PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 317 



■with his head turned toward the cart ; and the ears or heads are 

 gathered in the box, and the driver regulates the elevation and 

 depression of the teeth with a lever." 



The next account of a reaper is given in proposals submitted in 

 Britain, in 1785, for constructing a reaper. This machine was 

 propelled forward by a horse or ox, clipping the heads of grain, 

 and depositing them in a large box, wdiich was emptied when it 

 was full into a store-room. In the details of this machine — a drive 

 ■wheel, pulleys, pinions, tooth-wheels, and irom combs or teeth — 

 are spoken of. 



In 1799 another reaper is spoken of as being propelled by a 

 hoi'se hitched behind it, which cut and laid the grain in a swath 

 on one side of the reaper. A boy could manage the machine, and 

 with one horse would cut a swath about two feet w^de, or rather 

 more than could be reaped in the same time by six men with sickles. 



In 1806 Mr. Gladstone produced a reaper for cutting grain, 

 delivering the straw into gavels to be bound. Drive-wheels, pul- 

 leys, bands, etc., are alluded to in the details of this reaper. 



In 1807 Mr. Plucknett constructed a machine in which a horse 

 draived the machine, instead of pushing it forward, according to 

 the usual custom of operating reapers. After this period many 

 inventors entered the field, with reapers of an improved construc- 

 tion ; and in 1822 Mr. Mann, under the auspices of the Highland 

 Society of Scotland, brought forward a new reaper, which was 

 worked with one horse, and which would reap ten acres in ten hours. 



In 1830 a mowing-machine was produced, and soon after that a 

 combined reaper and mower is spoken of. About that time the 

 celebrated McCormick reaper entered the field, astonishing Ameri- 

 cans, as well as the farmers of the Old World. From that time 

 up to the present day reapers and mowers of innumerable forms 

 have come into existence ; many of which have ended in a total 

 failure, while many others have proved themselves to be a 

 triumphant success, and are now resting on their own intrinsic 

 merits as the ultimatum of perfectibility. 



Pulverizing Tussicks or Bogs. 



Mr. Wm. 8. Rakestraw, Kennet Square, Chester county, Pa. — I 

 want to compost fifty or one hundred cords of tussick in the open 

 air after being dragged out. Would diluted sulphuric acid 

 sprinkled among them be practicable ? 



