356 



tcr Avliich the machine has attained from the judgmeut of skillful me- 

 chanics and experienced agriculturists. 



With regard to the mower, which is just as useful as the reaper, and 

 perhaps still more proiitable, it sbould not be used as a combined 

 machine. The work to be done differs essentially. While the one may 

 cut a swath of five and a half, or even six feet, the other should not 

 exceed four. The dense, green, heavy weight of grass cannot be suc- 

 cessfully cut closely to the ground in a swath of five and a half feet, 

 while the sparse and comparatively dry straw can be readily cut with a 

 stubble of nine inches. One machine badly answers the -purposes of 

 the other, and the farmer cannot afford to dispense with either. 



Of all the implements for use upon the farm there is no one which 

 tells of greater benefits than the roller. It pulverizes the clo'fls, smooths 

 the surface for the scythe or the reaper, and compacts the earth al^out the 

 seeds nud roots of plants ; but above all, and of more iniportance than 

 all, it destroys vermin. That the earth should be made fine is the object 

 of plowing and harrowing. The roller greatly conduces to this. That 

 small stones and rough places upon the surface should be driven oat 

 of the way of the scythe or mower is a desideratum which every farmer 

 will appreciate, and when his seed is first sown, or w^hen the .frosts of 

 winter and thawing of the spring liave loosened its growth upon the 

 surface, it may be imagined how it would' be benefited by giving it a 

 bed in the earth again. But its most useful purpose is less satisfactorily 

 explained, for its proof is only found in the experience of its use. All 

 know that most of the vermin which afflicts the farmers' crops has its 

 resting and often its breeding place in the earth. There, and upon the 

 young and tender plant, is where it deposits its eggs. The cut- worm 

 destroys corn at the surface. The Hessian fly deposits its eggs upon 

 the yonng wheat-blade, which often fiills to the ground. The oprth, in 

 fine, is fully charged with the eggs and the embryo of vermin of all 

 sorts, in all stages and in all periods of their existence, and it may 

 readily be imagined what an amount of destruction would follow the 

 passage of a heavy roller over the surface. It may be said without the 

 fear of anything but the doubt which inexperience would suggest, that 

 the farmer who constantly uses a roller will never suffer from cut- worm, 

 army-worm, Hessian fly, midge, or any pest which has its origin in the 

 earth. 



The construction of a roller is as important as its use. The one in 

 common use is a single log, six, seven,. or eight feet in length, fixed in a 

 frame by a gudgeon in each end. This is wholly unfit for the purpose. 

 It is too long to adapt itself to the surface ; cannot be turned without 

 shoving the plowed ground into hillocks, and is heavy to haul. The 

 roller should be in sections — how many is a consideration of little 

 moment, provided the number be even — so that, in turning, while one- 

 half goes forward the other half goes backward, and thus rolls all the 

 tiAe upon its own ground. The cheapest and best roller is made of six 

 sections of fifteen inches in width. These sections are made of cast 

 iron after the manner of a wheel with spokes and hub, by which they 

 are strung upon a common shaft fixed in a frame. The wheel turns 

 upon the shaft, which, if it have a support in the center, is well, but it 

 will work well without. This roller may be profitably used upon corn- 

 ground before it is scored out, and soon after the plant shows itself at 

 the surface; upon oats-ground when it is sown; upon oats when four or 

 five inches high; upon young clover in the spring, as soon as the ground 

 is sufficiently dry to allow the horses' feet upon it; upon wheat-ground 

 to prei)are it for the drill, and ui)on wheat in the spring. It cannot be 



