Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-09-23
urMoDERN HARVEST.
Methods Now in Vogue that Would As
tonish the Farmer Of Fifty Years ago.


Within twenty years agriculture mas
| been changed from piiiii'
, thoroughly scientific pasis. ,a,
No ho..o. illustration of this chaHse
could be found than is anordeo w 'n
manner of handling the eoii,
! 49,, ,r Within the menu
orv ~ ,,ar Who are still at work in the
! folds tha lime of human labor heces-
sary to the production OF one pusne, -.
corn vas four and one-half hours the
| labor cost being thirty-nNe cei'.9. :"
| 1902 the time of labor fell TO Iorty NM
utos, anG it's cost to ten Genus.
successive step has been mooiiieo' 'he
| horsepower shovel-ploush mas sNeh
place 70 the steam ganS-plough; the
| old method of dropping the seeu ny
! hard and covering it with hand-hoe
| has yielded to the machliie "hi'h
| checks ,Iants and covers IN one
oneration while driven rapidly across
| tho face of the field; cultivation Is bet
fer nerforr,ed with one-fourth the Ia
| bor. tho h.ud corn-knife has been sup
| nlantaa h,, the horse or steam power
! harvester Dut the most radical diff
| ference onnears in the final processes.
The old-fasrioned "husking-peg' is no
more. and along with it has disap-
peared III. gala "husking-bee," with
| its glamour of red ears ana KISSES.
| That 1aho, &c now all performed by
huge machinery; one may pe P"r"ohe"
| for wondering whether the rurai wight
will NOT soon be doing his very kiss
| irg by steampower. so thoroughly per-
| suaded is he becoming OF lts greater
| efficiency. And it is easy TO remem-
! Der the day when corn-shelllng con-
sisted in rubbing two ears together by
hand, or in scraping the ears across the
| blade Of hoe or shovel. by such
primitive means a skilful laborer could
shell one b,.shel of grain in an hour
and a half: that is to say, the Smelling
of thu cron of 1902 would have Occu
pied the entire population of the United
States for more than three months.
Rut This ;s now accomplished by
mower machines. some of which have
an hourly capacity of seven hundred
bushels.
Equal or even greater advance has
been made in the methods OF wheat
culture Against the costly hand labor
Of the last genera ton, which required
the expenditure Of three hours of time
to the production of bushel of grain.
modern machinery. having wholly sup
planted hand work. has reduced the
time unit per bushel to ten minutes.
Most remarkable of all Implements of
the present day farm, is the giant
automobile harvester in use in the
Pacific slope wheat-tields. which cuts.
threshes, cleans. weighs and sacks the
gram from a hundred acres in single
day. Every other industry of the fields
has shared in the benefits of this new
tendency: every process is highly
specialized. The potential saving in
the cost of labor by perfected
machinery and modern methods was
computed in 1899 on the production of
seven staple crops in that year-wheat,
oats. rye, barley. corn. white potatoes
and hay. the aggregate saving being
more than. $6sO.OOO.0OO; corn showing
the greatest advance. s523,0OO.OOO.
These advances. which are nothing J
short of/reVolutionary, are only to be !
appreciated to the full in the prairie i
West. where husbandry is the chief !
industry and where the production Of |
the great field staples is now central |
lied. Some time ago tho writer )
crossed the state of IOwa'in company. |
with one who was stranger to the |,
West: three hundred miles of almost |!
unbroken harvest field, the landscape i
dotted with gigantic machines of the |
highest type. roaring aloud over their |
labor. smudging the sky with black |
clouds of smoke. making ready the |
worlds food. The stranger COM
planned. half whimscally:
I'VE can't call farming a pastoral |
pursuit nowadays in your big West
The romance is all gone out of it: your
modern Western farm is nothing but a
noisy machine-shop: your farmers are
all turned mechanics. political econo-
mists. mon of affairs. What would
their simple old dads say if they could |
behold this?"
Whatever the loss in pastoral |
simplicity, in the traditional oxlikeness
of bucolic manners and attitudes. there
is no denying the great gain in
Industrial security and in consequent |
social and political poise. No part Of
the nation now rests upon a firmer
foundation than the agricultural
prairies. Crop shortages occur, OF
course: but their hardship falls upon
the consumer. not upon the producer.
furthermore, shortages are less
common and less disastrous than
score of years ago. in comparison to
the volume Of the industry. Improved
machinery makes possible a better
cultivation. greatly a1leviating the oc-
casinnal seasonal evils. The modern
farmer is more completely the master
Of his fortune than is the manufac-
turer or the merchant or the financier,
being less at the mercy Of artificial
cOnditiOns-Harper's Weekly.