354 



track; and, further to insure this, the barrow should be so constructed 

 that its motion forward should be steady, swayed neither to the one 

 side nor to the other, either by impediments in the way or inequalities 

 in the surface. It should pursue its course as steadily as the plow it- 

 self, for if the teeth are so placed in the harrow that by a straight for- 

 ward movement they will not follow each other, when ,thc motion is 

 irregular they will follow each other. " This is to be ijrevented only in 

 the structure of the implement and the adaptation of the power so that 

 the draught shall be from two points instead of one. This idea cannot 

 be so well illustrated as by a drawing. . ^ 



The material of this harrow should be of white-oak or other hard 

 wood, in size 4 by 4 inches, and the teeth of steel three-fourths of an 

 inch square and set straight in the wood. It will be perceived that the 

 main beams may be separated by means of the screws and nuts which 

 connect the parts, thus, so to separate them, as to make it useful to har- 

 row corn at its first stage of cultivation. 



The reaper and mower, or the two combined, have become indispensa- 

 ble implements upon the farm, because they greatly cheapen the expense 

 of the harvest, as may be shown by a plain calculation : A machine and 

 Ijair of horses will easily cut ten acres of wheat in a day, and this re- 

 quires a driver and six hands to rake and bind. 



Allowing cost of team, at $2 00 



Seven men, at $1.50 per day each ^ 10 50 



Making the cost of putting up ten acres 12 50 



Using the cradle, which is the next cheapest mode of cutting grain, 

 the same number of acres would require — « 



Five cradlers,-at $2 per day $10 00 



Ten rakers and binders, (called followers,) at $1.50 each 15 00 



Making the same amount of work cost 25 00 



These estimates of cost are based uiDon prices actually paid in the in- 

 terior of Pennsylvania during the past summer, so that it is made mani- 

 fest that the machine is indispensable. 



There is no implement by which the farmer is so likely to be deceived 

 as this one. The variety is endless, and each has the sanction of a 

 Government patent for some feature of its structure, to add plausibility 

 to its value. It may truly be said of all these that when new, well put 

 up, oiled, with a good team in the hands of an expert, and smooth 

 ground, they will do excellent work ; but on the farm these conditions 

 are not always present, and the implement, which is an expensive one, 

 is found to be wholly inefficient by reason of a radical defect in the 

 mechanical principles of its construction. 



The work to be done by a- reaper and that by a mower differ in impor- 

 tant particulars. One will not do the work of both for the reason that the 

 latter requires a higher degree of speed. Grass stands thicker than 

 grain ; the machine cuts closer to the earth and consequently meets 

 with more entangling impediments, and to overcome these there is re- 

 quired a higher degTce of speed. By a late invention this is sought to 

 be accomplished by a substitution in the reaper of a spur-wheel of less 

 diameter to work upon the master-wheel, thus producing a higher speed. 

 How far other parts of the gearing may be calculated to endure this 



