Farm Machinery 



275 



393. Harvesting Machinery. Perhaps no line of 

 development has assisted agriculture so much as machine 

 harvesting. The grass hook and the scythe were long 

 in use. When a Scotchman put s fingers to the scythe, 

 forming the cradle, it was heralded as a great invention 

 because it enabled one man to do the work of several 

 equipped with the older implements. Obed Hussey 



and Cyrus H. McCormick* 



stand out prominently in the 



development of the reaper, 

 which was later improved by 

 many others, among whom 

 Palmer, Williams, Marsh 

 Brothers, Spaulding and Ap- 

 pleby should be mentioned, 

 leading up to the self-binder 

 in 1878. It appears marvel- 

 ous to find that there has 

 taken place within sixty 

 years within the life of a 

 single man the universal in- 

 troduction of machines which Flg - 175 ' c - H " McCormick - 

 are so efficient and still require the guidance of but 

 one man to do the work of many. 



394. Farm Machinery. The general introduction of 

 specialized farm machines, implements too complex 



*Cyrus H. McCormick was born in Rockb ridge county, Virginia, in 1809. 

 His father had constructed a reaping machine, though his efforts, like those 

 of many others along the same line, were not successful. Young Cyrus had 

 watched his father's experiments and cherished the thought that some day he 

 might solve the difficult problem. He abandoned the principles that had 

 formed the underlying features of his father's machine. The elder McCormick 

 did not approve of the young man's plans, but he put no obstacles in his way, 

 and offered him the facilities of his little blacksmith shop to build his first 

 machine. Young McCormick completed his first reaper in time to give it a 

 trial in the harvest of 1831, and it worked successfully that year. 



