The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-09

sower goes forth to SOW, but not as
ne once did, dropping his seed into
tue SOIL trudging backward and for
ward from dawn till twilight. His
grass or his grain is broadcasted or
drllled in with mechanical evenness.
ana the machine automatically regis
ters the acreage sown. In like manner
ms corn IS drilled in, listed or planted
III nils, his potatoes are planted and
even his cabbage, his caulihower and
ms tobacco plants from the seed beds
are set out by machinery, and the
| work IS done better than it could pos
sloly be by hand-this, besides the
saving of time and toll. Even in the
vegetable garden seeders for all kinds
OF seeds are now extensively used
| The machines are pushed in front of
Ine operator, and they automatically
urop ana cover the seeds at the desired
distances and depths and at the same
I time mark off the next row.
promptly after the crop is planted
come the weeds. They once meant
the noe blistered hands, weary backs,
ana, IN wet season, a long and
weary battle To-day the farmer has
ms choice from a great variety Of
cuItiVators, either guided by handles,
the drlver walking behind, or riding
IN comfort. Thus corn and potatoes
-ANSNo up cLlIQ lIl6 GROUND Is kept
cream and in good condition. There
are hand cultivators worked on the
same principle as the hand-seeders,
ana there is a great variety of hoes.
rakes and ploughs for the cultivation
OF special crops, which have supplant-
ed the old hand tools on the great
SEED farms and market gardens.
BUT II is when we come to the harry
est that we find the greatest marvels
TFll
familiar with the mower, the tedder
and the horse rake to save the hay
crop 70 these have been added the
hay-gatherer and stOcker, drawn by
hores and press operated by horse
power.
To harvest and to press a ton of
nay by hand requires thirty-five and
a half hours of labor; with modern
machinery, eleven hours and thirty
TOUR minutes. The greatest saving is
III the cutting and the curing of the
crop, which by hand require eleven
hours and by machinery one hour and
thirty-nine minutes.
Reaper and Binder.
But it is the harvesting of the two
great crops, wheat and corn, that the
greatest advance in agricultural me-
chanics has been made. Drawn by
horses, the self-binder cuts an eight
foot swath across the field of ripened
wheat. But instead of leaving it
strewn behind as the mower does the
grass, it gathers it and automatically
binds it in bundles. Or, if the header
be preferred, the heads of the standing
grain are taken off cleanly and poured
in steady stream through a chute
into the wagon that is driven beside
it. But even more than these-the
most spectacular scene of agricultural
progress is the combined harves ter
and thresher which is used on the
great grain ranches in California. AS
far as the eye can reach stretches
sea Of golden grain. 1t is a glori-
Gus sight, this immense plain of
ripened wheat-the food of a nation
awaiting the hand of the reaper.
Where are the harvesters who shall
garner a crop so large? Measured by
the methods of small eastern farms,
the problem of saving such a crop
seems hardly less. than the emptying
of the great lakes with a dipper. But
the steam harvester moves steadily
forward into it. On one side the grain