Stump pulling was a spring chore in the early days of land clearing. The tough roots were impossible to burn so farmers pushed them into a fence formation and they would last many more years than an ordinary fence. The stump fence in this 1905 photograph was on the Peter R. Taylor farm in Pleasant […]
Stooking oats–bundling of oats set upright together to allow the grain to dry in the field before threshing (separating grain from chaff)–on the Demick farm, circa 1920s. Hammond, NY.
Demick Farm in 1971 – Demick family came from Vermont in 1824, Ebenezer was the patriarch. In 2016, the family was in 8th generation of settlement on this Hammond, NY farm.
Demick Farm and Motel in the early 1960s. Hammond, NY.
“Jumping” hay with a jump press, which made hay bales by compressing hay using human power. Horses are hitched in background to a sweep-power which compressed the bales further. On right there is a “Stillyard scale,” used to weigh the compressed hay bales. At the time, this was the only way to bale hay for […]
Steve McCormick with six draft horses working the ground with spring-tooth harrow. Circa 1930s. Hammond, NY. Originally taken by the Watertown Daily Times.
Threshing time in late summer on a Hammond farm, using a traction steam engine and an elevator threshing machine. Oats being fed through the machine to separate grain from straw. Lots of workers, possibly a neighborhood work circle, some bringing in the grain, some feeding it. Robert Rutherford and Daniel Stout are within the men […]
Man and woman grading and sorting potatoes at a farm using a machine with different sized meshes. As potatoes roll along the chute, they fall through different hole sizes. The workers remove debris as the potatoes are moved along. Circa 1940-1950. Unknown farm in Jefferson County. Check out this related story on a potato farm […]
This McCormick combine both harvests and threshes oats. Circa 1970-1980. Precise location unknown but somewhere in Jefferson County. Photo taken by Watertown Daily Times staff photographer.
Farmer driving along windrows with John Deere tractor attached to New Holland kicker baler throwing bales onto hay wagon. Two helpers are standing alongside tractor. Circa 1970-1980. Jefferson County. Photo taken by Watertown Daily Times staff photographer.
