The exam that follows was taken from an original 1895 document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society & Library in Salina, Kan., and reprinted by the Salina Journal. 

From the Dec. 5, 1895, San Francisco Call (Library of Congress/Chronicling America) Illustration of the Whittier public school, drawn by a Call artist from a photograph.

Although the original reads, “Examination Graduation Questions of Saline County, Kansas,” there has been some debate about the exam’s authenticity and whom it was intended for — either eighth graders or potential teachers. The recent discovery of handwritten notes for the grammar section of the exam, found by a Saline County school superintendent’s grandchildren, support the legitimacy of the test.

The Salina Journal obtained a scan of the original and has a PDF version available on its website: Examination Graduation Questions.

The exam has six sections: grammar, arithmetic, U.S. history, orthography, geography and physiology. The last of which isn't consistently included on copies of the test floating around the Internet. Give it a try — then check your answers!

Grammar (Time, 1 hour)  

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.

2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of “lie,” “play,” and “run.”

5. Define case; illustrate each case.

6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

7–10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

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Arithmetic (Time, 1 hour 15 minutes)  

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cents/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per meter?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

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U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)  

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the U.S.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

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Orthography (Time, 1 hour)  

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication.

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals.

4. Give four substitutes for caret “u.”

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final “e.” Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

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Geography (Time, 1 hour)  

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

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Physiology (Time, 45 minutes)  

1. Where are the saliva, gastric juice and bile secreted? What is the use of each in digestion?

2. How does the nutrition reach the circulation?

3. Wha tis the function of the liver? Of the kidneys?

4. How would you stop the flow of blood from an artery in case of laceration?

5. Give some general directions that you think would be beneficial to preserve the human body in a state of health.

[back to the exam sections]

Done? Check yourself at one of these two websites I found that claim to have the answers: www.the-reality-check.com/1895_test_answers.html and www.critesclan.com/lee/editorials/eighth-grade-exam.html.

[back to the exam sections]

Sam Moore

In the April issue of Farm Collector was my story about the 1893 Columbian Exposition, a world’s fair held in Chicago to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus stumbling upon the New World in his quest for a shorter route to the riches of the Far East.

In the story was a reference to the “Peace Plow,” built for the exposition by Deere & Co., as well as to the “Largest Wagon in the World,” built and exhibited by the Moline Wagon Co. (At the time, although it had had close ties with Deere & Co. for years, Moline Wagon Co. was still an independent firm and not part of Deere.) The dimensions quoted for the wagon in the story were truly colossal – 42 feet long and 16 feet high with a capacity of 640 bushels of grain. The source for these figures was the May-June 2005 issue of Two Cylinder magazine, normally a reliable source for all things related to Deere & Co. history, as the magazine has access to the Deere archives.

Then, I received an e-mail from Ed Routh (address unknown) asking if the wagon and plow had been preserved. The Peace Plow is presently at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., but there’s no information about the whereabouts of the wagon.

While looking for clues as to what happened to the wagon, something else turned up – a short account published by Missouri State University about the exhibits at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Among other attractions, the story tells us that “the largest farm wagon ever made” was exhibited there – by the Moline Wagon Co.! The dimensions of the 1904 “largest” wagon are given as 21 feet long and 6-1/2 feet wide with a capacity of 320 bushels of corn. The 1904 wagon’s rear wheels were said to be 9 feet 1-1/2 inches tall, while the fronts were 7 feet 6 inches.

Now, one would think that Moline would have brought the same wagon it had exhibited 11 years before – surely such a curiosity hadn’t been scrapped in that short a time – and a 42-foot wagon would hardly have been sold. And both wagons were touted as being the largest wagon (or farm wagon) ever made.

As my mother used to say, “Something’s rotten in Denmark.”

There was a photo of the 1893 wagon included with the article in the Two Cylinder magazine that shows several men, presumably Moline Wagon Co. employees, posing proudly beside the wagon. One of them, a tall man in a brown suit and hat, stands beside the wagon’s rear wheel. He appears to be taller than the other men in the picture and I’d estimate that he’s probably at least 6 feet in height. He’s about two-thirds as tall as the wheel beside which he stands, making it about 9 feet, the same as the 1904 wagon. Also, if one turns the brown-clad gentleman on his side and sets him end to end along the length of the wagon bed, he goes three times with some left over, making the 1904 wagon length of 21 feet seem much more plausible. Height could be 16 feet, not to the top of the triple box – which is more like 12 feet – but to the top of the seat which is perched atop the box.

While the lengths of the wagon boxes are given, it’s unclear just how wide and deep they were, so it’s difficult to state the capacity of the “largest wagon” with accuracy. However, a formula published by the University of Nebraska for finding the number of bushels in a rectangular grain bin can be applied to wagons as well. The formula is:

Bushels = Width × Length × Height ÷ 1.25

Just for comparison, a standard wagon box is 10 feet 6 inches long and about 3 feet wide and, if it has triple box sides, about 3 feet deep, and would hold about 75.6 bushels of grain.

Applying this formula to the presumed dimensions as extrapolated from the box lengths given for the two wagons results in the following:

The 1904 wagon box, if 21 feet long, would be about twice the length as a standard box, therefore the width and depth should have been about 6 feet each. A box this size would hold 604.8 bushels, closer to the capacity claimed in the article for the 1893 wagon.

However, if one figures a 42-foot box, four times the standard length, the width and height would have to be about 12 feet each. A box that size would hold 4,838.4 bushels – way more than the 640 claimed in the Two Cylinder story. In addition, it seems the Missouri State University story that claimed the wagon held 320 bushels was incorrect as well.

So, all of these numbers tell me that the “largest wagon in the world” was really 21 feet long rather than 42 feet, and really held 640 bushels rather than 320.

My apologies to the readers of Farm Collector for quoting inaccurate facts. That’s what comes of relying on a single source for historical data, even if it’s considered to be reliable.

Sam Moore

I recently read a neat little book titled The Man Behind the Plow: Robert N. Tate, Early Partner of John Deere.

Written by Connie Fairfield Ganz, Tate’s great-great-great-granddaughter, the story is based upon extensive diaries kept by Mr. Tate. These diaries covered events from his birth in England on May 31, 1804 (written much later), through Jan. 7, 1883, about three years before his death on March 7, 1886.

The account chronicles Tate’s early life in England, where he learned the “trade of whitesmith and bell hanging.” He sailed from England to Canada in 1830, and then traveled overland to Michigan where be began to work as a blacksmith. A year later, Tate traveled to New York City, by foot, ferry boat, stage coach and canal boat.

In New York City, Tate worked in a foundry, married and had children. However, after the hard times caused by the Panic of 1837, the Tate family decided to go west. They settled near Dixon, Ill., and Robert Tate became a homesteader. For several years he struggled to eke out a living on the farm. In the spring of 1841, in dire need of cash, Tate went back to New York by himself and resumed work at the foundry. While returning to Illinois in the fall of 1842, Tate’s steam ship was wrecked on Lake Erie. He, however, survived and soon was home and farming again.

In 1845, Tate traveled to Grand Detour to do machine work and came to the attention of John Deere and Leonard Andrus, in whose factory he had installed a steam engine and a power lathe. Tate began to work in the Deere and Andrus shop making hoes. In 1847 or 1848, “Deere took it into his head to dissolve partnership (with Andrus), which they soon after did.”

Deere and Tate moved to Moline and became partners in Deere & Tate Co. Neither of the two men had much of a head for finance, so John M. Gould was made a partner and the firm became Deere, Tate & Gould. In 1852, the partnership was dissolved, and Tate began making plows and wagons on his own, until 1856, when he took on Charles Buford as partner. That partnership lasted until 1865, when Tate sold out and retired with $25,000 (almost $350,000 in today's money). Buford & Tate became the Rock Island Plow Co. in 1884.

Tate lived in retirement in Illinois until 1872, when he and his family moved to California, where he died in 1886.

Robert Tate was a keen newspaper reader and observer of current events, and he made many references to those events in his diary. Ms. Ganz has done an excellent job of researching these references and includes detailed descriptions of them in the book. This not only brings Tate’s diary entries to life, but helps the modern reader to understand some of the more obscure references.

While the book doesn’t contain much detail about farm machinery, it gives a fascinating glimpse of life in this country during the nineteenth century. It was quite interesting to an old history buff like myself.

Sam Moore

From the pages of the Rural New-Yorker...

A Snake Story, June 23, 1883
The best Jersey cow of a writer in the N.Y. Times, a very quiet, petted animal, and a remarkably steady and even milker, came home a short time ago for three afternoons consecutively with less than the usual quantity of milk. This caused inquiry and a watch was kept upon the cow. The cause was discovered by an accident. The cow was lying down in somewhat deep grass near a row of pear trees, when examining the pear blossoms and casually looking over to where the cow was lying, a large black-snake was seen quietly sucking the cow, which seemed quite oblivious of the liberty taken with her. The snake was killed, and was 49 inches long and 7-1/2 inches round at the largest part. It was perfectly gorged with milk.

How Cheap Can We Live? Oct. 31, 1857
Pretty cheap, if we please. Witness a Mr. Thoreau, of Massachusetts, who having borrowed an axe, went down to the shores of Walden Pond, where he built a hut of hewn logs, which he occupied for two years, supporting himself on fruits of the earth, raised by his own hands. During eight months of this period he kept an account of his expenses, which amounted to $60, including $29 paid for materials for his house. (About $1,370 and $660 in today’s terms, respectively. – Ed.)

Sure and Safe Remedies for Fits, May 2, 1850
For a Fit of Passion – Walk out in the open air; you may speak your mind to the winds without hurting anyone, or proclaiming yourself to be a simpleton.

For a Fit of Idleness – Count the tickings of a clock. Do this for one hour, and you will be glad to pull off your coat and go to work.

For a Fit of Extravagance and Folly – Go to the workhouse, or speak with the ragged and wretched inmates of a jail, and you will be convinced that “Who makes his bed of brier and thorn, Must be content to lie forlorn.”

For a Fit of Ambition – Go into the church-yard and read the grave stones; they will tell you the end of ambition. The grave will soon be your bedchamber, earth your pillow, corruption your father, and the worm your mother and sister.

And, on that cheerful note, I'll end this look at the wit and wisdom of the Rural New-Yorker, first published on Jan. 3, 1850.

As you read this, kids across the country are settling back into familiar classroom routines.

Familiar to them, that is: not so familiar to those of us years separated from lessons in readin’, ’ritin’ and ’rithmatic – and totally alien to those who lived in the era when what we think of as old iron was new.

An examination administered in 1895 in Salina, Kan., sheds a bit of light on classrooms of that era. Assuming that any school’s curriculum focuses on that which has been determined to be the most essential knowledge to impart, the questions in this exam lend an interesting perspective on priorities of life in another era.

The precise application of this exam is unclear. Though initially identified as an eighth grade final examination, it was more likely used as a teachers’ exam. Either way, it offers a glimpse of what constituted education in the late 1800s. Consider just a few of the questions:

A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cents/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare? What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per meter?

Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? Write a bank check, a promissory note, and a receipt.

Show the territorial growth of the U.S. Who were Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn and Howe? Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

They’re just exam questions, but the tone speaks to an era when every penny was accounted for, when history taught valuable lessons and when awareness of the world beyond was part of a basic life skills set. In a time we can only imagine, this was the stuff of learning – and the foundation of intellect that developed the complex machinery of agriculture. More than a century later and on many levels, these remain valuable lessons.

For a look at the complete exam, visit www.farmcollector.com/1895-school-exam.

	The Library of Congress/ Chronicling America The front page of the New York Tribune, Jan. 1, 1880.

What follows are excerpts from vintage newspapers with blogger Sam Moore’s asides set in italics. — Ed.

Automatic Cow-Milker, July 13, 1878
The Automatic Cow-Milker is a sterling-silver tube with highly polished surface, and in all respects a nice piece of work. The tubes are sold in sets of four attached to each other by strips of leather, and seen to be as convenient a contrivance for lessening the labors of the dairy as has been introduced. (A Colonel Weld, who tried the device, wrote: “I have tried the Automatic Cow-Milker (and) it worked well on one cow repeatedly. I have no hesitation saying that the milker is a valuable article in any dairy, especially for cows with sore or wounded teats, and for milking very short-teated cows, and I think it would be particularly convenient for gentlemen having one or more cows, and liable to be left, now and then, without a person to milk them when changing servants.”

(Don't you wonder why a “gentleman” with only one or two cows couldn’t manage to milk them by hand himself?)

Big Profits in Ice, Feb. 5, 1859
Several new ice houses have been erected on the banks of the Hudson during the present winter. They have been, or are being, filled. The season thus far has been unusually favorable. The Kingston Journal says there are 99,000 tons of ice gathered, valued at half a million dollars! If correct, it’s safe to say that more than 300,000 tons are already stored on the Hudson — worth more than a million and a half of dollars! There is certainly a very handsome crop.

Birth of the USDA, May 24, 1862
The bill establishing the Department of Agriculture has passed both Houses of Congress, and only requires the signature of the President to become a law (President Lincoln signed the bill on May 15, 1862). The act creates a new Department, distinct from all others, at the head of which is to be a Commissioner, with a salary of $3,000. (About $64,000 in today’s terms.)

Advice, Jan. 10, 1850
It should be the aim of young men to go into good society. We do not mean the rich, the proud, and fashionable, but the society of the wise, the intelligent, and good.

How To Cook A Husband, Feb. 5, 1859
The time has arrived in the year for the preparation of many good things, and I have no doubt that the following will prove to be the most valuable in the catalogue of recipes. To cook a husband, as Mrs. Glass said of the hare, you must first catch him. Having done so, the mode of cooking him, so as to make a good dish of him, is as follows:

Many good husbands are spoiled in the cooking; some women go about as if their husbands were bladders, and blow them up; others keep them constantly in hot water, while others freeze them by conjugal coolness; some smother them in hatred, contention, and variance, and some keep them in pickle all their lives. These women always serve them up with hot tongue sauce. Now, it cannot be supposed that a husband will be tender and good if managed in this way; but they are, on the contrary, very delicious when managed as follows: Get a large jar of faithfulness (which every good wife has on hand), place your husband in it, and set him near the fire of conjugal love; let the fire be pretty hot; especially let it be clear, but above all let the heat be constant. Cover him with affection, kindness, and subjection, garnished with modest and becoming familiarity, and spice with pleasantry, and if you add kisses and other confectionaries, let them be accompanied with a sufficient portion of secrecy, mixed with prudence and moderation. We advise all good wives to try this recipe, and realize what an admirable dish a husband makes when properly cooked.

More next time.

I found in an old farm textbook a chart showing how many miles are traveled in plowing an acre of ground.

The chart is reproduced here:

Can you imagine the thoughts of a 19th century, Midwestern farmer setting out to plow the “back 40” we’ve all heard so much about? A 40-acre field is one-quarter of a mile on each side, or one full mile around the outside edge.

Russell Lee Bill Stagg turning up pinto beans, October 1940, Pie Town, N.M.

According to the chart above, in plowing that 40-acre field with a 12-inch walking plow (the standard size for two horses), our sturdy farmer (not to mention his faithful team of horses, mules or oxen) would have to walk 330 miles, and that doesn't include getting to and returning from the field. Allowing time for periodically resting the animals, a slowly plodding yoke of oxen would have required about 25 10-hour days to plow 40 acres.

It’s small wonder that horses steadily replaced oxen, even though a horse cost more to feed, had less stamina and was more excitable, and besides that, couldn’t be eaten when he became too old to work (well, he could, but it wasn’t real popular). A horse could walk almost a mile an hour faster than an ox, bringing the total time to plow 40 acres down to about 16 10-hour days. A modern tractor with a 5-bottom, 16-inch plow could easily knock off the entire field in a day.

Where I grew up in western Pennsylvania, farms were smaller – 50 to 100 acres, including the farmstead, pastures and a woodlot or two. The fields were usually from two to 10 acres. We always called our largest field, way at the back of the farm, the “20-acre field,” but it was actually about 17 acres. It was raised in the center with the land sloping off in all directions. I remember plowing it with a Ford-Ferguson tractor and a 2-bottom, 12-inch mounted plow. We usually plowed around the field and it seemed as though you would never, ever get to the top of the hill and be able to see the plowed ground on the other side. It would take me two or three days to finish that field, and I didn’t have to walk.

I can only imagine my grandfather, and his father and grandfather before him, starting out to plow the “20-acre field” with his trusty team and a 12-inch walker. Every day he had a 1-mile walk each way to and from the field and then all those miles and miles of walking in the furrow to finish that 17 acres. It’s no wonder there were no diets, exercise machines or fat farms in those days.