RYE. 115 



■would suppose that there was nothing there for them to eat, 

 but they will go through the summer in good condition. 

 Whenever he turns over that plain for a crop of rye or buck- 

 wheat, as he did this past season, he raises good crops. I 

 should say that he shifts his fences round so as to enclose 

 about eight acres in one part of the field one year and in an- 

 other part another year ; and this year he had a field of about 

 eight acres in buckwheat, from which he got about one hun- 

 dred and thirty bushels. If there had not been any sheep 

 upon that plain he would not have realized anything like that 

 crop of buckwheat. The same will hold good in regard to 

 rye. Whenever he gets ready to turn that plain over, com- 

 paratively worthless as it is when you look at it, he will have 

 a crop of rye worth harvesting. 



I will say still further that I have some ten or twelve acres 

 that lie upon the river, in one level piece, and my way of har- 

 vesting is to attach a reaper to a Clipper mowing machine, 

 and 1 am not obliged to pay a dollar an acre to have it cut 

 down or have it cradled. I can do it better and quicker and 

 cheaper with a pair of horses and a reaper. Any one who 

 has level land, free from obstructions, will find it to his profit 

 to have a reaper attached to his mowing machine. It can be 

 made applicable not only to rye but to oats. 



Question. Do you find it works well in very heavy grain ? 



Mr. Sanger. I don't care how heavy it is ; the heavier the 

 better. 



Question. Suppose it is lodged ? 



Mr. Sanger. I think it will go through. I have never 

 found any trouble. You will want a dropper attached to the 

 reaper, which drops the grain in bundles. If your rye is 

 heavy, you will want three or four men to follow right on, to 

 keep out of the way of a pair of horses, bind it, and throw it 

 one side. The bundles will be even and like the bundles of 

 reaped rye. They will be in better shape than if cut by a 

 hand cradle and raked with a hand rake. 



Mr. Olcott. What reaper do you use ? 



Mr. Sanger. I use the Clipper reaper and mower, and I 

 am willing to endorse that machine any where. The size is 

 No. 4, 1 think. 



