308 RURAL MJVllJGAN 



3,901,219 barrels of wheat flour, and the census re- 

 turns for the years 1909 and 1914 did not vary 

 greatly from this quantity, the output for 191-1 being 

 3,050,744 barrels. In 1914, 74,662 barrels of rye 

 flour were manufactured, 15,773,491 pounds of buck- 

 wheat flour; 221,600 pounds of barley, meal; 131,646 

 barrels of corn-meal and corn-flour;- 466,510 pounds 

 of hominy and grits; 149,893 tons of bran middlings; 

 216,760 tons of feed, offal; and 12,755 pounds of 

 breakfast foods. ^ 



There has been progressive advancement in Michi- 

 gan in the kind and quality of the farm implements 

 used. At one time all grain was threshed by the 

 flail or trodden out by horses on the barn floor. There 

 were no reapers, mowers, drills and cultivators. 

 "Grain was separated from tlie chaff by holding a 

 shovelful in a stifi: breeze and sifting it off by shak- 

 ing the shovel. Wheat was cut with the cradle, which 

 was a great advance upon the sickle that preceded 

 it ; and the hand-scythe that had been the only means 

 of reducing the grass. All grain was sown broad- 

 cast; and those who were boys fifty years ago and 

 retain a vivid recollection of the horrors of riding 

 ' a horse to plow corn, will appreciate the advantages 

 of the cultivator." ^ "A hand-mill, such a mill as 

 the slaves used to grind their corn for iioe-cake and 

 hominy," reduced corn to edible proportions — a half 



* Census of Manufactures, 1914 — Michigan: 29. 

 ='S. B. IVTfCrarkon in "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Col- 

 lections," XIV, 610. 



