xxiv INTRODUCTION. 



turc of scythes by the trip-hammer, and also introduced the iron shovel manufacture into the State. 

 As early as 1766, samples of home-made scythes, shovels, spades, hoes, &c., were laid before the 

 Society of Arts, in New York, and approved. They were probably from the manufactory of Keen & 

 Payson, of that neighborhood, whose improved scythes, often called Salem scythes, then claimed to be 

 superior in quality and form to any others. The non-importation and non-intercourse of the revolu 

 tionary period, and during the last war with England, encouraged the domestic manufacture of scythes 

 and other articles of hardware, which, before the end of the last century, were made in different parts 

 of New England in considerable quantity. Scythes were made in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, 

 and to the number of two or three hundred dozens annually, at Canton, in Norfolk county, and also at 

 Sutton, in Worcester county, which town had in 1793 seven trip-hammers and five scythe and axe 

 factories. In 1810 there were nine factories in Sutton, and two in Oxford, and in 1814 seven others 

 had been erected in the county, some of which could make 1,000 dozens annually. Scythes were at 

 the same time made in Boston, and in 1803 the manufacture was commenced at Orange, by Levi 

 Thurston, who employed in it the first tilt-hammer in the town. A few years later there were two 

 scythe factories at Colcbrook, in Litchfield county, Connecticut, which county in 1820 returned the 

 largest manufacture of scythes of any in the Union. At Southfield, Rhode Island, large numbers of 

 scythes were made at that time for exportation. As early as 1812, the scythe factory of S. & A. 

 Waters, at Amsterdam, in Montgomery county, New York, turned out about 6,000 scythes annually. 

 They were made at many small establishments throughout the Union, along with axes, sickles, and 

 other edge-tools and cutlery, shovels, &c., by the aid of the trip-hammer, and were in good demand. 

 The price in 1820 ranged from twelve dollars to eighteen dollars per dozen. 



About the latter date was commenced, at West Fitchburg, Massachusetts, one of the oldest scythe 

 factories now in the country, then owned by F. T. Farwell & Co., which in the hands of its original 

 and later proprietors has originated many improvements in the manufacture, and given reputation to 

 its well-known brand. At a later period, Harris s scythes, extensively manufactured at Pine Plains, in 

 Dutchcss county, New York, obtained a high repute, and are said to have been counterfeited in Eng 

 land. The mammoth scythe factory of R. 13. Dunn, at North Wayne, in Maine, was a few years 

 ago considered the largest in the world. In 1849 it turned out 12,000 dozens, requiring 450,000 

 pounds of iron, 75,000 pounds of steel, 1,200 tons of hard coal, 10,000 bushels of charcoal, 100 tons 

 of grindstones, and half a ton of borax. About the same time, the scythe and cast-steel fork manu 

 factory of D. Gr. Millard, near the village of Clayville, New York, made about 13,000 dozens of scythes 

 and forks annually, by water-power. In 1860 Massachusetts was the largest producer of scythes, 

 returning 8168,550 as the aggregate value of the product often establishments. Maine ranked second 

 in the value of its scythe manufacture 8129,363 by three factories. In New York, four establish 

 ments turned out scythes worth 8117,440, and one factory in Rhode Island employed 100 hands, 

 producing to the value of 8100,000. The total value of scythes made in 1860 was 8552,753, which 

 was the product of twenty-two factories and 474 hands. 



SHOVELS, SPADES, HOES, AND FORKS. 



These articles, intimately but not all so directly connected as the foregoing with agriculture, in 

 1860 gave employment, in five States, to forty-three establishments, the value of whose manufacture 

 was 81,452,226. The hands engaged in them numbered 1,015. Upward of one-half the whole value 

 was made in eleven factories in Massachusetts, which, together, employed 578 workmen, and produced 

 an annual value of 8777,048, being relatively much the largest concerns in the country. In New 

 York there were twenty-three manufactories, whose product was 8307,428, and the number of hands 

 employed 233. Six factories in Pennsylvania employed 177 men, and produced wares to the value of 

 $312,450. 



