88 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



The labor which may be performed with a good horse-rake has 

 been found to be equal to that of eight or ten men. From 

 twenty to twenty-five acres of heavy grass can be raked by a 

 revolving horse-rake in a day. 



Spring Tooth Horse-rake. 



It will be remembered that, in raking, the work to be j^er- 

 formed is comparatively light, and does not require the exertion 

 of a great amount of strength. In this and all similar labors, 

 the application of animal power is of the greatest advantage, as 

 it multiplies the efficiency of the hand many times. Such is 

 the case with the hand drill for sowing carrot and other seeds, 

 where the labor by hand is slow, and though light, is laborious 

 and irksome. 



What has been said of the mowing machine, applies with 

 equal force to the reaper, into which the former may be easily 

 converted. 



Many of our grain crops, like wheat, barley and oats, come 

 to their maturity at nearly the same time. Some varieties of 

 oats are very easily shaken out, and never should be allowed to 

 become overripe ; wheat is very liable to sprout in moist 

 weather, and barley to become discolored, if allowed to stand 

 too long. The work of harvesting by the old methods was neces- 

 sarily protracted. Previous to the introduction of the reaper 

 very large quantities of our most valuable grains were annually 

 lost, from the impossibility of harvesting them properly and in 

 time. It is not too much to say, that the successful introduc- 

 tion of the reaper into our grain fields has added many mil- 

 lions of dollars to the value of our annual harvest, not only by 



