ABSTRACT
Before 1860, patents had already been granted in the United States for the basic principles of most of the modem machines. These included steel and chilled-iron plows, disc harrows, grain drills and planters, reapers and other harvesters, a grain binder, threshing machines, straddle-row cultivators, and numerous minor implements. In the majority of cases only refinements in efficiency, durability, and ease of handling could be added. It seems logical, in a discussion of the outstanding developments, to start with the breaking of the soil, and follow the farm implements through to the harvesting, storing, and marketing of the products. The numerous inventions of drills and other machines for sowing or planting seeds had not been widely adopted before the Civil War. The development of com planters, before 1860, left only a few major alterations to be made. Between 1880 and 1900, the North Central states, where the bulk of the machinery was used, had a remarkable growth in tenancy.
