290 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



met with greater popular favor tliau the horse pitoh-fopk, for it saves 

 not only the most violent strain upon the muscles, but economizes time, 

 which, in the hurry of haying', is often of the utmost importance. The 

 American hand-forks had been brought so near perfection, by their high 

 finish, lightness, and strength, as to leave little to be desired, but the 

 horse-tork has been so generally introduced as, to a considerable extent, 

 to supersede their use. 



While these vast improvements have been going on with the other 

 implements of the farm, the improvement in machines for thrashing 

 grain has been rapidly progressing, till they have reached a wonderful 

 degree of perfection. Most of us can remember when the old-fashioned flail 

 was heard upon almost every barn-floor in the country. Here and there 

 was a case where the grain was trodden out by cattle, with an amazing 

 waste of time and labor. Compare those slow methods witli the process, 

 widely known at the present day, b}^ which a horse-power or steam- 

 power thrasber not only separates the grain but winnows it, measures 

 it, bags it, ready for market, and carries away the straw to the stack 

 at the same operation, and all with a rapidity truly astonishing. As 

 early as the Paris Exposition of 1855 the victory w^as won by an Ameri- 

 can machine. To ascertain the comparative rapidity and economy of 

 thrashing, six men were set to work at thrashing vritli flails. In one 

 hour they thrashed 36 liters of wheat. In the same time Pitt's 

 American machine thrashed 740 liters: Clayton's English machine 

 thrashed 410 liters; Duvoir's French machine thrashed 250 liters; 

 Pinet's French machine thrashed 150 liters. Speaking of this trial a 

 French journal said : " This American machine literally devoured the 

 sheaves of wheat. The eye cannot follow the work which is effected 

 between the entrance of the sheaves and the end of the operation. It 

 is one of the greatest results which it is possible to attain. The impres- 

 sion which the spectacle produced on the Arab chiefs was profound." 

 Good as that machine was at that time, it has been greatly improved 

 since then ; and it is a fact that wherever our first-class machines have 

 come into competition with those of European manufacture, they have 

 invariably proved themselves superior in point of simplicity, rapidity, 

 and perfection of work. 



Nor has the progress in the improvement of other indispensable 

 machines of tlie farm been less marked and important. The smaller 

 implements have felt the impress of the mechanical genius of the age. 

 The corn-sheller has been brought to such perfection as to separate the 

 corn from the ear with great rapidity, and with the application of little 

 power. It has been adapted to horse-power also, and to different sec- 

 tions of country, where different varieties of corn are raised, and to 

 shell one or two ears at the same time. Its economy of time and labor 

 is such as, upon large farms where the product is large, to pay for itself 

 in a single year. 



The hay-cutter is another machine of modern invention. Wherever 

 a large stock of cattle is kept, especially where a considerable number 

 of horses are wintered, it is often thought to be good economy to feed 

 out more or less of the coarser feeding substances of the farm, as straw, 

 corn-stover, the poorer qualities of hay, &c., by mixing them, either with 

 the better qualities of hay or with some sort of concentrated food, like 

 meal. The hay-cutter is adjustable so as to cut at different lengths, 

 according to the wants of the stock for which it is designed. The point 

 is to cut short and with perfect regularity, and when this quality is at- 

 tained in a machine, uniting strength, simplicity, durability, and safety 

 to the operator, it is estimated that there is a gain of about 25 percent. 



