805] Historical Survey 7 



New York. 1 Eventually, however, the prejudice against 

 cast iron plows was overcome. Better patterns were 

 devised. They were adopted by the people and so late 

 as the year 1850, according to the Census statistician 

 for Agriculture, " The old cast iron plows were in gen- 

 eral use. Grass was mowed with the scythe, and grain 

 was cut with the sickle or cradle and thrashed with the 

 flail." 2 



The prototype of the modern grain reaper had indeed 

 appeared prior to i85O. 3 A similar statement might, 

 doubtless, be made concerning certain other inventions 

 for which patents had been issued ; but all of these, like 

 the submarine boat and the flying machine of the pres- 

 ent day, were in too imperfect a state, too complex, or 

 too expensive to meet the demands of the time. Whit- 

 ney's cotton gin and Newbold's cast iron plow may, 

 therefore, be accepted as the only ones of the great in- 

 ventions which, up to 1850, had become thoroughly in- 

 corporated into the agricultural industry of this country. 



Just how soon after 1850 the various other labor sav- 

 ing machines became essential factors in the business of 

 farm work it would be impossible to tell. Reaping 

 machines were fairly well developed ; but the complexity 

 of the machines and the ignorance of the farmers were 

 serious hindrances to their general use. 4 It is only in 



1 N. Y. Agr. Report (1867), pp. 446, 448. 



2 Twelfth Census, Agriculture, Vol. i, p. xxix. 



3 Obed Hussey's machine was patented in 1833; C. W. McCor- 

 mick's in 1834. Eighth Census, Agriculture, p. xxi. 



4 "I use for reaping only the scythe and cradle. . . . Perhaps 

 a still greater benefit may be found in the substitution of reaping 

 machines, which, even now, are used by most of the good fanners of 

 my neighborhood. But because of their great liability to get out of 

 order, the difficulties of working them, and especially my own igno- 

 rance of machinery, I have feared to attempt the use of reaping 

 machines." Letter of Edmund Ruffin, a Virginia farmer. Patent 

 Office Reports (1850-51), p. 104. 



