CHAPTER XLIII 
FARM WORK AND THE AGE OF MACHINERY 
Farming in Former Days. — Until about the middle of the 
last century, practically all farm work was done in the same 
way as it had been done for 2000 years. 
With the exception 
of plowing, harrowing, and the drawing of loads, man’s muscles 
GRAIN CRADLE 
furnished the power to operate 
such tools and implements as 
were in use. Corn was planted 
and cultivated with the hoe, 
and the corn cutter was merely 
a large knife for hand use. 
Grass was mown with a scythe, 
and the hay was raked and 
pitched by hand. Wheat, oats, 
and barley were sown by hand, 
cut with the sickle or cradle, 
and threshed with a flail. By 
those methods a farmer could 
produce very little more food 
and clothing material than he 
needed for his own family. In 
the early decades of the nineteenth century, four fifths of the 
families in the United States were engaged in agriculture, and 
beyond their own requirements they raised barely enough 
food and clothing material for the other fifth of the popula- 
tion, the few exports being hardly worth mentioning. 
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