OLD FARM EQUIPMENT PRIMITIVE COMPARED TO TODAY'S HIGH TECH

When the first settlers arrived in Cape Girardeau County, they found a fertile land that would grow crops to sustain life. But life on the farm wasn't easy.

Farm equipment in use at the time was primitive compared to today's powerful, diesel-powered tractors, combines, and other implements.

Until the early 1900s, most farmers in Cape Girardeau County either walked behind a team of horses or mules plowing or seeding the ground or rode horse-drawn plows. Either way the work was hard, the day long, and only a small amount of acreage could be tilled in a day.

The Industrial Revolution following the Civil War was the first major change in farm implements since the development of the cast- iron plow in 1817. The hand sickle and scythe, both familiar and well-used implements on 18th century farms, were used to cut hay, wheat and other grains, which was also tied, bundled and stacked in the field by hand. It was time consuming and not very productive.

The development of the first horse-drawn reaper by Cyrus McCormick in 1834 meant farmers in Cape Girardeau County could harvest larger fields of grain in less time than before. Farm productivity began to increase.

Later, reapers were designed to tie shocks of wheat, which could then be set upright in the field to dry through the summer.

In 1840 the threshing machine, or separator, was introduced. By the late 1890s, threshers were being powered by steam tractors. The separator required at least a four-man team to operate it.

Ralph Exler, 78, who retired from tilling the land two years ago and lives on his farm south of Egypt Mills, witnessed the dramatic change from horse-drawn farm implements to today's gas- and diesel-powered tractors and combines.

Exler was born and raised in the Egypt Mills area, and grew up on his father's farm on Upper Bend Road, not far from Trinity Lutheran Church of Egypt Mills.

As a young boy, Exler remembers the first time his father, Ben Exler, let him ride on a horse-drawn plow. "I was walking alongside my dad in the field, and I asked him if I could ride. He stopped, got off, told me to get on, and he walked alongside the plow with the reins in his hands," Exler said. "I asked him if I could hold the reins, and he handed them over to me. That was my first time to handle a team of horses."

Like his father and other farmers, Exler continued to use horses on his farm until the early 1950s, when he bought his first tractor.

Until the mid-19th century, horses did just about everything on the farm: they pulled plows to break ground; pulled harrows to prepare for planting; and pulled seed drills to plant corn, wheat and other grains.

In the summer and fall, horses pulled mowers that cut hay and reapers that cut and bundled ripened grain. At the barn, the horse helped lift hay from the wagon into the loft.

Shortly after the development of the steam-powered tractor came the kerosene-powered tractor with a water-cooled engine. Both were large and expensive, which is why they were never widely used. They were most efficient on large flat-land farms.

The first gasoline-powered tractor in Cape Girardeau County was purchased in 1910 by Louis Houck and was used on the Houck farm, Elmwood, along Bloomfield Road. The cost of the tractor was $1,500 and three plows cost $385.

An Oct. 1, 1910, account in the Southeast Missourian said the tractor plowed seven acres with the labor of two men at a cost of about 25 cents an acre. The tractor and plows did the work of 15 mules.

During June, horse-drawn reapers cut and bundled ripe wheat, which was stacked in shocks in the field to dry. In late July or August, the grain was threshed.

Threshing day was a major event. Since a thresher or separator was expensive, not everyone owned one; Instead, the farmer who owned the thresher, and most often a steam tractor to pull and operate it, went around to each farm during July and August to thresh the grain in return for a share of the crop.

Farmers didn't have to go far to purchase a separator. The Freeze Threshing Machine Co. near Water Street, on what is now the site of Mid-South Steel Co. in the Red Star area of Cape Girardeau, manufactured and shipped threshing machines by rail to all parts of the United States. One of the few remaining Freeze threshing machines made in Cape Girardeau is on display at the Cape Girardeau Agriculture Heritage Museum.

Because of the large amount of manpower needed on threshing day, neighbors helped out. Wives took along prepared food dishes for the noon meal and supper for the men in the field. For children on the farm, it was an opportunity to watch the big, black, steam tractor belch smoke and steam as it turned the long, snake-like belt attached to the separator. For many Cape County residents, threshing day on the farm still evokes pleasant memories of a time soon to be forgotten.

With the advent of the gas- and diesel-powered tractor and combine, a way of life in the rural areas of Cape Girardeau County began to vanish. Large threshing crews were no longer required because one man on a self-propelled combine could do the work of 15-20 men.

Today, a single farmer on a tractor can plow and plant hundreds of acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and other grains in only a few days, then harvest the crops later in the year. That same farmer can rake and bale his hay into small bales or large ones.

Because of the improvements in farm implements during the past 100 years, today's farmer can produce enough food for himself and 80 other people. In 1850, a farmer could produce enough food to take care of his family's needs and five other people.

Farm productivity continues to increase even as the number of farms in the United States decreases. In 1935, there were 6.8 million farms; today only 4 percent of the people of this country live on the remaining 2.1 million farms.