No. 112.] 115 



The grain grower must not yet expect to be entirely indepen- 

 dent of the cradle , for the tracks and avenues must be opened in 

 grain fields for the entrance of reaping machines, as well as to re- 

 move occasional balks, or the grain protected from the knife by 

 large stones or tree stumps. 



The advantage obtained by the use of Reaping Machines, will 

 appear from the following comparative estimate of manual and 

 machine labor : 



Wheat yielding thirty bushels per acre, can be cradled at the 

 rate of two acres per day by an expert cradler, and few men can 

 cradle more that three acres of oats or barley in a day. Rye will 

 require more time than wheat, yet in this estimate it may be 

 classed with wheat. 



Farmers may differ in these estimates, but it is believed the 

 number who can cradle the acres named, include the great mass 

 of men ; those who can exceed the spaces here adopted are few, 

 and form the exceptions only to a general rule. 



The average value of cradling labor is one dollar and a half 

 per day with board and lodging, engaged for the harvest season. 

 Job work costs about one dollar per acre. At this last rate, a 

 field of fifteen acres will cost for cradling only, the sum of fifteen- 

 dollars. 



The expenses of reaping the same area by a machine, may be 

 thus estimated : 



A team and driver, $1 75 



A man to rake oil" the grain, 1 00 



Interest on cost of the machine at a value of $120, and 

 at 10 per cent to cover wear, is $12, one quarter of 

 this sum a|)plied to wheat, the balance to be divided 

 among other crops, gives 3 00 



sf) 75 



Note. In nearly {ill the Reapers presented for trial, a decided improvement was exhibited 

 in workmanship; there waa a finish in many which may be viewed generally aa proof of dura- 

 bility ; a symmetry of form, and beatiful correspondence of various part?, were observable in 

 the best machines. In others!, coarse rough work dimmed and obscured their excellences, and 

 caused defects, where existing mechanical principles indiciitcd better results. 



