AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMP:NTS. 253 



sive generations that preceded us. Suffice it to say, that in 

 lightness combined with strength, ease of working, efficiency 

 for their intended use, and beauty and style of finish, our 

 farming-tools are vastly superior to those of any other nation 

 on the face of the earth, the farmers of Britain not excepted. 



Oue very noticeable feature in the use of most of our 

 agricultural machines is the driver's seat. I believe this was 

 first found on the reapers and mowing-machines, and has 

 now grown on all our rakes and tedders, on sulky or gang 

 ploughs, on harrows and rollers, on seed-sowers and plant- 

 ers, on horse-hoes and cultivators, and on every machine 

 where it can be perched, in entire contrast to the customs of 

 all other nations, none of whom have ever made use of the 

 seat on any machines except those that originated in this 

 country. It was a necessity on the mowing-machines, and 

 has been continued on the others as a convenience, and prob- 

 ably it is on most machines a matter of economy. A man 

 will much easier manage his team when riding than walking 

 behind or beside it, and it husbands the man's strength with- 

 out any great strain upon the horses. 



The value of the agricultural machinery and implements 

 in Massachusetts, as shown by the census reports of each 

 decade, are : for 1850, $3,209,584 ; for 1860, $3,894,998 ; for 

 1870, $5,000,879; for 1875, $5,321,168; for 1880, nearly 

 $6,000,000 ; a very gratifying growth. 



The increasing annual products of agriculture in our high- 

 ly fjxvored country, and the hay and grain crops in particu- 

 lar, furnish striking illustrations of the close interdependence 

 and connection of all branches of the national industry. 

 The dependence of agriculture upon the results of mechani- 

 cal skill, as well as the astonishing progress of the latter 

 within the last seventy-five years, is strongly exemplified in 

 the application of labor-saving appliances in all the opera- 

 tions of the farm. Our own progress in this respect is 

 more rapid than that of any other agricultural people, and 

 at least co-equal with our application of the fruits of purely 

 scientific research in the improvement of agriculture. 



In every department of rural industry, mechanical power 

 has wrought a revolution. The greatest triumph of me- 

 chanical skill in its application to agriculture is witnessed 



