AGRICULTURE UNDER FREE TRADE, 1846-96. 35 



in these latter days, at any rate, the science to which 

 farmers have been most indebted is entomology. If 

 this is so, it is largely due to the assiduous labours of 

 Miss Ormerod, who may almost be said to have dis- 

 covered the science of agricultural entomology, and who 

 certainly has done more than any other person to popu- 

 larise it. The newest science to come to the aid of the 

 perplexed farmer is bacteriology, which appears to have 

 great possibilities of usefulness, especially to the makers 

 of cheese and butter. 



Turning from the scientific to the practical side of the 

 subject, the first point which naturally strikes one as 

 characteristic of the past half century is the improvement 

 in and the extended use of machinery on the farm. At 

 the commencement of the period a large part of the 

 arable land was ploughed by oxen, and the greater part 

 of the corn was sown broadcast, and threshed out with 

 the flail. But with the outburst of energy which marked 

 the period of the Exhibition of 1851 a great impetus 

 was given to the application of mechanics to agriculture. 

 Steam was regarded by many as being certainly destined 

 to supplant both oxen and horses for the cultivation of 

 the land, and to be applicable to all farm operations. 

 Improvements were made in the old forms of implements, 

 and new ones were invented. Among the latter may be 

 mentioned the self-binding reaper, first invented in 1851, 

 introduced as a wire binder in this country in 1873, and 

 as a string binder in 1878. The reaper, in substantially 

 its present form, was invented in 1826, but its use in this 

 country comes within the last half century. The mower 

 in its present form dates from 1852. Haymakers, 

 though first patented as long ago as 1814, have only 

 come into general use within the last thirty years or so. 

 The horse rake was first patented in 1841, but was not 

 perfected for many years afterwards. The Crosskill 

 roller dates from 1841, and the chain harrow from 1842. 

 The threshing machine had its birth in the eighteenth 



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