172 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ing his land; and it helps to steam potatoes 

 and other roots as fodder for animals ; and it 

 helps to plough his land — although it must be 

 owned that ploughing-machines have not yet 

 come much into use. In respect to steaming 

 potatoes for pigs, it has "been remarked that 

 even diseased potatoes, if not too far gone, by 

 being thus treated may be rendered wholesome, 

 and may be stored up for months. 



If the visitor to a cattle-show, who spends a 

 reasonable time in the implement-galleries or 

 yards, would choose to extend his thoughts a 

 little from steam among the farmers, to ma- 

 chinery among the farmers, he would soon find 

 how wonderfully the use of such machinery has 

 spread within the last few years. In nearly 

 every thing which can be called a machine in 

 respect to farming, one of these three things 

 is observable — that a man turns a handle, that 

 a horse exerts its pulling force, or that a steam- 

 engine puts forth its multiform power; and it 

 is only those who have watched the progress 

 of recent improvement, who can form even a 

 guess of the wide extent to which the simple 

 hand-instruments — such as the spade, the rake, 

 the hoe, the dibble, the flail, &c. — have been 

 superseded on large farms by skilfully con- 

 structed machines. The old ploughs, with 

 wheels and gallows required four horses to 

 draw them; but 'two horses can now do as much 

 work with a plough of lighter and more scien- 

 tific construction. The old harrows had their 

 tines or teeth at a definite distance apart; but 

 our farmers can now obtain expanding harrows, 

 which can be adapted to the state of the land. 

 The old rollers, in many cases, were simply 

 tree-trunks*, rudely fashioned into cylindrical 

 shape, having their frame-work loaded with 

 rough materials to give them weight ; but now 

 we have iron rollers, which will last forever. 

 The old farmers were wont to attempt, some- 

 times hopelessly, to break heavy clods by the 

 alternate use of the roller and the harrow ; but 

 the farmers of the new school have now their 

 powerful and efficient clod-crushers, whereby 

 turnip-land can be prepared for corn with cele- 

 rity and success. The old plough was expected 

 to do more work' than it could do well ; but the 

 scarifiers, and grubbers, and cultiyators of the 

 present day are analogous to a large party of 

 ploughs, all working at once, whereby a large 

 per centage of horse-power is saved. The old 

 seed-lip and dibble deposited the seed very 

 slowly; but the modern drill does this with 

 astonishing quickness ; and not only so, but it 

 will even deposit manure and water with the 

 seed in the hollows made for its reception. The 

 old hoe was "slow," both figuratively and re- 

 ally; but the modern horse-hoe is a compound 



of four, six, or eight hoes at once, each working 

 more quickly than the original hand-implement. 

 The old sickle was the only instrument used by 

 our fathers and grandfathers for cutting corn ; 

 but the M'Cormicks, and Husseys, and Bells 

 have shown us what can be done by reaping- 

 machines. The old rake was the only imple- 

 ment for gathering stray hay and corn; but 

 the modern horse-rake will do the same work 

 ten or twenty times as rapidly. The old hay- 

 fields exhibited simply the handicraft labor 

 which supplied so many Daphnes and Colins 

 to the pastoral poets ; but the haymaking-ma- 

 chines now give a different aspect to the affair. 

 The old carts and wagons in which the farmer 

 conveyed his produce from the field to the barn, 

 and from thence to market, were a terrible drag 

 to the horses ; but now, like clippers on another 

 element, they weigh less, carry more, and move 

 more quickly. The old flail beat about the 

 corn in a rude way on the barn-floor; but the 

 new threshing-machine enables either horses or 

 steam to do the work more conveniently and 

 more expeditiously. The old process of win- 

 nowing left the wind to blow away the chaff in 

 a blind and capricious manner; but the modern 

 winnowing-machines have such a discriminating 

 power, that they can separate the grain into 

 "good corn," "good tail," "tail," "whites," 

 "screenings," and "chaff," thus enabling the 

 farmer to carry to market, produce, the quality 

 of which can be exactly determined. The sheer) 

 and lambs of old days had to munch away at 

 whole turnips, as best they might; but the mo- 

 dern turnip-cutter, by presenting the root in 

 nice mouthfuls, economises the muscular power 

 of the animal, and gives him an increased value 

 in the market. The old chaff was cut by hand, 

 with a sort of chopping or guillotine action; 

 but the chaff-cutters now made, perform the 

 work with far greater celerity. The old farmers 

 drained their land, if at all, by using hand-made 

 tiles, and pipes laid in hand-made grooves and 

 gutters; but the new farmers can reap the ad- 

 vantages of the ingenious tile-machines, and 

 can lay down the pipes by the still more inge- 

 nious draining-plough. 



Nay, not only do farmers now display all 

 this ability, but they have actually become jpo- 

 etical, which the world in general is perhaps not 

 aware of. That Messrs. Moses and Hyam, as 

 Messrs. Warren and Day & Martin formerly 

 did, throw around their business proceedings a 

 halo of poetry, every body knows; but it has, 

 until lately, been new to us that an agricultural 

 implement-maker thinks it worth his while to 

 lisp in numbers; and as it is not to be sup- 

 posed that he would bring ploughs and poetry 

 together, unless the farmers were pleased there 



