Page:Evolution of American Agriculture (Woodruff).djvu/54

50 The check rowing corn planter cut the labor of planting corn in half and enabled crass cultivation of the crop, and a greater production in consequence. In the semi-arid region the lister was adopted for corn planting and, by getting the corn deep, assured moisture for the plant and an almost certain crop. Other tools were devised to lighten the labor of cultivation, with a corresponding increase of the production per man. The corn harvesting machinery came later, owning to the fact that the corn can safely be left in the field until late in the year. Much of it is still gathered by hand with the husking peg, just as the Indians did it over 300 years ago.

Figures prepared by Mr. H. W. Quaintance of the Department of Agriculture, and based on the production of the staple food and forage crops, show that the efficiency of the farmer, through the use of improved machinery, increased during this period some 500 per cent over his efficiency in the previous period.

We have seen that cattle ranching began in the foothills of Virginia soon after the introduction of negro slavery. But, due to the wooded character of the country and the lack, both of demand and of transportation, had never developed to the point of being a distinct branch of agriculture.

However, the Westward march of the peoples and the gradual pushing back of the Indians opened the "plains" for settlement, and the grazing of cattle began to assume definite proportions as a distinct industry in the vast region. Western Texas was a great feeding ground where the buffalo and wild Spanish cattle roamed side by side and the pioneers were not slow to realize the possibilities of these natural pastures.