362 FARM MANAGEMENT 



to be used under all kinds of conditions by all kinds of 

 farmers before the makers find which parts should be 

 strengthened. A still greater source of depreciation is due 

 to improvements that make the later machines so much 

 better that the old one must be thrown away before it is 

 worn out. 



The experience when grain harvesters were introduced 

 is typical. My father bought a Marsh harvester. Two 

 men stood on a platform to bind the grain. One man 

 drove three horses. Usually two more horses were hitched 

 on in front and a boy rode one of these. The machine 

 had so much side draft, and was so heavy on the horses' 

 necks that it was very hard on them. With all its de- 

 fects, it was a great improvement over the self-rake that 

 it displaced. It was used all over the neighborhood. 

 But it was never worn out ; before it had paid for itself, 

 the wire self-binder was introduced. A neighbor bought 

 one of these, and the wonderful Marsh harvester be- 

 came a chicken roost. But the machine was not yet 

 perfected. Before the wire binder was worn out, and 

 before the neighbor got his money back, the twine binder 

 displaced it. Another neighbor bought one of these. 

 It was a better machine, but the knotter was far from 

 perfect. The machine was good enough, however, so 

 that it was used a number of years, and probably paid its 

 cost before it was displaced by machines with a better 

 knotter, lighter draft, and wider cut, and that carried 

 bundles to be dropped in rows. Improvements are still 

 being made on the machine and will likely continue, but 

 one who buys a grain harvester to-day may expect to 

 wear it out and not have to throw it away because it is 

 out of date. 



The early history of nearly every new invention is the 



