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which of course enhances the cost. In Virginia the custom of farmers 

 owning the machines is still i>revalent in many counties. In some cases 

 a number of farmers club together for the purchase of machinery and 

 thrash their own grain and that of neighbors not members of the asso- 

 ciation. Such machines are not apt to be of a very costly construction, 

 or to be capable of very rapid execution. The work in such cases is post- 

 poned to rainy days or to the winter, after farm-operations are generally 

 closed. Such a system does not favor the rapid marketingof the grain. In 

 several counties where the class of large farmers is more numerous, each 

 proprietor owns a machine. Such acounty is Essex, where, including wear 

 and tear of machinery, the average cost of thrashing wheat is estimated 

 at 10 cents per bushel. In Buchanan and a few other counties the flail is 

 still used, the thrasher getting every twelfth bushel. But the use of more 

 effective machinery is gaining ground. In some cases thrashers contract 

 to thrash crops by the field or acre. In others machines are hired by the 

 day or by the bushel. Thrashing by contract would come into more 

 general use if large farmers conld afford to await their turn with the 

 smaller ones. Occasional mention is made of steam-power, as in Clarke 

 County, but this is unknown in the greatest portion of the grain-raising 

 area of the State. Usages greatly vary as to the proportion of labor 

 and motive-power furnished by the farmer and the thrasher. The latter 

 generally uses the teams necessary to transport his machinery, and re- 

 ceives from i to 10 cents per bushel, or tolls from 5 to 10 per cent, of 

 the thrashed grain. In some cases he gets $5 for setting up his machine, 

 and a certain price per bushel or percentage of the grain for his 

 share. The farmer furnishes all the help needed to take the straw 

 from the machine and to stack it. Passing down the coast grain-raising 

 becomes a less prominent industry. In many counties of ]^orth Car- 

 olina the wheat raised is so inconsiderable in quantity that no mention 

 is made of thrashing. The amount of grain raivsed is also too small 

 to render it profitable for farmers to riin separate machines, while the 

 principle of association in the ownership of this class of machinery is 

 nowhere developed. Itinerant thrashers transport their machinery from 

 farm to farm and perform this service in many counties on terms very 

 similar to those noted in Virginia. The cost of thrashing wheat ranges 

 from 3 to 10 cents per bushel, or from 5 to 8 per cent, of the grain 

 thrashed. There is also the same variety of usage in regard to the 

 amount of labor and motive-power furnished by the farmer and thrasher. 

 From the amount of motive-power required in some counties, it is in- 

 ferred that machines of a higher order are gaining ground. oSTo case of 

 steam-machinery is reported. Grain-raising is of still less importance 

 in South Carolina, and the process of thrashing is comparatively rude 

 and incomplete. In some cases large planters own the machinery and 

 thrash at leisure. Itinerant thrashers are becoming more common. 

 The latter generally toll every tenth or twelfth bushel. In Greenville, 

 machines of 8 horse-power are used ; the motive-power is mostly fur- 

 nished by the thrasher. In Georgia the arrangements for thrashing are 

 more progressive, and approximate the usages in Virginia and Maryland. 

 Itinerant thrashers often furnish most of the labor and motive-power, 

 and toll one-tenth of the thrashed grain. In some cases a party con- 

 tracts to harvest and thrash the crop for one-third of its proceeds. In 

 Dooly County the thrasher charges 20 cents per bushel, he furnishing 

 three hands and two horses. In several counties, machines of large 

 motive-power are used. 



In the Gulf States grain-raising is too limited to give rise to any well- 

 defined usages of thrashing. Xo statements of usage on this question 



