Milford chronicle., 1946-12-13
Pitchfork And Shovel
On Way Out
by LAWRENCE n. ELDRED
.iP NrqeStratHrrS


CHICAGO-AlmoSt lost i'll news
CT more wOrld-snakmg events dur
ire the war years was the decline
and fa!, of the time-hOnOred scoop
shovel and pitchfOrk on American
farms
They're still holding on by grace
of shortages in power loading ana
unloading machinery, but many
farm experts are agreed these hand
tools soon may be as nearly extinct
as the whOOpinS crane.
The earliest written record OF
scoop shovels appeared i'll IA book
on farming published in England
in 1874 A farm adviser of the time
suggested a wood scoop shovel Wa,
g handy thing to have around
grain bin. The scoops later were
made of metal for greater durabil-
ity when use of the tool spread to
the United States.
Shovel production last year hit
one of the highest levels in history
but wholesale hardware dealers say
that was mostly d result of catch
ing up" with the lower production
during the war.
Takes a Lot OF Them
In 1943 fewer than 5.000.000
shovels and spades were turned
cut, but in 1914 this number more
than doubled to better than H.
100000 and last year it went above
/ II $40, 900, a L. S. census of manu-
facturers reported.
But now as fast as farm machi-
merry can fill the demand, use of the
fall away rapidly.
New machines like the hydraulic
tractor-operated grain loader, one
man self-propelled grain combines
and hay balerS. and hydraulic
dump trucks are sounding the knell
for the scoops and forks.
Mostly the cause of the change is
to he found in farm economies
however, rather than in any dis
inclination for backbreaking work
ON the part of the nations farmers
ShOyelS Make BOttleneckS
A harvesting rig may cost d
, farmer $500 and scoop shove
: $3.50, but he doesn't see mucf
sense in letting expensive equip
ment stand idle while he shovels
: grain by hand Neither does hC
: want the shovel to create Il bottle
neck in the speedy grain mOvemen
made possible by machines.
He applies the same logic to his
laying activities.
Another factor is that hiret
hands who used to do most of thu
, shOveling and pitching are cOstin:
, lnOre than ever before. Average
farm wages bounded from $27.39 ;
month including board in 1899 t,
$74.60 last year
Just as tractors and automobile
pushed out the less economical
horse, power equipment is pushing
out hired hands and hand tools. tn
experts say.
SO U. S. census figures show pro
ductiOn of pickup hay balerS
| sweep rakes, stacker-lOaders, haT
vester-thresher combinations, an
farm elevator continued to in
n crease in spite of the war
For example, sweep rakes wen
up from 5.244 units manufacture
:. in 1885 to 12.106 in 1914 and Il, So
= last year. Combines leaped frOl
1872 units produced in 1885 to A
704 in 1914 and 51.418 last year.
: This years production has NJ
, Leen estimated, but farm advisor
. contend mechanizatiOn will COZ
tinue as rapidly as machinery NAL
ers can settle their labor problem
'e and go into full-scale production
y The number of combines G
/ farms is the highest on record. it
estimated.
> Some rs percent of the nation
J. wheat acreage last year and 40 pc
D cent of the oats were harvested
u combines. Ten years earlier lie!
ID than half of the wheat and only
III percent of the oats were harvestt
in this way.