AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST 311 



latter year was 100 per cent more than in 1861, and of live 

 hogs 200 per cent more. Thus we arrive at a most interesting 

 and important result : the prices of agricultural products in 1 864 

 and the first part of 1865 were 100 per cent to 200 per cent 

 more than in 1861, while freight rates for grain were less than 

 in 1 86 1, and those for live stock advanced but slightly. This 

 rise in farm products was greater, and lasted much longer, than 

 the rise in freight rates. Never had the products of the farm so 

 great a cash value. For their crops the farmers were getting 

 not only the increased nominal value which an inflated currency 

 produced, but in addition the part of this increase, and more, 

 which naturally would have been added to the freight rates. This 

 remarkable result, following two good years in 1862 and 1863, 

 was rich recompense for the losses of agriculture in 1861, and 

 a cause of great buoyancy and prosperity. The amount of debts 

 and farm mortgages paid off during the war was vast. 



The use of labor-saving machinery on the farms had already 

 begun when the war opened, but was largely extended during 

 the struggle. Mowers and reapers were yet new ; only on the 

 largest farms of the West were they common. The wheat drill 

 was not common in any section. As soon, however, as men 

 began to go to war, the increasing use of new labor-saving 

 machinery was as striking a feature of farming as were the large 

 harvests. The new devices were necessary to make up for the 

 scarcity of laborers. But for them, so we are assured from 

 many sources, a large part of the crops could not have been 

 gathered. In 1864 over 70,000 mowers and reapers were manu- 

 factured, twice as many as in 1862, and many more than in 

 any year before. The manufacturers could not supply the demand. 

 But a small proportion of these were sold out of the United 

 States. The horse-rake was likewise recognized as an efficient 

 labor-saving device, and its use was rapidly extended. Many 

 new harrows, grain drills, corn planters, and steam threshers 

 were put on the market. At the agricultural fairs, both state 

 and county, which, with some diminution in 1 861, were held 

 throughout the war, attended by the usual crowds, and meeting 

 with the usual successes and failures, the exhibitions of the new 



