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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



great impi'dvement, has taken place during these 20 years, 

 but I have occasionally observed, a few weeks after harvest, 

 that a suspicious green gi-owtb springs up where the short 

 scythe lias been used. 1 may mention that when we have 

 been cutting with the reaping machiue we have sometimes 

 rounded the corners ofl' witlithe scythe, and judging from 

 the greenness to which Ihave alluded, I imagine the scythe 

 sheds considerably more than the machine. Perhaps those 

 who have used machines will tell us if they have obseiTcd 

 similar difterence against the scythe. As I heive an interest 

 in reaping machines it may bo supposed that I have a 

 double motive for what I am saying, but my business before 

 you is honestly to express my opinions, and in doing so I 

 am content to bear with the strictures of the critic. 

 Mr. C. Stephenson, in his prize report, states that 

 " he thinks farmers require too much fiom reaping 

 machines." This may be, and I think it is quite true 

 of some kinds of them, but not of all. It may also be quite 

 true of all reapers in the hands of some men, but not in the 

 hands of all. Any crop tliat cannot be cut with a reaping 

 machine is a very rare exception. Farmers are frequently 

 accused of being slow in availing themselves of improve- 

 ments in machinery. 1 do not think they are so, anything 

 like to the extent that fast writers and fast talkers would 

 have us to believe. Caution becomes a part of a farmer's 

 nature ; and if he lacks this, he frequently runs to ruin. 

 But I believe the more general introduction of reaping 

 machinery is retarded by the difficulty of ascertaining 

 which is the best. The advertisements of some makers 

 partake more of those wliich are addressed to the illiterate 

 by quacks, than bona, fide addresses to respectable men. 

 Their introduction is also much retarded by an apprehen- 

 sion tkat they require more skill to manage them than is 

 to be found on /arms ; but this is a great mistake. I be- 

 lieve there is no work on a farm, in which a man has more 

 pleasure, or which he picks up more easily from others, 

 than the working of reapers. Hence the desirableness of 

 holding ptiblic trials, not so much to tell us which are the 

 best machines, as to let the men see each other's method 

 of managing them. In these operations, reaping and 

 thrashing are the greatest waste of produce. There is 

 also frequently waste in the food given to stock ; but I 

 shall pass it by, as I may have a few remarks to make on 

 feeding. There is on almost all farms a waste of labour 

 arising from badlyaVi-anged buildings, from bad roads, &c. 

 There, is, in my opinion, more care required in the 

 planning and in the erection of the homestead than in 

 anything connected with the farm. It is erected, not for 

 a twelvemonth, but for an age. One might imagine that 

 the humblest labourer, when attending cattle, could in a 

 few days find out where the turnips would be most con- 

 venient to him. But a house for these is not unfrequently 

 found in some out-of-the-way corner, alike inconvenient to 

 get the turnips to and to get them from. Two or three 

 gates or doors to open and close, and two or three corners 

 to go round. Turnip- carting, on most farms, is catch- 

 work, to be done when the land is in proper order. Hence 

 the greater necessity not to have obstructions in the way, 

 to prevent ready delivei-y. The straw-barn and feeding- 

 yards, or boxes, should adjoin each other. A vast amount 

 of labour has to be done in the barn: its arrangements, 

 therefore, should be as perfect as they can be made. The 

 machine should raise all the thrashed corn to the gra- 

 naries, or to a level with them. The bam-loft should be 

 kept not so high as we see it in some recent erections. 

 Foui' or five feet in extra height causes a great deal of 

 extra labour in forking. He who designed such must be 



stronger in the arm than in the brain ; or, perchance, he 

 never forked a cart of corn. Then, with respect to stock, 

 if a man be a good judge and a good manager of it, he is 

 almost sure to be a successful farmer, although I cannot, I 

 am afraid, include myself in the fortunate number ; yet 

 there are a few fixed principles in the selection and in the 

 management of stock which are beyond man's power to 

 alter. It is desirable to bear these in mind. We may 

 take vitality as a power which animals possess to assimi- 

 late the food wliich they eat. A part of this power is ex- 

 pended in giving action to the various organs, such as the 

 lungs, heart, brain, and in giving heat and motion to 

 the body. Food is, as it were, the fuel by which the power 

 or vitality is sustained; and that which is consumed 

 in supplying the waste caused by the creating of that 

 power, is lost to the feeder. But, without some little 

 knowledge of chemistry and of mechanics, such 

 things are not vei-y comprehensible to us. And 

 should we by chance get a glimmering of the won- 

 ders which these sciences reveal to us, we find great diffi- 

 culty in finding words to express what we but half see in 

 a mist. However, let us place a steam-engine by the side 

 of the feeding animal. Its parts are well-known to us, 

 and man has produced nothing that comes so well up to 

 the living animal as it does. We know that its power is 

 the result of combustion. If its boiler be exposed to cold 

 winds, its power is reduced by the waste of heat, or an in- 

 creased amount of fuel must be supplied. The cold winds 

 aff'ect the animal in a similar way. Again, a part of the 

 engine's power is absorbed in giving motion to its various 

 parts. So it is with the animal. Then the more work an 

 engine has to do the more fuel it must have. The same 

 with the animal ; the more it is distiubed the more food 

 it requires, or the less will it gain in weight. Now, if we 

 give no more fuel to the engine than is necessary to make 

 up for the waste heat, and to keep in motion its working 

 parts, wc shall not get any available power. To keep it 

 going under such circumstances would be a loss, accord- 

 ing to the amount of fuel burnt, and the wearing out of 

 its parts. It is the same with the animal ; if we give it 

 no more food than is necessary to make up for the waste 

 heat and to keep in motion the organs, it cannot grow ; 

 and we had better be witliout it, as all that food it eats is 

 lost. But whatever fuel we give to the engine or food to 

 the animal above these quantities gives efi'ective power to 

 the one and increased size to the other. Here the simi- 

 larity ends. Tlie animal has brains, to keep which in 

 action requires great power, that is, thinking requires 

 power, and therefore causes waste. Hence it follows that 

 if we desire to get the maximum amount of benefit from 

 the food consumed, the cattle must be kept warm and 

 quiet both in body and in brain. I have no time to say 

 anything about the selection of animals, notwithstanding 

 that it is a most important thing, but I might say that, as 

 a rule, we find the cattle we rear do best. Neither have I 

 time to discuss the merits of cattle versus sheep ; nor to 

 say anything respecting the different sorts of food. I now 

 have a few more words to say about purchased manures. 

 When I spoke of it before I made no allusion as to where 

 we should obtain the supplies. It is a rule in commerce 

 that " demand creates supply." Witli manure, this has 

 generally, so far, held good ; but at present, I believe, the 

 demand is in excess of the supply. Even the demand is 

 far short of what it ought to be. I should not like to cal- 

 culate on applying much less than twenty shilling's worth 

 per annum per aci-e over the farm. But it is stated that 

 the average, throughout the countiy, is some 3s. or 4s 



