I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 379 



into a thoroughly dry condition for the stack, and that spoil- 

 ed and musty hay was dried into hay of fair apparent qual- 

 ity and pleasant fragrance ; also, that freshly cut grass, sat- 

 urated with rain from a heavy thunder-shower, was dried into 

 hay of first-class color, possessing the rich malt odor of well- 

 made hay. Mr. Gibbs, in bringing his invention before the 

 public, claims that this new hay-dryer is as portable as a 

 threshing-machine, and as quickly set to work; that, besides 

 dealing with first and second crops of hay, it will dry all 

 kinds of grain in the straw, and fit it for being threshed out 

 at once if wished. He says one ordinary portable engine 

 of eight or ten horse-power can dry and thresh out at the 

 same time. The machine can be driven by either steam or 

 water power, or by horse gear ; and, in whichever way, it will 

 save the labor of five or six men. Beino; thus a labor-savino^ 

 machine, its use is not limited to that of final resource when 

 other means fail, but it is available during every dull day of 

 harvest for finishing ofi" rapidly the most advanced of the hay 

 or grain crop, and thus expediting as well as insuring the 

 gathering. If three or four farmers purchased one such ma- 

 chine among themselves, and hired it out to each other in 

 turn, those of them who did not need to use it would eet ten 

 per cent, on their share of the cost, w^hile those who did need 

 it would in all probability save the whole of their outlay the 

 first season. The objection that all would want it at once 

 is not so great as it seems, because it is very seldom tliat the 

 farmers of a neighborhood have their crops in exactly the 

 same state of forwardness simultaneously. Every practical 

 man knows that in some seasons he has sufiered great loss 

 and inconvenience by bad weather, while his neighbors, from 

 being a little earlier or a little later than himself, have saved 

 their crops in good condition ; in other seasons the case has 

 been reversed ; he has been fortunate and they have been 

 caught. Moreover, it has been found that when half-made 

 hay had been left out untouched in the rain for three or four 

 weeks, until some parts were black and apparently worthless, 

 the drying process restored the whole to a fair marketable 

 quality. Hence, each farmer could safely wait his turn, so 

 long as there w^as the satisfactory certainty of being able 

 thus to complete his harvest. According to Mr. Gibbs's cal- 

 culation, the total expenses, allowing for outlay and for wear 



