That branch of agriculture devoted to the production and utilization of milk, dairying, has also. vastly progressed as a result of the invention and introduction of numerous forms of dairy machinery. Included in these are creaming imple ments, the most important of which is the separator. This implement has proven a great saver of labor and in various other ways has wrought such changes in the daily industry that it has become revolutionized. Other dairy ma chinery of importance include butter workers, cheese presses, cheese vats, hand and power churns, etc.
The plow is one of the most important agricultural implements, being used for breaking up the soil and for inverting the upper strata. The two principal types are sod plows and stubble plows. The latter is generally represented in American plows. The first American patent was granted to Charles Newbold, in 1797. Newbold's plow was made of cast iron. The modern American plow, however, is based on a plow patented in 1819 by Jethro Wood. This, too, was made of cast iron. John Lane in 1836, and John Deere in 1837, substituted steel for cast iron. There are many special kinds of plows, such as sub-soil plows, hillside or swivel plows, double mold bord plows, trench or ditching plows, double-furrow or gang plows, sulky plows, disc plows, etc. Steam and elec tricity is frequently used in connection with plows. The most recent develop ment has been the gasoline tractor. The use of power other than horse power is especially advantageous on large farms and in places where fuel is cheaper than horses and feed, and where land is level.
The harrow is an implement used for covering seeds, for destroying weeds, for producing dust mulch for the purpose of conserving moisture, and for smooth ing and pulverizing plowed land. There are four principal modern types of har rows, the curved knife and pulverizing, the disc, the smoothing, and the spring tooth harrow.
Cultivators are agricultural imple ments used for destroying weeds, for loosening the soil between rows of plants, for preparing the soil for planting, and for other similar purposes. Cultivators provided with a seat for the operator and with various levers for the control of the implement, are called rider culti vators. Simpler forms are designated as walker cultivators.
Reaping and mowing machines are of comparatively modern development. Several machines were invented in Eng land in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth cen tury. In 1822 Henry Ogle patented a side-draft machine which included some of the essential features of modern reap ers, such as reels, a reciprocating knife over stationary finger, dividers, and plat form. The first American patent for a reaping machine was granted in 1803 to Richard French and T. J. Hawkins, of New Jersey. Peter Gaillard, of Penn sylvania, in 1812, patented the first grass cutting machine. This was super seded in 1822 by another grass cutter, patented by Jeremiah Bailey, also of Pennsylvania. The latter machine was built on the revolving-cutter plan, with side draft, arranged so as to keep the cutter at a uniform distance from the ground. Of various other machines in vented during this period, that of Wil liam Manning, of New Jersey (1831), possessed a cutting device which re sembled very closely that used later by Hussey and McCormick. It was these two later inventors who, the former in 1833, and the latter in 1834, took out patents for improved reaping machines which combined the best features of all the various machines which up to that time had been brought out in England and in America. There was compara tively little difference between the Hus sey and the McCormick reaper. The latter had a serrated edge knife which, instead of the pointed sections of Hus sey's machine, possessed a wavy outline. It also had a divider and reels, but no seat for the attendant. It was a side draft machine and could be either drawn or pushed. These two machines formed the basis of later reapers which have now been brought to a high state of per fection.
Self-acting rakes date back to 1848, when Nelson Platt patented such an im plement. Great improvements have been made since then, some of the most im portant appearing in a machine built by McCormick in 1861.
Binding of grain by machinery was first attempted by John E. Heath, of Ohio, in 1850. His binder used twine or cord. Later machines used also straw and wire. The modern binder is based chiefly on a machine patented in 1858, and known as the Marsh harvester.