The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-10-24
THE LONG AGO.
DIFFICULTIES UNDER WHICH
FARMERS USE TOFARM

DIFFICULTIES UNDER WHICH
FARMERS USE TOFARM
And the Great Improvements in Farm.
ing Implements In Recent
Years.
Every man seventy years old was
contemporaneous with the introduc-
tion of agricultural implements to
which might properly be applied the
word improved" In other words,
when he was baby there were 8 few
places where farmers were staring IN
ooen.mouthsd wonder at the myster-
ious things that had come cut. They
were crude as compared with what We
have now but marked the beginning
of that mcst marvellous development,
In which tney and their kind have
been the principal factor. Up to 1887,
all states west Of the AlleghenieS and
nearly ail sections of the others, were
still using the old wooden plow, a
very clumsy affair beside the Oliver
Chilled and ths wrought.iron plow-
point, q misshapsn thing with bad
" rounded point at one end and a
large hole or socket, at the other, In
tended to receive q sort OF beam by
which tie pioW could bs Pulled and
guided. This was tne period OF the
spnning-whee and log cabin, with
creased paper windows, when tile plo'
near could stand In his doorway any
pleasant morning and shoot squirrels
enougl for Tile family breakfast, With
out leaving his tracks. In fact, the
population depended far more on furs
Of wild animals Tor an income than
upon cultivation Of the ground. Ag-
riculsur was little more than rude
gardening or truck patching and what
little manufacturing was done was al
together by hand. Such was the un-
promising bsg lnniDg OF al era, which
in the regular lifetime OF man has &C.
comp.ishec Gne wcncers we see before
Us on every farm. 1t Is interesting to
note that the State Il useums whicc
contain samples Of the crude imple.
mepts OF the late thirties, label them
''ancient," much as they would mark
an Egyptian mummy, though man
who has not passed the psalmist's
limit Of three score and ten would
hardly feel complimentsd If 80 char
acterizsd. Though something then
thought to be improved" was brought
into the west as early as 1887. tho
really revolutionary farm machinery
was not introduced until much later.
A man much younger than saventy,
In fact men still in tho 6fties, have
covered by their lives the epoch max
ing period Of agricultural machinery.
The difficulty prior to 1850 was not so
much lack of invention as lack OF
manufacturing facilities, practically
all agricultural implements up to that
time being made by hand In . small
way by local mechanics In the east.
It was not until after the civil war
that increase In manufactures with
their increased power and specially
invented tools that the modern farm.
ers area began.
The student of evolution will find
IN interesting field by following up
tho inventions OF agricultural mach
CRY from the beginning. The great
law 80 brilliantly expounded by Oar.
win and which he proved to be the
governing principle in all worldly al.
fairs, the law Of gradual growth from
small beginnings, the law OF orderly
development from the simple to the
complex, Is found here operating In
full force. Take for instance the first
invention Of reaper, which appeared
In Great Britain in 1927 and was re-
produced in this couD try few years
later. Its main principal was the re-
ciprocating knife between reaper ang-
ers and though greatly improved In
details since, this cardinal feature,
which was found to be fundamental
and indispensa ole, has been embodied
In all succeeding types OF hay and
grain. cutting machines. 1t was the
same way with the Flows, harrows,
threshers and all other implements
one main principle must be adhered
to, however great the variety Of de-
tails and improvements to meet OBJ.
jections OF an incidental character,
such as too much weight, faulty con-
struction, difficulty OF handling ard
the like. The thresher was long COM
ing. Though invented over seventy
years ago, the d! iii ,ulties of manufac'
turing prevented It's general introduc'
tion until q comparatively recent per
iod. 1t was not until the modern
facilities for turning out scores or
hundreds Of finished machines daily
became common that the reproduction
OF all the large machinery on large
scale made them familiar on every
farm. Carrying out the idea OF eVo.
luton, it may be remarked that the
first patent for thrasher, though is
sued In 1880, was crude affair,
though it developed into the magnif-
can't machine of to. day which contains
tbs principal Of tine original. The first
effort, however, resembled the improV.
ed thrasher Of the present day about
IS much as the Old fashioned hand
printing press resembles one OF the
great perfecting presses in one OF our
frst-class printing offices. Farmers
had to await the coming Of the i'm
proved thrasher before they let 60 the