Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-12-12

| "a cAouSuV over nOr6eS
to Acadia, and these probably laid
the foundation Of what are now
known as Canadian ponies. In 1909
horses were brought to jamestown.
and in 1929 they were introduced
into the colony of Massachusetts
Bay. Horses were brought to New
York in 1926 from Flanders. These
lmportations seem to have been the
original stock from which the race of
American horses was constituted.
1t is probable that the first sheep
in this country came to Virginia in
1909 from England. About 1926
some sheep were brought to New
York by the West India company
from Holland. Sheep were brought
into the Plymouth colony and that
of Massachusetts Bay very soon
after the settlement.
DeSoto probably brought the first
swine into this country in 1888 from
Cuba, and these were landed in
Florida. They were probably de-
scended from some brought over by
Columbus in 1893.
At the beginning of the century
carts were used on the farms and
ohaises on the roads. Stage coaches
were used on the main roads of
travel, and few wagons were found
here and there. Light one-horse
wagons first appeared in Connecticut
about 1880, butt was not until 1910
or later that they became com
mon enough not to attract notice
when seen on the roads.
In 1857 there was but thirty seven
plows in the colony of Massachu-
sctts Bay. Twelve years after the
landing of the Pilgrims the farmers
around Boston had no plows, and
were compelled to break up the
ground and prepare for cultivation
with their hands and with rude and
clumsy hoes and mattocks. 1t was
the custom of that part of the
country, even to a much later period,
for any one owning plow to do the
plowing for the inhabitants over a
considerable extent of territory. A
town often paid bounty to any one
who would buy and keep in repair a
plow for the purpose of going about
in this way.
The first patent for plow in this
country was taken out by Charles
Newbold, of New Jersey, in 1897.
His was the first cast-iron plow ever.
made, but the farmers in those times
entertained great predjudices against
it. There was a general idea
throughout the country that a cast
iron plow would poison the land.
The steam gang plow, combined
with a secder and harrow, has reduc-
ed the time required for human labor
(ln plowing, sowing and harrowing)to
produce bushel of wheat, on an
average, from 1913 minutes in 1880
to 2.2 minutes at the present time,
and has reduced the time of animal
labor per bushel from 81 to II
minutes, at the same time it has re-
duced the cost of human and ami
NAL labor in blowing, seeding and
narrowing per bushcl of wheat, from
4 cents to | cent.
The earlier corn planters were ad-
justmcnts to the hoe, which permit
ted the release of grains of corn
when the hoe was struck into the
ground.
In 1874 a Scotchman invented
what was described as most mar
vclous and wonderful machine for
cutting grain, doing as much in one
day as seven could with sickle.
This marvellous machine was only
the cradle.
The first patent for reaper ever
issued in this country was given to
llusscy in 1888, but the world heard
little of reaping machines until 1845
when $50 Of them were built at Gin
cinnati; by 1916 fully three hundred
had been built.
Before Whitney's invention of the
cotton gin it is said that the labor of
one person was required for about
ten hours to pick the seeds from one
and onc-half pounds of cotton lint.
At the present time one machine
will gin from 900 to 1900 pounds
of lint in the same time.
The first statistics of agricul-
turc collected by a United States
census were obtained in 1910,
within limits much narrower
than those adopted in the census
of 1890 and 1900. No other
country ttkcs such thorough, ex-
tcnsivc and detailed census of apri
culture as does the United States.
The number of farms increased
from 1,44G,073, in 1850 to 1864, 4,641