INDUSTRY 



47 



and patent office records, printer's ink 

 will be wasted in vain in any attempts to 

 win the laurels from the modest Quaker. 

 The necessities that called for these 

 machines were the result of the high 

 hopes of the pioneers of the West, who, 

 finding natural garden spots of dimen- 

 sions greater than the scope of the eye, 

 plowed and sowed more than they could 

 reap, — more than labor could there be 

 found to reap. Naturally, then, the first 

 practical machines of America were in- 

 vented where the great Western fields, 

 which, in their ripeness, inspired inven- 

 tors. 



On a day, during the harvest of 1833, 

 a group of farmers and idlers were inter- 

 ested in the tests of a reaper about to be 

 made. Mr. Hussey's machine was start- 

 ed, but some disarrangement caused de- 

 lay. An incredulous young man. strong 

 of arm, picked up the implement of one 

 of the cradlers, and swung it with a 

 broad sweep into the grain, declaring 

 that that was a kind of a reaper to have. 

 Mr. Hussey, though possessed of a quiet 

 manner characteristic of the Quaker, felt 

 stung and asked the bystanders to help 

 him uphill with his machine. He then 

 guided the machine down it on the run. 

 and every straw was laid upon the receiv- 

 ing platform with the exactness in wliich 

 it grew. The machine repaired demon- 

 strated its ability to such an extent that 

 others were ordered for the following 

 harvest, and manufactured in a little shop 

 on the farm of Judge Algernon Foster, 

 near Cincinnati, Ohio. 



For the harvest of 1834 two machines 

 were made and sold, and from that time 

 on have continued to be used up to the 

 present day, where, as said in the so- 

 called manual delivery reapers extensively 

 used in Europe, they are found, substan- 

 tially as constructed bv him, having added 

 thereto only the finishing touches applied 

 by modern mechanics. 



As a mowing machine slight improve- 

 ments have been made ; the only competi- 

 tor for several years was one produced b}- 

 Enoch Amliler, patented in 1834. 



A single supporting and driving wheel 

 was used in Ambler's, and a reciprocat- 

 ing cutting apparatus also, but the spe- 

 cific construction was not like that of Mr. 

 Hussey. It came into considerable use, 

 and may be considered the prototv])e of 



the single wheel reaping and mowing ma- 

 chines that found their way upon the 

 market subsecpient to 1840. 



With the practical features proposed 

 by a third of a hundred inventors care- 

 fully embodied in machines at the close 

 of the first third of the century, came the 

 practical reaping and mowing machine. 

 Nearly one-half of the labor of the harv- 

 est field was dispensed with ; the ring of 

 the cradle blade, when whetting after the 

 cutting of every round, soon ceased to be 

 heard. The sound of the cutting device 

 of the reaper and mower was not so nui- 

 sical, but may be likened to the chuckle 

 of one in his ecstasy who has succeeded in 

 his accomplishment. The burning sun 

 scorched but half as many laborers as be- 

 fore. The labor of weary ones over the 

 hot stove in the crude habitations on the 

 farms was lessened. The harvest time 

 became less dreaded ; the scarcity of help 

 became less felt, and the hours of labor 

 were shortened. Homes became more 

 cheerful, for the farmers' wives and 

 daughters, before called from household 

 duties into the burning sun, had now 

 moments that could be devoted to plant- 

 ing the rose and vines. 



Reflecting upon those early days, ex- 

 periences such as can soon only be called 

 l)y the artist, are brought to mind. In 

 our imagination we see the troop of harv- 

 est hands, arisen from an early breakfast, 

 taken after an hour's labor at chores, 

 moving to the fields often before the sun 

 has kissed the dew from the lilies that 

 l)eckon them on the way. young women 

 as well as young men ; though with a 

 hard day's labor before them, they are 

 chatting as merrily as when gathering at 

 school in the winter, when the labors on 

 the farm are not so great. In those days 

 few children who could Avalk knew lei- 

 sure. The balx' ^\■as often taken to the 

 field and a still toddling youngster left in 

 charge while the mother bound after the 

 cradlers. It seetns as if the expression 

 "hungry as a hired man" must have 

 originated on these western prairies, for 

 in these early days five meals a day was 

 the rule. AJjout mid-forenoon two boys 

 were spared from the field long enough to 

 go for luncheon, soon to return with a 

 well-filled basket and water jugs. The 

 cloth was spread upon the stubl)le and a 

 hastv but hearty meal sjiread. Perhaps 



