ment, due to the invention of farm machinery and the develop- 

 ment of railways and other means of communication. The 

 first patent for a mowing machine was granted in 1831, and 

 for a reaping machine in 1833, although they did not come in- 

 to general use until 1850. The harvester followed in 1850 and 

 the steam thresher in 1860. The invention of farm machinery 

 resulted in a great saving of time and labor. This saving is 

 best shown by the computation made by the Department of 

 Agriculture of the time required to produce a bushel of wheat 

 and a bushel of corn before and after the introduction of labor 

 saving machinery. It once took four hours and forty-five 

 minutes of labor to produce a bushel of corn, while under mod- 

 ern conditions it is produced by forty-one minutes of labor. 

 In 1855 a bushel of wheat required three hours of labor to pro- 

 duce it; now it requires ten minutes. The invention of farm 

 machinery made less labor necessary in the country, but the 

 laborers that remained had to be more intelligent, for they 

 had to use improved machinery. 



The development of railroads and the means of transpor- 

 tation entirely changed the farming business. Before rail- 

 roads were built crops were raised only for the support of the 

 farm family and for the local market, but with the building of 

 great railroads the local market was changed to a world 

 market and farming was undertaken on a far larger scale. 



The effect of the inventions of this period may be summed 

 up thus: (1) They made it possible for the farmer to produce 

 for a world market and gave him the market. (2) They reduced 

 the amount of labor necessary to manage the farms. (3) They 

 drove from the country to the cities the poorer and less intelli- 

 gent class of farm laborers. (4) They tended to increase the 

 isolation of the daily life of the farm. 



The Factory System. The growth of factories in this 

 country was stimulated by numerous inventions, by the use 

 of steam for power, and by the development of better means 

 of transportation. The factory has revolutionized both city 

 and country life. It has given cities some of their greatest 

 industrial problems. The newspapers are filled with accounts 



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