Page:Evolution of American Agriculture (Woodruff).djvu/45

Rh horses and cattle over the shearer upon a threshing floor. Hay was mown with scythe, and raked and pitched by hand. Corn was planted by hand, and covered and cultivated with a hoe.

Within thirty-five years, in the settled regions and near the avenues of transportation, machinery had displaced the hand tools. Grain was planted largely with the drill, reaped with a machine, and threshed with machinery. Hay was mowed by a machine, raked with a horse-rake, and stacked or lifted into the mow by horse-power. Corn was planted and cultivated by horse-power. The farmers mode of work was completely changed.

The idea of power—horse power—had seized upon the human mind and must be wrought out to its logical conclusion. The plow, the harrow and the cart had been the only implements calling for other than human power, and the slow moving but relatively economical ox had furnished a satisfactory motive force. But when the machines came in with their mechanical ability to perform faster than the ox could travel, the faster moving, more amenable horse and mule came into general use. The horse-power idea came to dominate American agriculture and lifted its production capacity beyond that of any other country in the world.

The influence of the use of machinery was to induce a specialization in crops—the growing of "money crops"—and the purchase of such products as were needed to complete the living on the farm. Home industry after home industry was transferred to the city shops and factories and the farmer limited his efforts to supplying some particular demand.