FARM MANAGEMENT 89 



a bushel a minute, carry off the cobs to a pile or into a wagon, and 

 deliver the corn into sacks or wagons. 



Seeders. From the time when wheat was first sown, up to a 

 comparatively recent period, the only method of sowing it was to 

 throw it into the air by the hand. In this way it is impossible to 

 sow evenly, especially if the wind blows with considerable force ; and 

 if clover seed is to be sown, the ground must be gone over a second 

 time, while a third time is required if fertilizer is to be distributed. 

 Then, when the harrow comes some of the grains are buried too 

 deeply and some are not covered with earth enough. But not so 

 many years ago inventors set to work to construct mechanical seed- 

 ers, and the result is an almost complete abandonment of broadcast 

 sowing by hand and the substitution of such seeders. They sow all 

 kinds of grain and seeds at once, with fertilizer if required, and they 

 harrow at the same time. They make the crop more certain. It is 

 the general opinion that the wheat crop is increased one-eighth or 

 more by the use of the mechanical seeders, especially in the case of 

 winter wheat. 



Mowers and Reapers. In 1794 a Scotchman invented what was 

 described as a most marvelous and wonderful machine for cutting 

 grain, doing as much in one day as seven men could do with the 

 sickle. This marvelous machine was only the cradle. The reaper 

 followed, and the first patent for one issued in this country was given 

 to Hussey in 1833. McCormick took out his first patent in 1834, 

 although he had constructed and tested a machine in Virginia in 

 1831 with some success; but the world heard little of reaping. ma- 

 chines until 1845, when 150 of them were built at Cincinnati; by 

 1846 fully 300 had been built. There was a general trial of mowers 

 and reapers at Geneva, N. Y., in 1852. Nine machines contested, 

 for other inventors had taken out patents. Nineteen years had 

 passed since the first patent had been issued. Out of the nine ma- 

 chines exhibited, not one could start in the grain without backing to 

 get up speed. There was a heavy side draft, the machines were 

 clumsy, and they could not turn easily. 



By 1855 about 10,000 mowers and reapers had been built by 

 different makers, nearly all being one-wheeled machines. There 

 was an exhibition of reapers at the French exposition in 1855, in 

 which there was one English, one French, and one American. The 

 French machine did its allotted work in 72 minutes, the English in 

 66, and the American in 22. 



Two years later, in 1857, there was a trial at Syracuse, N. Y., 

 at which nineteen machines contested. Of these, all except three 

 started in the grain without backing to get up speed. There was a 

 trial at Auburn, N. Y., in 1866, at which forty-four different ma- 

 chines were entered, and of these, forty-two did their work in a 

 satisfactory manner. 



The mower and reaper combined cut the grain and left it on the 

 ground bunched up in proper size for a sheaf subsequently to be 

 bound by hand. The harvester was supposed to be an improvement 

 upon this, because it had a place for one or two men to ride to bind 



