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TJic Countiy Gentleman s Magazine 



PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY . 



SUCCESS in farming, as in most other 

 departments of industry, depends quite 

 as much upon the way in which the routine 

 work of the farm is carried on, as upon the 

 soundness of the principles on which the 

 system is based. In many districts, how- 

 ever, there is a great and a growing scarcity of 

 agricultural labourers, and in all, higher wages 

 amongst that class, so that the heavy labour- 

 age and other expenses form subjects of just 

 complaint amongst arable farmers. The only 

 remedy in the emergency is to supplement 

 manual labour with improved implements and 

 other machiner}^ The familiar adage, that 

 "necessity is the mother of invention," has 

 been and is being amply verified in the pro- 

 duction of implements and machinery for the 

 farm; for, with the scarcity of manual labourers, 

 Ave have not only machinery to fill their room 

 or do with diminished numbers, but by it all 

 the requirements of m.odern farming are met 

 in a great degree to save labour expenses, and 

 thus to facilitate and cheapen production, and 

 to elevate the position of the labourer. The 

 extensive use of agricultural machinery 

 within late years, if it has not radically 

 altered the character of our British farming, 

 has at least given it a position as a manufac- 

 ture which it did not previously occupy. 



The object of this paper is to give the 

 writer's experience with machinery in the 

 working of farms, in the hope that to some 

 at least it may prove equally interesting, if 

 not quite so important, as weightier subjects 

 on the theory and practice of agriculture. 

 We have frequently heard a want of such ex- 

 perience expressed, which led us to make 

 memoranda of our ordinary farm work as it 

 proceeded. 



HAY-MAKING. 



On the farm under the management of 

 the writer, the extent cut for hay annually is 

 about 300 imperial acres. Previous to 1862 

 this acreage had to be cut wth the scythe, 

 and for many years it was found that there 



was a growing scarcity of men to do the work. 

 The mowing was let to a party or parties of 

 men, at from 2s. 6d. to 7 s. per imperial acre. 

 The latter price was exceptional, but occa- 

 sionally paid, when the crop was heavy and 

 trodden down by game, which frequently 

 happens, as the greater portion of the above 

 acreage is old grass land in a nobleman's 

 park, where game is not only strictly pre- 

 served, but propagated both naturally and 

 artificially. Besides the increasing expense, 

 sufficient hands could not be got to overtake 

 the mowing of the grass when in the proper 

 state for cutting. In 1862, two of Burgess & 

 Key's combined reaping and mowing machines 

 were bought, and with these we cut the 

 crop in one-fourth of the time previously 

 taken to do it by manual labour. The 

 machines, too, cut much closer than the 

 scythe, securing more hay, and what is often 

 considered to be the most nutritive part of it 

 — viz., towards the root. The closer it is 

 cut the readier the aftermath or foggage comes 

 away, as moss and other vegetable matter, 

 which often formed a sort of carpet under 

 and beyond the reach of the scythe, is either 

 taken clean off or broken up to the freer 

 action of the atmosphere and rains. We 

 contrive to cut our grass as nearly as possible 

 when in the bloom. At this stage it is con- 

 sidered that the greater proportion of the 

 different grasses are then in their most nutri- 

 tive state Avhen made into hay. With the 

 view of overtaking the work when the crop 

 is in this stage of ripeness, we put the two 

 machines on to double shift, each shift being 

 eight hours. We have four pair of horses, set 

 apart for the mowing, and work them in relays 

 of 4 hours each, beginning at four o'clock 

 A.M., and finishing at 8 p.m. Our average 

 work is 6 acres per 8 hours with the single 

 reaper, or 24 acres per day in toto. We do 

 not consider this as anything extraordinary, 

 but when we take into account the compara- 

 tive unevenness of the surface, and the weight 

 of the crop (a\'eraging better than 2 tons of 



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