El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-30

marvellous corn shelter, operated by
steam, which 'shucks" a bushel of corn
In 90 seconds. carrying off the cObS to
a pile or into wagon, and delivering
the grain into sacks. BY the old meth
cd, the Smelling of q bushel of corn
took a skilled hand an hour and
half
From Three Hours to 10 Minutes.
To produce a busheI of wheat in 1850
required three hours of one mans Ia
Dor Today the time required con-
sumed is ten minuteS-the cost of the
labor being incidentally reduced from
Is cents to 8 1-3 cents. The reduction
of time and cost is due to the disc pillow
(Which plOwS and pulverizeS the soil
in one Operation), the horse drawn
seeder. and other farm machinery Of
comparatively recent invention.
Sixty years ago grass was cut for
nay with the Scythe, and was handled
with pitchfOrks and rakes. Now the
farmer enjoys the use OF the horse
drawn mower, hay rake, hay gatherer
and stacker, and even the hay press is
operated by morse power Thus It
comes about that a ton Of hay, which
formerly took II hours of 4 mans Ia
Dor to cut and to cure, now consumes
only one hour and SO minutes to make
1t ready for market-the labor cost
being reduced from SO cents TO IS IA
cents
To produce one bushel of barley in
1850 required two hours and seven
minutes Of one mans labor. Today
tie less than five and a half minutes.
Taking into account all of the cereals,
the increased effectiveness Of human
labor due to machinery is from $50
barley Averaging them all, the to-
tai quantity of the product per labor
er is five times as great as it was in
1850.
Means Immense Saving.
If we We're TO employ the methods
of 1850 in growing and harvesting the
crops of 1913. the additional expense
involved would he, for corn $3.50. G0G,-
for the oats crop. $50, Gao, 100; for the
rye crop. s1,500 900; for the barley crop,
$1,5OO,OOO; for the nay crop. $4,000, zoe,
and for the crop CT white potatoes
about $3.50, 900, 600. Accordingly. IL ap-
pears that machinery and improved
cultural methods will save US on seven
crops IN the present year total Of
S711, 500. 900.
As late as 1850 there was no farm
machinery, if the cotton gin Cpat-
ented in 1894, be eXcepted). The old
fashioned cast srOn plOWS, which rad
come in at the beginning of the CEN
fury, notwiths 6auGing much opposition
on the ground that they poisoned the
land") were still in general use Grain
was cut with the sickle OF cradle, and
threshed with fails.
One interesting result OF the en-
ployment of machine power on the
/ farm is that, by decreasing the re-
quirement Of physical strength. it has
placed men and women upon a more
equal footing, and the gentler sex
promises to invade the agricultural in
dustry as already it has invaded that
of manufactures.
Horse on Farm Not Menaced.
The farmers of the United States. it
should be realized owe a large part
of the wonderful things they accomp-
! lish to the 25.000,OO0 horses which
furnish them with live power that is
applicable to almost any kind of pur-
pose. Economically speaking, horses
have been assailed within recent years
by various adveTsaries, conspicuous
I among which are the automobile. the
electric street car. the trolley car and
I the bicycle. But all of these combined