574 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



past, my attention has been frequently called to many articles 

 of machinery, either wholly new in their construction, or in- 

 tended to be applied to existing machinery to correct and im- 

 prove its operation ; to increase product with the same amount 

 of labor, and by so doing, to cheapen the cost of the manufac- 

 tured article. Whatever, after proper examination and discus- 

 sion and counselling with the experienced men that assist me, 

 seemed to have claim to a trial, received it. If it passed the 

 ordeal, it was adopted ; if it failed, it was rejected. You will 

 find your account in doing the same, whether in reference to 

 a new farming implement, or to new modes of using old ones ; 

 to a new method of preparing your compost of manure and of 

 applying it to your grounds, or to new modes of planting, sow- 

 ing, and of managing the growth of crops, or of reaping and 

 harvesting them. 



Now I confess, that while I have all the respect for old im- 

 plements and old modes of husbandry, and for ancient farmers 

 and ancient writers on farming, many of whom wrote and 

 counselled admirably, I have not any more, and will not give 

 them any more than just what they deserve. I remember that 

 when quite young, I once saw a farm laborer winnowing grain 

 by the slow and tiresome operation of tossing it up and down 

 in a sieve, the heavy parts dropping in a heap, and the chaff 

 being driven off by the wind. This mode, if deserving of 

 praise, and of being continued in the ratio of its antiquity, 

 would be entitled to very special commendation and perpe- 

 tuity of use, for it was practised by the Roman laborer before 

 the birth of Christ; — and I find, in Homer's Iliad, the events 

 of which date back to the remote period of nearly twelve hun- 

 dred years before the Christian era, the following allusions to 

 the same implement and practice : 



" As from the peasant's fan the wafted chaff, 

 Parted by golden Ceres from the grain, 

 Falls in thick showers and whitens all around." — Iliad, V. 499. 



And again, 



" As Tetches, or as swarthy beans, 

 Leap from the van and fly athwart the floor. 

 By sharp winds driven and the winnower's force." — Iliad, XIII. 588. 



Now this is old enough. But since this sight of my youth, 

 I have seen another, and I certainly think, a better mode, and 



