FARM IMPLEMENTS. 229 



where labor is comparatively abundant and cheap, the increased 

 use of labor-saving machinery within a few years past has been 

 most remarkable. All the principal operations of the farm, 

 such as planting, hoeing, weeding, threshing, hay-making, and 

 harvesting, are now greatly aided by labor-saving machines. 

 Indeed, it would be a rare sight there to sec any kind of seed 

 sown by hand, or its subsequent culture carried on by mere 

 manual labor ; and whatsis still more to the purpose, the work 

 is much better done now than it could possibly have been under 

 the old methods.* 



In comparison with English and Scotch farming, we are in 

 our infancy in this respect, and we have a vast deal of lost 

 ground to make up before we shall reach their high standard. 

 It is quite time that our agricultural societies should give a 

 strong impulse in this direction. It will not do for us to sit 

 longer with folded hands, and allow ourselves to be outstripped 

 in the race of improvement, contented to live on under a repu- 

 tation for skill, energy, and intelligence which we have well 

 nigh lost. Although we have not set the example and shown 

 the way, we are not too late to follow that of others, and per- 

 haps not yet too late to take the lead. 



This county is eminently a hay-producing one. It is the 

 money crop on which many farmers rely principally for a cash 

 return to meet the outgoes of the season's work. Although I 

 do not consider it a profitable crop, under any circumstances, 

 to the extent to which it is usually carried, yet it must always 

 hold a very important place in point of value among our prod- 

 ucts. Labor-saving machinery can be made to play a most 

 important part in the management of this crop ; and by lessen- 

 ing the cost of harvesting it, the increased profit will invite to 

 a more varied course of cultivation, even if it be only with a 

 view to increase its amount. There are many disadvantages 

 incident to the hay crop, especially when it forms a large pro- 

 portion of the produce of the farm. It is bulky, and requires 

 a large force to make it ; the time for harvesting it in proper 



* I speak with some confidence upon this point, having resided lately for nearly 

 two years in a rural district in England, and during that time being in constant 

 intercourse with practical farmers as well as scientific agriculturists. 



