FARMING TOOLS AND IMPLKMHNTS 



the Eureka machine the team was dri\ en hack and forth 

 instead of around a piece. 



To supp^lement the forks hou^ht at the store the hoys 

 were supplied with forked sticks cut out of the 

 forest and seasoned a little. In my childhood I well 

 remember Father cutting a stout forked sapling for me 

 to use in spreaciing the swath as I followed the mowers. 

 Rakes, too, were contrived at home, and as the harvests 

 became larger, the bull rake — having teeth eighteen 

 inches long, set into a head more than six feet wide — 

 was invented to use in raking after the load. 



One of the earliest horse rakes consisted of wooden 

 teeth more than six feet long set through a roller — the 

 roller mounted on wheels. The teeth were pointed only 

 on the side next the ground. When the teeth were full 

 the thing twisted itself over and started the teeth on 

 the other side picking up a mouthful. It was never very 

 successful and was quickly forgotten when the iron- 

 toothed rake with a toot dumper came into use. 



From the settlement of the country down to the close 

 of the eighteenth century there was practically no im- 

 proved farm machinery, in the sense that we think of 

 improved machinery to-day. The use of steam as a 

 motive power was unknown until after Pulton's steam- 

 boat plied the Hudson River in iS()9. Horse-power 

 machinery was not known till near the middle of the 

 last ccnturv. The chief motive power for all farm 



[49] 



