AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINES. 393 
were not sure of reaping, and being uneducated, invention was slow. 
In the early history of England, every plowman was compelled by law 
to make his own plow. The natural result was, that the implements 
used were heavy, rudely constructed, and of ail kinds and shapes. But 
the improvement of farming implements advanced in all countries 
where the science of agriculture was promoted until, Dodd says in 1851, 
Speaking of the collection of agricultural implements at the Crystal 
Palace: 
Nor did foreign countries neglect to show us to what extent similar aid is available 
among themselves, difficult as it must have been to send many of these ponderous 
machines across the wide ocean. Austria, for instance, sent us seed-harrows, carrot- 
drillers, seed-coverers, seed-looseners, weed-destroyers, subsoil-plows, and harrows. 
Belgium exhibited her seed-bags, cast-iron rollers, seed-mills, plows, harrows, winnow- 
ing-machines, weeding-machines, straw-choppers, and grass-cleaving machines. Canada 
contributed grain-cradles, many-pronged hay-forks, and plows. Egypt showed us her 
somewhat rude bill-hooks, sickles, hoes, plows, and the Novez machine for seed. From 
France we had plows, harrows, winnowing-machines, clover-thrashing machines, corn- 
cleaning machines, &c. Holland contributed seed-cradles, liquid-manure machines, 
swing-plows, turnip-cutters, and a very curious instrument called the dynamostater, to 
measure the strength of the action in plows. Switzerland illustrated her hand hus- 
bandry by such simple implements as pitch-forks, rakes, scythes, pruning-knives, and 
so forth. Prussia and the various German States sent us chatt-cutters, sowing-machines, 
drills, thrashing-machines, Flemish plows, subsoil-plows, water-furrow plows, and 
potato-mills. The United States—busy in all the fields of industry—exhibited to us 
some of her grain-reapers, smut-machines, horse-rakes, hay-forks, scythes, plows, 
cultivators, railroad horse-power, seed-planters, grain-drills, and reaping-machines. 
The great difficulty the farmer labors under is, to know what imple- 
ment to adopt when so many are placed before him. THe hears of won- 
derful inventions which are entirely to supersede the old implements in 
every-day use, but in the majority of instances he hears that the new 
inventions have been abandoned—they did not answer the purpose— 
even before he has:had time to make a trial of them. Thus it is, the 
agriculturist often gets bewildered with the many things placed before 
him, and consequently continues to go on in the old way rather than 
to accept the plans of others of which he knows nothing only by the 
many failures constantly represented to him. The question naturally 
arises, Why are so few inventions successful? Is it because perfection 
is reached and the doors of invention closed? We think not; but 
because, when the result is once attained, the means by which it is 
reached are considered complete, when in reality this is the point where 
inventions should commence, and the means be simplified by doing away 
with the useless elements, and combining the useful in the simplest 
manner possible, and the implement or machine be given thorough and 
well-appointed trials before offering it to the public. 
We propose to notice some of the many inventions and improvements 
in agricultural implements and machines during the past year,.and very 
briefly to note their origin. 
The following is an alphabetical list of patents issued from the United 
States Patent Office for the year 1870, for implements and inventions 
having a direct bearing upon the practical operations of agriculture. 
Jt will be understood that this list contains only those cases that have 
been actually issued during the year, embracing about 70 per cent. of 
cases for which applications have been filed. The 30 per cent. remain- 
ing are either still pending or have been finally rejected for want of 
novelty : 
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