And
then we have reaping machines, driven at present by horses; but how
long it will be before the energy residing in a battery, or that in a
reservoir of compressed air, will supersede horse power to drive the
reaping machine, I don't know, but I don't suppose it will be very
long. The mowing and reaping machines not only cut the crop and
distribute it in swaths, or, in the case of the reaping machine, in
bundles, but now, in the instance of these latter machines, are
competent to bind it into sheaves. In lieu of hand tedding, haymaking
machines are employed, tossing the grass into the air, so as to
thoroughly aerate it, taking advantage of every brief interval of fine
weather; and seed and manure are distributed by machine with unfailing
accuracy. The soil is drained by the aid of properly constructed plows
for preparing the trenches; roots are steamed and sliced as food for
cattle; and the thrashing machine no longer merely beats out the
grain, but it screens it, separates it, and elevates the straw, so as
to mechanically build it up into a stack. I do not know a better class
of machine than the agricultural portable engine. Every part of it is
perfectly proportioned and made; it is usually of the locomotive type,
and the economy of fuel in its use is extremely great.
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