FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 55 



Soon after 1820 were exhibited at one or another of 

 the society's annual cattle shows, and gained official 

 approval, a newly invented corn-cracking mill, new 

 devices for a corn sheller and a hay cutter, a new style 

 of plough for paring or slicing meadow land, and a 

 flax-seed separator. In 1818 a premium of $25 was 

 paid for a threshing machine, but it was not an en- 

 tirely satisfactory apparatus, as special efforts were 

 made about the same time to get something less ex- 

 pensive and better for the purpose than had been 

 found; and, among other things done, a letter was 

 written to Thomas Jefferson, asking for a description 

 of a threshing machine used by him, and his opinion 

 of it. In 1822 a premium of $75 was paid for Gregg 

 & Hale's threshing machine. In 1824 a lengthy de- 

 scription v/as given in the Journal of a "foreign inven- 

 tion not much known in this country, called the 

 hydraulic ram"; and the apparatus is recommended as 

 serviceable where irrigation is desired, and for farms 

 properly situated as respects a head of water, as being 

 cheaper than the cost of a well and pump, and yielding 

 a water supply without manual labor. 



More than in the case of the threshing machine, 

 solicitude was manifested for many years, by the 

 trustees, for the improvement of the plough — that 

 implement which is primary in all agricultural opera- 

 tions, and which, in its rudest forms, has been said to 

 mark the beginning of human civilization. During a 

 few years a premium was offered "to the person who 

 shall exhibit the best plough for common purposes, of 

 an improved construction, and of his own invention." 

 Ploughs were imported from England, in one instance 

 by the society, and in others by leading members, in 

 the hope that the right model might be found ; but no 

 important gain appeared in the demonstrations of 



