FARM EQUIPMENT 



95 



TABLE III 

 Percentage Distribution of Value of Farm Property 



April 15, 1910 



During the second half of the 19th century, northern agricul- 

 ture was revolutionized by the application to agriculture of a 

 great variety of labor-saving machinery. The sickle, the cradle, 

 and the scythe were replaced by the reaping and mowing ma- 

 chines which did the work of many men. The reaper first 

 simply cut the grain and left it to be bound by hand, but before 

 the end of the eighties the self-binder was the common method 

 of harvesting small grain of all kinds where grown in commercial 

 quantities. 



The methods of threshing small grain made great progress 

 during the past century. Threshing with the flail, and tramp- 

 ing out by means of horses or cattle, were being replaced by 

 simple forms of threshing machines in 1840. The early thresh- 

 ing machine consisted of a cylinder and a concave each studded 

 with spikes. This machine was driven by horse power. This 

 machine knocked the grain loose but did not separate it from 

 the straw and chaff. The winnowing was usually done by 

 means of the fanning mill turned by hand, though many farms 

 in the West had no fanning mill. The thresher and fanning mill 

 were soon combined in the one machine which threshed and 

 cleaned the grain. 



