572 IOWA DEPARTMENT Of AGRICULTURE. 



next natural step in progress and development was to fasten the rake to 

 the machine and let the strength of the horse cut the grain and place it 

 in bundles ready to be tied. The machine rake then pushed the man from 

 the platfonii of the harvester to make room for the arms and fingers of 

 steel that gather the grain into bundles and that tie them with the twine 

 as witnessed each year in the twine binders. At the north of us in the 

 wheat fields that are almost boundless the development of the harvester 

 has been carried still farther and the ripened grain, free of all straw 

 and chaff, is hauled from the field in sacks, instead of in sheaves. 



What has been said to show the marvelous development in the cutting 

 of wheat might in like manner be said to show the equally wonderful 

 strides in the improvement of other farm implements. From the hoe 

 to the one-horse plow; from the single shovel to the double-row culti- 

 vator; from the wood moldboard to the gang-plow; from the old "A" 

 harrow to the disc, we observe leaps in agricultural development and 

 progress that charm our imagination and almost stagger our belief. And 

 yet all has not been told. 



What was the object of all this thought that has been worked out in 

 our modern labor saving machines? Simply this: To make an increased 

 production possible by making an increased acreage possible. The last 

 half century has seen thousands and thousands of acres of wild land made 

 tame and ready to yield their bountiful harvests to the magic touch of the 

 pioneer and to the continuous labor of the permanent settlers. But we 

 are aware that the day of increased acreage under the old plan of in- 

 crease is iabout gone, so new and different ways must be devised to secure 

 the increased production. 



The problem now is not so much that of planting more acres, but 

 rather that of making each acre yield a greater harvest than it is 

 -wont. 



Land that has been considered too wet is made the best yielding piece 

 on the whole farm by the proper placing and use of the drain tile; land 

 in some regions that has formerly been unfruitful because of a lack of 

 moisture is made to yield up its strength in crops most astonishing in 

 quantity by the correct use of the irrigation ditch; land that has been 

 worn out by the constant use of it, for a certain product, for a score of 

 years or more will be able to increase its value by giving it the needed 

 rest through the process of the rotation of crops. The mere mention of 

 these paints suggests that the farmer to come must have a knowledge 

 different from that which is merely necessary to run a machine. What 

 is the use of plowing two rows of corn if the plowing of one row, under 

 proper conditions, will yield as many good ears in the time of gather- 

 ing? No doubt new machines will be made for the work of the future, 

 but we can surely see that much of the thought of the future will not be 

 so much for the purpose of making machines to extend the crop area, 

 and for the gathering of the harvest from a larger field, but rather to 

 make better and greater production on fields of less size. The proper use 

 and care of the soil, the kind and quality of the seed used, and the cul- 

 tivation of the growing crop will receive such attention that the smaller 

 field with really less labor will do for us what the rnore acres have been 

 doing. 



