Late 19th to Early 20th Century Manure Spreader

 This manure spreader was used to replenish nutrients lost after a crop had been harvested and before a new crop was planted. Over the course of the winter, a farmer might accumulate a large amount of manure created by horses, cattle, pigs, or other animals. Taking advantage of the stored energy inside that manure, the farmer could disperse it onto the fields so that future crop plants could make use of it as they began to grow.
 One of the dirtiest and smelliest jobs on the farm, spreading manure involved not just activating the gears on a spreader and pulling it with horses, it also involved loading the spreader with manure using shovels. Once the spreader was loaded, it was taken out to the field before the gears were activated. When the spreader was ready to be used, the lever on its side was moved to free the gears. As the spreader was pulled forward, the wheels would move the gears, and the gears would move the wagon floor like a conveyor belt, carrying the loaded manure to the back of the spreader. The gears would also move the axle with tiny spikes at the spreader's back end. Those spikes would break up and disperse the manure as the manure moved to the back of the wagon box.
 If you would like to see a 32 second video of a similar manure spreader in action at Kline Creek Farm living history farm near West Chicago, Illinois, click or touch here. For a more visually informative 4 minute and 31 second video which shows a similar horse-drawn manure spreader being loaded by shovel, activated, and used to fertilize a field, click or touch here.