Farm Equipment

Farm Equipment. Built 1910-1940s. , With the opening of Alfred I. duPont Institute in 1941, much of the food raised at Nemours Estate now went to the hospital. "We grew a lot of vegetables for the hospital during the war," recalled Thomas A. Newman, who oversaw the estate's farming operations. "In the fall when there were plenty of apples, every Friday we made 20 gallons of cider for the hospital, and there were gallons and gallons of applesauce made.", By the 1940s, as package stores and grocers were built along Concord Pike, Nemours Estate's needs for food production greatly diminished. Local dairy farmers leased Blue Ball Farm until the 1970s; in 1999, the State of Delaware purchased it. Blue Ball Barn has been restored and now houses a display of Delaware folk arts., Farm Equipment Identifier , Some of the pieces displayed here date back to the early decades at Nemours. Alfred I. duPont himself designed several of them., Potato Digger (circa 1920) , Built by International Harvester, this digger was originally pulled by horses; its height was later adjusted so a tractor could pull it. As it dragged along the digger's flat point dug potatoes from the soil; farm workers followed behind, gathering them by hand., Wheeled Cart (circa 1930 , Large, sturdy wheels enabled this cart to roll over the estate's pebbled paths. The load platform supported large potted trees., Hay Rake (circa 1910) , Among the oldest pieces of farming equipment at Nemours, the Hay Rake gathered cut grass hay into windows to dry in the sun. Blue Ball Farm's fields yielded two crops of hay, in early summer and the fall. Alfred I. duPont is believed to have designed this rake., Lift (circa 1925-1930) , Alfred I. duPont designed this lift to move trees and shrubs around the estate. It was pulled by horses or a truck., Utility Cart (c. 1910) , Alfred I. duPont designed this cart to haul coal ashes from the mansion. Pulled by a horse, the cart was also used to transport potted citrus trees to and from the "orangerie" (orange house)., Blade (circa 1940) , When the Alfred I. duPont Institute was being built in the late 1930s, workers used this blade to construct roads and walking paths. Pulled by a motorized vehicles, it graded soil and gravel., Cultivator (post-1945) , Manufactured by the Dearborn Company, this cultivator prepared the ground for planting asparagus and strawberries, favorite foods of Jessie Ball duPont's., Dearborn Plow (post-1945) , Dating from the mid-1940s, this plow was used fro general work, such as preparing b ground for planting., Potato Planter (circa 1920 , Alfred I. duPont designed this equipment. Like the Potato Digger, it was pulled over tilled soil by horses of tractors, depositing seed at equal intervals and uniform depths, and covering it with a layer of fertilizer., Roller (circa 1920) , Workers used this heavy roller to smooth down grassy areas, such as Mr. duPont's lawn tennis court.