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An
interesting comparison might be drawn between the
conveniences which now make the life of a farmer
comparatively an easy one, and the almost total lack of
such conveniences in early days. A brief description of
the accommodations possessed by the tillers of the
soil will now be given. Let the children of such
illustrious sires draw their own comparisons, and may
the results of these comparisons silence the voice of
complaint which so often is heard in the land. The only
plows they had at first were what they styled “ bull
plows.” The mold-boards were generally of wood, but in
some cases they were half wood and half iron. The man
who had one of the latter description was looked upon as
something of an aristocratic. But these old “ bull
plows “ did good service, and they must be awarded the
honor of first stirring the soil of Monroe county, as
well as that of the oldest counties of the State. The
amount of money which some farmers annually invest in
agricultural implements would have kept the pioneer
farmer in farming utensils during a whole lifetime. The
pioneer farmer invested little money in such things,
because he had little money to spare, and then again
because the expensive machinery now used would not have
been at all adapted to the requirements of pioneer
farming. “
The
bull plow” was probably better suited to the fields
abounding in stumps and roots than would the modern
sulkey plow have been, and the old-fashioned wheat
cradle did better execution than would a modern
harvester under like circumstances. The prairies were
seldom settled till after the pioneer period, and that
portion of the country which was the hardest to put
under cultivation, and the most difficult to cultivate
after it was improved, first was cultivated; it was well
for the country that such was the case, for the present
generation, familiarized as it is with farming machinery
of such complicated pattern, would scarcely undertake
the clearing off of dense forests and cultivating the
ground with the kind of implements their fathers used,
and which they would have to use for some kinds of work.
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