The demand for horses strong enough to power equipment across the growing nation was rising. Draft horses were imported from Europe to help fill the need.

In the early 1800s, U.S. territory was spreading westward, and 80 percent of the population either lived or worked on farms. Much of the work was still done by hand. But the wideopen spaces of the West drove demand for more efficient ways of farming, and a number of new machines were invented.

And, finally, a mechanical alternative to the hand-held scythe came on the scene. Patents for the first horsedrawn mowers were awarded to Peter Gaillard of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1812 and to Jeremiah Bailey of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1822. Several similar machines of different designs were patented over the next few years. The first mechanical hay rakes and tedders soon followed, joined by reapers, threshers, binders, cornhuskers, hullers and a host of other agricultural equipment. And because a smaller number of people could now work larger tracts of land more efficiently, farms began growing into large businesses, shipping their surplus across the continent and even overseas by railroad and waterways.

The demand for horses strong enough to power all of this equipment across the growing nation was also rising. Draft horses were imported from Europe to help fill the need--increasing the need to harvest and store hay more efficiently. Transporting and storing loose hay was becoming too cumbersome to meet