WINTER MEETING, 1882. . 9 



Mount Sinai, to simply flash its lurid glare athwart the sky, but is commanded 

 to stand still, like Joshua's sun, to light up our cities and towns. 



Can we not as well attach its mighty power to our railroad cars, to our road 

 wagons, aye, and our plow as well? 81iall not some Edison yet live who shall 

 be able to throw a miniature storm of electricity over a tree or plant, that shall 

 kill at one shock a million of worms or insects? Can it not be made useful 

 to warm up the cold earth in early spring, to hasten forward the slow growth 

 of plants and vegetables for the early market? 



Though we may well feel proud of the improvements of to-day, and congrat- 

 ulate ourselves that we live in this grand age of advancement, yet what we 

 glory in may humiliate posterity, as it contemplates our weakness. 



Mr. Gibson of Clinton, exhibited his whiffletree for orchard use, which had 

 pulleys on the ends with rubber tire to act as fenders to prevent the barking 

 of the tree. 



Mr. E. M. Potter of Kalamazoo, was called out, and responded with a talk 

 on 



IMPLEMENTS. 



I noticed in the Michigan Farmer of last August a copied report of the pro- 

 ceedings of the "Bedford Farmers' Club," in which every member whose 

 sayings were included in the report denounced machinery, except a Mr. Daven- 

 port, and we would really think that the others not only lived in Bedford, but 

 had lain in bed most of the time. The report to which I have alluded related 

 more especially to the use of mowers, horse rakee, harvesters, and threshing- 

 machines, and the two most fallacious arguments produced were, that these 

 machines "made boys lazy," and that "grain could be threshed cheaper with 

 a flail." Well ! a flail is a machine, as well as a fanning mill, therefore, ac- 

 cording to this wholesale denunciation a man better rub liis wheat out with 

 his hands and blow the chaff out with his mouth. He might get a grist out 

 in time for the next centennial, and carry it to mill on his back. But a grist- 

 mill is a machine, therefore lie better lug it back and cook it without grinding. 



Well, I am glad there is no one here who is so anxious to have the "greater 

 light" go back on the dial of his life as to entertain any such foolish nonsense. 

 If there is any one thing that the tiller of the soil ought to be thankful for, 

 in addition to his constant obligations to his ever-bountiful Creator, it is the 

 genius and skill which now enables him to accomplish much more than for- 

 merly, and do it ten-fold better. But it does not follow that every implement 

 or machine which is produced is the best tliat can be made for the work Avhich 

 it was designed to accomplish. Nevertheless we are under great obligations to 

 every inventor or artisan who turns his attention to the production of these 

 facilities, for the most imperfect machine may be the means of suggesting 

 something better. He who can see no defects will seek no improvement, and 

 this assertion will apply to all the efforts of this short life. Therefore it is well 

 for inventors and manufacturers to invite criticism, for the very best theory is 

 that which results in the best practice. It is an old rule of philosophy that 

 what a machine gains in time is lost in power, consequently the power must be 

 increased. And yet while this general proposition may hold good in some 

 cases, we think that much depends upon how the power is applied in order to 

 overcome the resistance or to accomplish the desired object. While an imple- 

 ment, to all appearances, may be well adapted for a specific work, it is hardly 

 safe to rely on one's first impressions without making a test or conferring with 



