26 THE HISTORY OF THE 



There were essays of a more practical sort, Samuel P. 

 Fowler's on "The Destruction of Insects Injurious to 

 Vegetation," and David Choate's report of his elaborate 

 experiments with the Chinese sugar cane. At the Cattle 

 Shows there were evidences of notable advancements in 

 farm methods. The Michigan sod plough, which turned 

 two furrows at once, was exhibited in 1850. In 1852 a 

 two-day session was adopted. In that year there was a 

 particularly fine display of Suffolk swine, and Charles A. 

 Stetson offered a premium for the encouragement of horse 

 teams in plowing. 



The address of the President, Richard S. Fay, in 1854, 

 sounded a warning note. Wages had doubled in twenty 

 years, and the return was only half. The farmer must 

 either resort to machinery or give up the unequal con- 

 test. He has much to learn from the English and Scotch 

 farmer. The mowing machine, he states, has been intro- 

 duced into our fields during the past summer. So the 

 year 1854 must be written down as the year of transition 

 from the Old to the New Era, the Old Era of the scythe 

 and the slow-moving ox and the heavy, unaided toil of 

 man, to the New Era of machinery, revolutionizing the 

 work of the farm and lightening its toil. 



The mowing machine met with the same captious crit- 

 icism that always obstructs the progress of a great in- 

 vention. It was objected that the expense put it beyond 

 the reach of the average farmer, that the fields were too 

 small and rough, that it required a skillful hand to 

 operate it. The Essex Society moved rapidly. The 

 President offered a special premium for the best machine. 

 A committee on mowing machines was appointed, which 

 visited Dr. Loring's farm on July 16th, 1855, to see sev- 

 eral machines in operation, and on the 17th went to Col. 

 Moses Newell's farm in West Newbury. These exhibi- 

 tions drew great crowds of spectators, as many had 

 never seen a machine in operation. Many accidents hap- 



