AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS A Review of Invention and Development IN THE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES IN TWO PARTS PART ONE: General History of Invention and Improvement BY R. L. ARDREY CHICAGO: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR TH HE year of the World's Columbian Exposition is a most advantageous time for issuing, in book form, a review of the development of the agricultural implement industry in America. To our improved methods in agriculture, more than to any other factor, excepting railroads, we owe the marvellous development of our resources during the past century, and a full share of the credit should be given to the inventors, beginning with Whitney just 100 years ago, who gave their lives, often in martyrdom, to the development of inventions, whose object was to make labor more effective in man's struggle with Mother Earth. If we had none of our modern implements of planting, cultivation, harvesting and separation, Europe would look in vain to our shores for bread and clothing for her congested population, and the millions of our own cities would be to-day an ignorant peasantry. Empires in the past arose and fell and their places were utterly forgotten, save to the scribe or philosopher, for the masses-men, women and children-were so enslaved to the soil that they were helpless, after their masters had slain each other in war or gone the way of dissipation. But in this nineteenth century man has been shaking off the shackles of manual toil, and has secured advantages of education and intercourse with his fellowmen that lay a firm foundation for the future and insure against a relapse, in America, at least, into another slough of ignorance and helplessness. It is fitting that, in our celebration of the achievement of Columbus in the discovery of America, we should also remember the inventors who by power of mind over matter have freed their fellowmen. To these, whom the historian of the future will call truly great, this brief review of their work is dedicated. The author acknowledges with gratitude the kindness of C. W. Marsh, editor of the Farm Implement News, in authorizing the revision and use of his able historical articles published a few years ago. Mr. Marsh is well qualified to speak with authority in matters pertaining to the agricultural implement industry, as he was the inventor of the harvester, a machine which represents to-day more capital invested in its manufacture and use than any other single machine in the world, excepting the steam engine; and since retiring from its manufacture has been actively engaged for nearly ten years in editorial work that has kept him closely informed regarding the progress of every branch of the industry. It is to be regretted that Mr. Marsh could not have taken up this work, but editorial duties have pressed him too closely, and it has devolved upon the writer, who has undertaken it in the hope that four years' connection with Mr. Marsh's paper, nearly three years of that time as editorial assistant, has in some measure fitted him for the task. 3 |