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Farming in Great Grandfather's Day
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 8/9/06)

Until the past century, most people farmed. Subsistence farmers grew crops, raised animals, and hunted to feed their family. Commercial farmers sold farm products so they could buy clothing, furnishings, and other items.

Throughout the thousands of years of agriculture history, innovation has contributed to the ever increasing farm productivity. In the early 1800s, wheat was planted in rows cut by waking plows. The seeds were hand broadcast. Wheat was harvested with a sickle, and a flail was used to separate the wheat from the straw. In 1830, 250 to 300 hours of labor were required to produce 100 bushels of wheat.

In 1834, Cyrus McCormick patented The Reaper and began manufacturing reapers at his McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. In 1902, his company, which was the largest harvester manufacturer in the world, changed its name to International Harvester.

By 1850, largely because of McCormick's reaper, the labor to produce 100 bushels of wheat had been reduced to 75 to 90 hours.

The next significant labor-saving farm device was John Deere's Self-Polishing Cast Steel Plow. Deere, who was born in Rutland, Vermont, moved to Illinois in 1836. In 1847, he established a business in Moline, Illinois, to manufacture his new plows. By 1855, Deere was manufacturing 10,000 plows a year.

In 1868, the first steam engine powered tractor was used.

John Deere's plow and the motorized tractors helped reduce the labor required to produce 100 bushels of wheat in 1890 to 35 to 40 hours.

In the last hundred years, bigger and more efficient tractors, new farm equipment, and fertilizers have reduced the labor required to produce 100 bushels of wheat to less than three hours.

Anyone interested in the history of farming should visit the Hughes Barn Museum on Route 113 in Thetford, Vermont. The museum is dedicated to preserving the tools and equipment used on New England farms in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Hughes Museum was established largely through the efforts of Charles Hughes and his wife Fannie who were fascinated by old artifacts and tools. The first exhibit of their collection was held in 1948. In 1950, the museum was established.

The museum space includes an extensively remodeled barn, an ash house, three double bays from the Thetford Center horse sheds, and an exhibit and storage building.

Over the years, the Hughes collection has been augmented with donations from local farmers and craftsmen. The collection, in addition to the hundreds of hand tools, includes buggies, wagons, a windmill, a bull wheel, two church doors, and two steam engines. There is a water room, a cheese-butter-apple room, a country store and post office, and shops for a blacksmith, a carpenter, a cobbler, a cooper, and a tinsmith. Exhibit areas have been established for weaving, sausage-making, hat-making, ironing, sledding, and ice harvesting. Those who visit the museum cannot but be impressed by how ingenious those living in northern New England were in finding ways to make all sorts of jobs easier.

Each summer the museum has several special exhibits. This year one of them is a collection of paintings and photographs of old bridges.

The museum is located on Rouse 113 a half a mile west of I-91, Exit 14. Because the Hughes Museum has limited financial resources and must depend on volunteers, the hours are limited to Sunday afternoons from 2—5. The museum will close for the season after Labor Day.