At the same time, the standard of living is very much higher than it was when practically everyone worked in the fields to grow and to harvest the food necessary to live.
Farm machinery is expensive, but it is more expensive to do without. Farmers who make the most money are the ones who use the greatest power and the best machinery. Farmers who have a hard time of it are the ones who use the old wheezy hand pump, the eight-foot harrow and the walking plow. The few horses they keep are small and the work worries them. The owner sympathizes with his team and that worries him. Worry is the commonest form of insanity.
[Illustration: Figure 99.--Flail, the oldest threshing machine, still used for threshing pedigreed seeds to prevent mixing. The staff is seven or eight feet long and the swiple is about three feet long by two and one-half inches thick in the middle, tapering to one and one-half inches at the ends. The staff and swiple are fastened together by rawhide thongs.]
[Illustration: Figure 100.--Bucket Yoke. It fits around the neck and over the shoulders. Such human yokes have been used for ages to carry two buckets of water, milk or other liquids. The buckets or pails should nearly balance each other. They are steadied by hand to prevent slopping.]
At a famous plowing match held at Wheatland, Illinois, two interesting facts were brought out. Boys are not competing for furrow prizes and the walking plow has gone out of fashion. The plowing at the Wheatland plowing match was done by men with riding plows. Only one boy under eighteen years was ready to measure his ability against competition. The attendance of farmers and visitors numbered about three thousand, which shows that general interest in the old-fashioned plowing match is as keen as ever. A jumbo tractor on the grounds proved its ability to draw a big crowd and eighteen plows at the same time. It did its work well and without vulgar ostentation. Lack of sufficient land to keep it busy was the tractor's only disappointment, but it reached out a strong right arm and harrowed the furrows down fine, just to show that it "wasn't mad at nobody."
[Illustration: Figure 101.--Well Sweep. The length of the sweep is sufficient to lower the bucket into the water and to raise it to the coping at the top of the brickwork. The rock on the short end of the sweep is just heavy enough to balance the bucket full of water.]
