1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 317 



farmer and his family increased by social obligations and the 

 natural demands of a free and responsible people, we have 

 been able to compete in the grain markets of the world with 

 those who, in some instances, are furnished with land free 

 of rent and taxation, and whose necessities of life are so 

 small and whose duties are so few, that the former seem 

 intolerable and the latter seem insignificant and trivial. The 

 skill of the American farmer, supplied as he is with the 

 most ingenious and graceful and effective machinery, has 

 become an object of admiration and imitation. The well- 

 organized home of the American farmer is looked upon as a 

 model. The place filled in the community by the American 

 farmer is considered so important and honorable that other 

 nations inquire how it has been attained. The crops of the 

 American farmer are looked upon as so sure, that all anxiety 

 with regard to the supply of food for the people less favored 

 has passed away. 



The rapid growth of this industry with which we are all 

 familiar may be made more apparent by recurring to its con- 

 dition in this country three-quarters of a century ago. At 

 that time the ploughs were usually made by the village 

 blacksmith and wheelwright. Shovel factories were few 

 and small. Grain harvesters, reapers, mowers, tedders and 

 horse-rakes were unknown. The mechanical enterprise 

 engaged in producing these and other improved implements 

 of husbandry is untiring ; and in one year the patents issued 

 for improvements in agricultural machinery exceeded 1,000, 

 (if which 3B were for rakes, 160 for hay and grain harvesters 

 and attachments, 1G7 for seed planters and drills, 30 for hay 

 and straw cutters, 90 for cultivators, 73 for bee-hives, 90 for 

 churns, and 1(50 for ploughs and attachments. In 1810 our 

 export of corn amounted to only 140,996 bus'.iels ; of wheat, 

 only 345,024 Inishels ; of flour, only 748,431 barrels; the 

 amount of cotton grown was only 124,000,000 pounds. 

 Of the great increase in the number and value of cattle, 

 horses, sheep and swine in this country, and of the develop- 

 ment of the dairy as a source of profit to the farmer, it is 

 unnecessary to speak. The annual production of more than 

 $3,000,000,000 by the agricultural industry of this country 

 is of itself sufficient to indicate the skill and energy of those 

 who are engaged in all of its various branches. 



