Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-26
A REMARKABLn INDUSTRY.
Mechanical Appliances for CuItivRtnE
the soft.
%Philadelphla LedEer.

inc SoNAa
Philadelphia Ledger.
The extent to which machinery Is applied
to agricultural operations in the United
States is one OF the wonders Of the time. A
complete revolution in farming methods has
taken place within a lifetime-in much less
than an average lifetime in many direc-
tions-owing to the Introduction OF the in
g%enious devices which have s%upplanted the
primitive tools with which the h~usbandman
gathered his crops and prepared them for
market. The manufacture Of agricultural
implements has long since become a great
American industry, furnishing an important
contribution to our export trade, while Il
remains, and is likely to remain, IN exclu-
siye possession of the home market. For a
decade the paltry sum Of sos represented,
so far as the treasury reports show, the
value Of the agricultural machinery i'm
ported into the United States from 1891 to
1900. inclusive. The mental activity and in
genuity exerted in the invention Of agri-
cultural appliances is indicated by the CEN
sus statement that AZ ,674 patents have been
issued for various devices from the organi-
cation Of the patent office to January 1, 1902.
The value Of the agricultural machinery
manufactured and sold for home use In a
o aNA MLebNN Na1
The special census report on agricultural
implements for 1900 says that before 1850
the manufacture of said implements was
little more than a hand trade, n In no
sense a factory industry in the modern
sense. The industry before that year was
conducted, for the most part, in small shops,
and the output was sold in the immediate
neighborhood. There were many more es-
Establishments in operation in 1850 (1,833)
than in 1900 (717). The development Of the
industry is best exhibited by the increased
capital invested. In 1850 it was SO, 564, 2S2;
in 1900. 1851. 707. 1851.
The special census report graphically IL
illustrates the time and labor-saving value Of
agricultural machines in practical opera
tlon on the farms Contrasting conditions
in 1880 with those of 1896, the report says
that the amount OF human labor now re-
quired to produce a bushel of wheat is on
an average ten minutes. In 1880 the time
required was three hours and three min
utes. The cost of the human labor required
to produce a bushel OF wheat fell in the
sixty-six years interval from 17% cents to
3b cents. Similarly striking examples are
given with respect to corn cultivation and
hay making. Taking the country over, Gin
the case of the crop Of corn the money mea-
sure Of the saving Of human labor required
to produce it in 1899, in the most available
economic manner, was $52S, 276. 642; wheat,
$79, 1874. 1857; oats, $52, $50, 2Oo; rye, $1,4OS, $50;
barley, 1898. 4sO; white potatoes, 1856, 800;
hay. $1O,O S4, 1858.
1.-THE total saving in the cost Of human
labor for these seven crops in 1899, owing
to the possible utilization Of the implements,
machines and methods OF the present time.
in place Of the old-time manner OF produc-
tion, reaches the stupendous amount Of
1851, All, S27 for this one year."
The development Of agricultural ma
chinery is not complete. The probable use
of the automobile in farm operations is one
of the interesting predictions made by the
census report, which closes with this OBJ
~servatiop: -
ut seems safe to predict, in view of the
development of the automobile, that within
the next decade the feature Of modern in
vention will have found an additional APP
plication as a motive force in connection
with agricultural implements Of tillage.
planting and harvesting"