The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-14

l nc ln1ni'IiltIIl t'iltI KY ~ IN
vcntion in the city. That they are wei
come goes without saying for Grand
Forks always has Il warm heart ana
an open door for her guests. lhey
are here on a business mission and
to develop the business of the state
unfortunately a thing Grand Forks
is sometimes unable 10 do for herself
when her wisdom falls i certain
limits. But the city's guests deserve
much at the hands of the public. The
implement dealer is the pioneer or
prosperity and the barometer OF busi-
ness. He is among the first on the
ground when Il new town and its
contributing territory are opened for
enterprise. He makes possible the
opportunities of the general merchant
and paves the pathway of the banker.
He invests his money in the promise
of the new country with the same
enthusiasm that he does in the GER
tainty of the old . He has helped
thousands of men who can write
checks in four and five figures to get
their first grasp on North Dakota
prosperity. Welcome. thrice welcome,
then are these men to the keys of the
city.
What a wonderful world the inn
piemcnt. dealers convention calls up
in retrospect, The members are al
most entirely engaged in handling
some form of farm machinery. a prod
uct and development of the last forty
years. Men vet on the M side of
fifty. have witnessed the development
of nearly all the present farm ma
chinery. Those who have not yet
reached the three score and ten can
remember when the whcat was cut
with the hand sickle. a bundle grip
ped in the hand and cut with the
Semi-circular ~saw-edEed instru-
ment. Good reapers cut twenty-five
dozen a day, binding the shcaves with
whisps of straw. Later came the
cradle. 1t required two men to fol
low the cradle" ono with a rake
somewhat similar to the garden tool,
rallcd the swath into sheaves. while
the binder followed, binding the
shcavcs In the same manner as in tho
old sickle days. The shcaves were
set in 'doZens''-a dozen sheaves to
tine shock-an1 capped with two
sh"aves broken in the middle to form
the roof. Later tho stacking was
done, and those who were reared
amid the hills of PENNSYLVANIA and
probably New York can recall how
brush drags We're made OF small tree
top and the grain loaded on to be
drawn to the foot of the hill. it be-
ing impossible to get any vehicle back
up oil the hillside. the brush being
abandoned at the bottom and a new
one cut for each load. Some who
read this will probably recall the
threshing by fail. a club about ten
feet long and twisted near tho large
end so that it was flexible. With this
the men beat out the grain on n floor.
Sometimes horses We're walked over
the grain for the same Then
came the ''chaff piler" thrcshing ma.
chine--a horse power and a thresh.
hoN consisting of a concave and a
cylinder. The grain was shot through
and grain, straw and half anne out
together. The. straw was shaken and
pitched and tulnbled by hand so tina,
the grain with much Of the chaff fell
to the floor. 1t was cleaned either
by pouring both wheat and chaff from
Il basket at considerable elevation in
a strong wind 50 that the chaff was
blown away. or later by the use of the
windmill. Finally it was ground he.
tween buhrs, usually run by waite,
power. and baked into bread tit for q
king.
The haying season was a grea,
event on the farms s~evcnty-fve Years
ago The grass was cut by hand, tho
" following each other. using
Il uniform stroke. like soldiers march.
ing, and cutting a sWath about foul
and a half feet wide. The quality
of n owe was judged by his abilit,
to pint OUT" and one Of the grea,
events vas to take a feller's hide
that is. to push him so hard that he
would collapse. 1t was the disgrace
of the country to be the victim, ant
men would struggle to the death be,
fore yielding, looking forward to the
time TO whet" like n pugiIist look,
for the gong and a chance to rccoup
The. hay was winnowcd and shocked
by hand. and was later pitched onto
the stack by the same power.
These two illustrations will serve
to show the almost unbelievable
progress that has been made in farm
machinery. 1t Is not necessary to cit,
what is available on the farm today
That is we'll known. But an assem-,
bly, of the old farm tools even Of the
boyhood days of many who read this
would be to the young mar of today
like a collection from the ruins a pre-.
historic race.
A ROOSEVELT PROTEST.