548 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



as the unbelieving had christened it, became a great fact. 

 Some of those same scoffers immediately set about dividing 

 the honor of introducing it. But that honor belongs to 

 Professor Turner alone. It is a pleasant fact to chronicle, 

 that this, and other labors, have secured Mr. Turner an 

 ample fortune for enjoyment in his old age. 



THE EDUCATOR AS AN INVENTOR. 



One of the leading ideas in Mr. Turner s mind was that, 

 if anywhere in the world, the prairies, where in many 

 localities a furrow might be turned, during a day s march, 

 without the plow striking even* a pebble that here the 

 crops might be worked almost exclusively without that 

 tiresome hand-work so laboriously performed in less favored 

 countries. It early occurred to him that corn might be 

 planted by machinery ; and that it might be cultivated by 

 other machinery, allowing the operator to ride. 



In working out these ideas, he secured some of the first 

 patents for machines for planting, weeding, and cultivat 

 ing crops. By essays and lectures upon these matters, and 

 by his own practical efforts as an inventor, he probably did 

 more to illustrate the feasibility of the now universal system 

 of cultivation than any other one man in the West. It was 

 he, in fact, who conceived the idea of many of the imple 

 ments now in use, which other persons have perfected and 

 reaped the profit from. 



HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE. 



These have been voluminous for a life-long worker, who 

 earned with his hands his daily bread. They have been 

 mainly contributed through the agricultural press, by means 

 of essays, lectures, papers written for various scientific socie- 



