The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-02-23

'''''i CuS 10 btCuCu CHO ulCI W III
low such a n to rake and bind the
bundles. One day, while about IS or
20 farmers were stopping at a country
tavern a little man came among US
who thought he could make a machine
which, with two men and four horses,
could cut eight or ten acres Of wheat
or oats in a day. That would shift
the cutting from mar on to the horses.
He was deridcd and laughed at. The
ncxt season the Virginia reaper was
put en- the market. 1t needed one
driver and a man, who rode back
wards, to rake of the bundles; next,
foui Oh five mon 10 DO the bind
ing and n OIL two more to do the
shocking. Well, the Rock river
armcrs raised more wheat. Next
camo Atkins self-raking rearer. Al
kins, a bcd.ridden cripple, had in
vonted an automaton, a wonderful! in
vention, making both a concentric
and eccentric motion, initiating both
the human arm and hand. It's work
ing vas a SUCCESS, but it was a horse
Killer, which famed almost every
horse hitched to it. The next i'm
provcment was a platform attachment
which carried with the machine three
men to do the binding, but that in
creased She weight Of the machine
and made it harder for the horses, of
course. This also was soon super
seeded.
Now comes the invocation Of the agc.
viz, the sclf-raking and self-binding
rcapcrs. With the advent of this
machine, alas, music, jest, hilarity
and song have gone cut Of the harvest
field: and such is the isolation Of the
one man who works this reaper, that
he has hard work to keep awake while
cutting ~ acres of grain in a day; in
deed. there is no limit except to the
horse power and the endurance Of
harscs and man.
On the Pacific Coast they have one
other harvest instrument called a
hcrdcr, which cuts only about six or
eight inches of straw below the head
Of the grain. In that climate it can
be used to advantage. This machine,
OF II that can do the same work, is
so perfect that it includes a thresher
and a sacker, and with this the reaper,
thrcshing and sacking arc done, Sc
that a pile Of bags full of wheat is
left in the fields until sold for mar
ket.
We cannot help but notice in this
connection the use Of all sorts of fagm
machinery on the plains Of tho great
Northwest. All the improvements
noticed above dwindle out of sight on
the multi-thousand acre wheat fields
of Minnesota and the Dakotas. An
outfit there embraces reculiar-shaped
plows, harrows, drills. rollers, rcapers
and steam thrcshcrs. 1t takes n
wealthy man who owns a drove Of
work horses and all kinds nf fsrna
tools to work IL farm like that Of the
i'alrympieS aud others, costing 81
0Oo or $1,000 for the outfit. These
upulcnt farmers leave the nlains
when wheat is harvested and fall
blowing is done to spend the winter
i'll st. Paul or Minneapolis, or other
central cities eastward.
But the progress of agriculture is
equally Tor perhaps more than that)
noticeable in its brain work, its teach.
ings, etc, at farmers Institutes. ut
agricultural colleges aud at agricul-
tural experiment stations. These in
>titutions were devised by far.sigbtcd
men. Takca superficial look only at
the physical conditions of IL lands,
%llains, mountains and rivers, and who
will deny that God made this country
OF ours par excellence the ranary Of
the world? And such it must ever
be. What III exalted position it is.
Is starvation staring ia the face Of the
Irish people? We send them grain.
so it is With Russia, in Armenia. in
Cuba; yes, III any land where men are
suffering for the necessities Of life
which our ships can reach and IL
hcncfacticns r,dic,c.
TO return for little to our farmers
institutes. There is scarcely Il coun-
ty i'll Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wis
c%onsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Mime
sofa where there is not II county So
cicty having the institute in charge.
Practical experience and wisdom are
brought out in rccitals, essays and
discussions. In these it often hap
pens that failures ARC Of more %Iracti-
cal value than succcSScs IF ouc con