NEW IMPLEMENTS 387 



effected since 1874. That America should have gained the lead 

 in this field is but another symptom of the depression of English 

 agriculture and its loss of capital. No detailed list can be attempted. 

 But, speaking broadly, progress has consisted rather in variations 

 of old principles than in the introduction of new implements. The 

 reaper and binder is perhaps the most important of all the mechanical 

 novelties which have been introduced during the period. Wire- 

 binders were brought over to Europe in 1873 ; but farmers and 

 millers alike protested against the use of wire as a binding material. 

 The Appleby string-binder (1878-9) removed the obstacle. Numerous 

 varieties of the machine are now in general use as one of the most 

 valuable and efficient substitutes for hand-labour. Scarifiers, 

 clodcrushers, steam diggers, cultivators, and other implements of 

 torture for the land, have been improved in different details ; in 

 every stage in the cultivation and harvesting of cereals machinery 

 has been brought to high perfection ; and the Ivel agricultural 

 motor may be the forerunner of further developments. The 

 increased importance of potatoes as a field crop is shown, not only 

 by the experiments carried on at Garforth, Kew, and Cambridge, 

 but by the invention of machines to plant and raise the produce. 

 If potato-harvesters distinguished tubers from stones, their 

 universal success would probably be assured. No substitute for 

 hand-labour in thinning or lifting root-crops has yet been brought 

 into practical use. Flockmasters have profited by the invention of 

 sheep-shearing machines. Various oil-engines have proved them- 

 selves valuable aids for all sorts of work at the homestead. Power 

 presses (1880), though chiefly designed to compress hay and straw 

 for transport, have proved useful for storage purposes. Ensilage, 

 warmly advocated in 1888 as a means of saving hay crops in good 

 condition during wet and catchy seasons, has now been applied to 

 storing green fodder crops for winter keep in seasons of drought or 

 in case of the failure of roots. When originally introduced, the cost 

 of constructing silos prohibited their adoption by hard-pressed 

 farmers. Now, however, it has been found that the simpler and 

 less costly process of stacking or clamping will make excellent 

 silage. Mention must also be made of the use of wire and corrugated 

 iron for fencing and farm buildings. Where thousands of acres of 

 land had to be adapted to new requirements the use of these materials 

 enabled poverty-stricken agriculturists to effect changes which 

 would have been impossible in more expensive materials. 



