4 FARM MACHINERY 



the common laborer were not to exceed $3 per month, 

 and "in Vermont good men were employed for 18 per 

 year." Even as late as 1849, the wages, according to sev- 

 eral authorities, did not exceed $120 a year. Under pres- 

 ent conditions, the farm laborer is able to demand two, 

 three, and even five times as much. In countries where 

 hand methods are still practiced, wages are very low. 

 Men are required to work all day from early morning till 

 late at night for a few cents. In some of the Asiatic 

 countries it is said that men work from four in the morn- 

 ing until nine at night for 14 cents. Women receive only 

 9 or 10 cents and children 7 or 8 cents. 



7. The labor of women. Woman, so history relates, 

 was the first agriculturist. Upon her depended the plant- 

 ing and tending of the various crops. She was required 

 to help more or less with the farm work as long as the 

 hand methods remained. Machinery has relieved her of 

 nearly all field work. Not only this, but many of the 

 former household duties have been taken away. Spinning 

 and weaving, soap-making and candle-making, although 

 formerly household duties, are now turned over to the 

 factory. Butter and cheese making are gradually becom- 

 ing the work of the factory rather than that of the home. 

 Sewing machines, washing machines, cream separators, 

 and numerous other inventions have come to aid the 

 housewife with her work. 



8. Percentage of population on farms. During the 

 change from hand to machine methods there was a great 

 decrease in the percentage of the people of the United 

 States living upon the farms. It has been estimated that 

 in 1800 97 per cent of the people were to be found upon 

 the farms. By 1849 tm ' s proportion had decreased to rp 

 per cent, and according to the Twelfth Census Report it 

 v/i3 only 35.7 per cent. ^ 



