The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-09-30
IMPROVED MACHINERY AND
CHEAPER WHEAT.

CHEAPER WHEAT.
Wheat sold on June 80 on the New
York Produce Exchange at 6S1a cents
a bushel, 2I15 cents less than the
average pnce during 1892, and the
lowest pr:ce since 1857. The remark
able fall is of course due in the main
to the financial stringencY, which forces
borrowers who are holding wheat, to
sell at any price they can get. The
pressure upon them is heightened by
the large surplus from last years har
vest, some ninety million bushels, in
face OF the new crop about to come in.
Apart from this cause of depression,
apart from the sympathy with the decline
in Silver which has brought down so
much else, wheat has fallen in price
during the past decade for no other
reason than that the cost of its produc-
ton and transportation has fallen. In
1882 and 1883 The average price of
wheat in New York was 81. rs ; in 1886
So cents; in 1887, 90 cents; in 1899,
81 cents; 1891, when European har-
vests failed, 81 .oS. Last years quota
tons began at S1.o57z, closed at 7S4
cents, and averaged 90 cents for the
twelve months. One year with another
wheat farming must pay as well as
other occupations, or it would not be
followed. What influence distinct from
these of the money market, have been
bringing down the value OF wheat.
First and chief among them have
been the railroad extensions, which
have opened up immense stretches Of
new wheat lands, especially IN the
Northwest, where the length Of the
summer day more than compensates
| for the shortness of the season, and
where Scotch Fyfe, Blue Stem, and
other sterling varieties thrive as no
where else. The recently completed
| Great Northern Railroad has brought
into the market millions of acres of
land, offered on terms which bring the
cost of raising bushel of wheat 10 a
point to which gives pause to the pro
ducer in the other cropped regions OF
the Middle ard Southwestern States.
And Few railroads, Duiit with steel rails
of new cheapness, are able to bring
grain to market at treights which grow
steadily smaller, while water tranSporta
ton On wha,ebacks and other monster
lake craft, comp=;es BY its constantly
lowered toll.
Next as a cause for the cheapneSs
of wheat must be named mechanical
advance along another lines; IN the
1mprovement Of farm machinery and in
its mor- general use. Today on prairie
farms, gangs of four plows are not IN
common. Shoe drills, wider than ever
harnesssd to four horses, SOW as many
as twenty six rows OF grain at once
automatically pressing by chain Oh
wheel the earth around the seed II
such wise as best to favor termination
In the West and Southwest the liste
does better work than the drill or
irrigated land. Its motion initiate
that OF a shovel, the machine digglns
a shallow trough, dropping in the seet
and covering it up with SURPRISING
, neatncss. Harvesters and self binder
have been gradually improved until il
the latest models there is no risk c
upsetting on hill side or of sinking il
soft or swampy soil. Machines of thi
l pattern are turned cut of single fac
. tory at the rate of one minute durin
\ every working day. Between daw
f and dusk on a Minnesota, farm a ma
:, chine has cut and bound twenty fou
0 acres of wheat twenty fold quicke
i than the farmer could 90 it wlthor
mechanical aid, the ingenuity of tn
e progress eliminating in the motions
Y the steel finger, which ties the knot
!. the twine of each sheaf more simp
!. than the human hand can do. With
Il ten years, steel has been gradually IT
O placing wood in farm machinery
g today save in its shafts and revolvir
If arms, the harvester and self binder
e of steel throughout. But here, as els
1t where, the inventor finds t to h
ii advantage to revise his practice |
(. experience afeld; in mowers, Il
IS vibrating pitman, when made OF hic
h ory, outlasts dozen made of stet
With this one paradox to puzzle owe
n the manufacturer finds his machines
is all points betlered IN design by Il
al change from wood to steel. Taking
a. hint from the grain stalk, he makes /
N frames in the strongest form possib
N that of hollow tubes but that he m
= perfectly secure the angular joints,
in adopts square instead of circular tu
E. ing. All this means ease in working
ne machine that has a good form a
a rigldly keeps it, and it means few
adiournmenlS to the blacksmith's sh
rs for repairs. Parts liable to wear
90 now sold by manufacturers at nomiI