasionally
look backward; to compare the past
with the present and see the i'm
proved methods of doing work; to see
the advance in civilization and edu-
cation during the last fifty years.
have recently been looking back to
my early life and have concluded to
let others have the benefit of my
thoughts.
made my advent into this world
on the Both day of April 1894, and my
earliest recollections date back to the
third year of my life; and I now have
in my mind vivid recollection of the
hills, the orchard, and the rough
stony land of my birthplace. That
was in the days of wooden plows and
wooden harrow teeth; and l can see
now, as / am writing this article,
those implements of wood as they
were then used. The plowshare and
Landslide were made of wrought iron;
this was all the iron used in the man
ufacture of the pillow; but man was
made to be progressive being, so he
improved the pillow by mailing strips
of iron on the mold board; this was
great improvement. The mold-board
was always made from an oak tree
that had the right twist to form the
shape needed to turn the sod; such
trees were often found and kept for
that purpose. AS man cannot be
satisfied with present attainments,
but is always seeking for more knowl-
edge; after few unsuccessful efforts
he succeeded in manufacturing the
cast iron pillow, which is almost wholly
used in the eastern states at the pres
ent time. There has been but one
improvement made in these plows,
and THAT is the side-hill, or more
properly speaking, the swivel pillow.
This pillow is adapted to the flat land
as we'll as to the sidehill, as you can
begin ON one side of field and pillow
back and forth until the field is
plowed; leaving neither ridge, fur
row or hollow in the land, what the
western people call dead furrow.
The next improvement was the
harrow, with iron teeth one inch
square. Some of these harrows can
be found in use now, but they are
nearly all replaced by smaller teeth
and lighter wood work, and nearly
all of them are V shaped.
There has also been great improve
ment in fruit of all kinds; from the
strawberry to the apple and pear. In
my childhood the wild strawberry
was almost the only variety known,
but now the cultivated varieties have
taken the place of the wild ones, yet
the wild ones have never been sur
passed in excellence of flavor. The
old orchards, some of which are still
standing on the sides of the noun
tains in my native state, have been
replaced by later varieties of better
fruit. But it is useless to go into de-
tails of the different kinds of fruit; it |
is sufficient to say that is beyond the
most sanguine expectations of our
fathers and grandfathers.
. AS I have already said, in my
youthful days, it was the wooden
pillow, the wooden harrow, the hoe,
the scythe, the hand cradle and the
hand rake that was used to do all the
work ON the farm. [ will now take |
long step of sixty-eight years III life;
also from the Eastern to the Western
states and see the improved methods
in farming machinery, by which the
farmer can do more work and raise
more grain with less labor, and not
work as many hours day; thus Civ
ing him more time for recreation,
reading and improving the mind.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK