|^3Q HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



can be said to be perfected, but the success so far attained seems 

 to leave no doubt that the time will soon come when the hand 

 raking machines will be as much behind the times as the sickle 



and the scythe. 



One of the most popular self-rake reapers at the West is that 

 of Walter A. Wood. This machine was first brought out in 

 I860, with a novel mode of discharging the grain. The motion 

 criven to the rake resembles somewhat the action of the human 

 arm, and it leaves the grain in gavels the size of which is regu- 

 lated by the will of the driver. The rake is driven by a chain 

 which passes around the edge of the platform, working with 

 great precision, and delivering the grain in compact bundles 

 ready for binding. The reaper cuts a swath five and a half 

 feet in width, and will do from fifteen to twenty acres a day, in 

 the most satisfactory manner. {Fig. 67.) 



Use and Care of Mowers and Eeapers. With regard to 

 the higher cost machines upon the farm, it would be natural to 

 expect the exercise of at least ordinary care, not only in their 

 selection but in their management, both while in use and after 

 the season is past. But farmers are notoriously negligent. A 

 valuable mowing machine is not uncommonly left, after its work 

 for the season is done, under the lee side of a fence, uncleaned 

 and unoiled, or perhaps under the barn, or in an open shed, 

 where it is liable to rust and be injured by neglect far more 

 than by the wear and tear of a whole season's usage. 



The following suggestions apply to both mowers and reapers : 



1. Buy the best. It will be the cheapest in the end. 



2. Buy it early, so as to be sure you have the one you wish, 

 and not find, just as you are ready to begin, that you cannot get 

 •he one you intended to buy. 



3. When attaching the horses see that the knives are in a 



