The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-09-30

WIN bC" Iii d iC" iDli!hteS. uc Cduuy
Scot who invented the chilled iron
plow, and has made million and a
half such plows, supplies favorite
make with new noses at 40 ceLts
piece. In perfccting the outlines of
all varieties Of bis plough he has let the
wear Of the metal show him just where
a curve might with advantage be mod
flied.
In descending the scale OF price,
farm machinery has kept wheat COM
pany. A farmer in Minnesota or
either Dakota can buy a plough, ted
der, rake, a seeder, harvester and
self binder for from $3.50 to $500, ac
cording to size, quality, and distance
from the railroad !; and he needn't have
money to Go i; with either. If he
knows his business and is trustworthy,
trust is extended, and at moderate
rates of interest. II bis farm is not
large enough to warrant his getting
thresher and cleaner of his own, he
can JON club and share with his
nelghbors the use Of machine easily
dlspatchlng two bushels a minute.
While field machinery has been In
creasing the quautity of farmers
wheat crop, it has been improving its
quality. In all latitudes, efficient ma
chimes practically double the duration
of good weather in northerly regions,
liable 10 frost late in the spring and
early in the fall, sowing and harvesting
can be pressed in The nick Of time.
Rust, that pest for which there is no
known cure, can ID considerable meas
ure be prevented by sowing on the
earliest day possible.
Here we touch another cause of di-
minished cost in wht at raising, namely
advance in agricultural science, brought
home to the farming community with
more diligence than ever before. In
this regard the State experiment
stations have rendered valuable ser
vice. Kansas has saved millions OF
dollars through Prof. Snow of Law
renee, who has shown the farmers OF
that State how to make war on insects
mauraders, and has provided weapons
for the fight. And from one end of
the country to the other, officers OF
like intelligence are bringing through
their bulletins before the farmers the
results of organized observation of new
varieties, of seeding, of crop rotation.
At the Minnesota stations, for example,
it has been proved that the caTful
cleaning of seed and the keeping to
single variety in TIE planting, have had
the effect OF increasing the yield IS to
25 bushels to The acre, while the crop
has matured all at once, an important
point where quick harvesting machinery
is used. In difusing this kind OF
information the press has powerfully
seconded the enginery OF science. In
1887 DR.. 7. L. Jensen of Denmark dis
covered a preventative for the fetid
smut which had severely plagued the
American wheat farmer; the seed wheat
is immersed for ten minutes in water
at 1922 Fahrepheit, temperature fatal
to the smut spores, but only beneficial
to the wheat. Within few months
after DR.. Jensen's experiments, every
newspaper in the wheat districts told
their story with an effect impossible to
any Government bulletin.
The country press, following in the
wake of city press quite a lafgs'p
read by the farmers, is beginning
earnest an agitation for good roads,;
agitation which will bestow upon Il
farmer gain equal to a decide
reduction of his railroad rates. 1t ism
so much the price of wheat in Ne
York that concerns him as the price o
his farm and that, as far as road i'm
provement affects it, is in his owl
hands.
Wheat culture, despite its viclssi|
tudes, tends more and more to become
a manufacture the cost of which can be
computed almost as closely as the
operations of the factory. Last yeal
the wheat caop is estimated to havt
been some 55o,ooo,ooo bushels. Le
if be assumed that the farmers who
raised it did nothing else, and tha
there were 100000 of them. Let Vi
further assume that by reason of inter
national competition 1t is undesirable
to increase the crop, and that progress
mechanical, chemical, and botanical
enables 100000 farmers to raise it
r What are the 10000 not needed mel
to do Why, they can 60 to Cit
like Grand Rapids and make goo
furniture to be sold at half the price
of ten years ago; or at looms in Ne'
York, Yonkers, or Philadelphia, the
can turn out carpets of beauty at
, cost so low as to bring them with
reach of every family but the yer
poorest in city or country; or In som
other centre of industry, engage i
cheapening the luxuries of the la
generation until they become tn
necessities of this. Because machiner
is steadily making the food raisers
;, smaller proportion of mankind, tn
FREQUENT talk about the desirabilitY
keeping the boys on the farm is can
There is no room on the farm for all
the boys. They know what they want
> good living, which becomes letter
y intelligence, directed more and MOI
upon muscles of steel and nerves
electricity, enables them to shorten Il
! working day at the same time that Il
comforts and rehnements of life a