i^iTGD Srjsrres 



During the firot half of the nineteenth century the American 

 farmer was compelled to perform nearly all of his labor by 

 hand. Practically the only implements drawn by horses in 

 those days were the plow and the harrow. Wheat was sown 

 broadcast by hand then, as in Bible times, and covered with 

 a harrow, while corn was dropped in furrows by hand and 

 covered with the hoe. Harvesting, the most important of 

 all farm work, was still done with the reaping hook which 

 had remained unchanged since the earliest known reference 

 to the growing of cereals. Later, the hand cradle in many 

 instances replaced the reaping hook, but still the labor of 

 harvest was too slow. !fi The invention of the reaping machine 

 in 1831, and the consequent development of the modern 

 farm machine industry, made it possible for the United States 

 to advance from a low rank among nations to the very fore- 

 front among the world's greatest powers. The rapid settle- 

 ment of the new states, and the successful gathering of their 

 immense harvests, have been made possible by improved 

 farm machines — and the large farms and ranches, 

 where the furrow is plowed for miles, and where the 

 line of binders sweeps across wheat fields embrac- 

 ing thousands of acres, have been made pos- 

 sible by the genius of American inventors. 



