588 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ihig morninjj so soon as the dew had dried off, 

 and afier some liule delay, cuiised by a bolt be- 

 coming loose and dropping out, perlbrmed its 

 work admirably. After ^^=aping the piece of 

 wheat where first tried, it was put lo reaping a 

 heavier growth, which it perlbrmed with great fa- 

 cility and neatness. Three horses were harness- 

 ed to it, with a driver, a raker, and eight hands to 

 bind up the sheaves. So liir as the trial has yet 

 progressed, it fully promises to come up to the an- 

 ticipations formed by the invenior. The quanti- 

 ty ol 2''onnd trone over to day is nearly equal to 

 one acre per hour, and it is evidently capable ol 

 performing from one-third to one-half more, as 

 the laborers become more efficient, 



2d. Finished reaping at Kowe this morning at 

 half past 10 o clock, ami be^an on the Neck farm 

 a liule belbre noon, and finished heloie sunset. 

 On the corn land on the Neck larm, ihe crop was 

 light and more inflected with rust than any yet 

 reaped. The grain did not look much injured, so 

 far at least as coi;ld be judgeil by the e\e. On a 

 portion of oat fallow ground, and which on the 

 preceding year (1840) was considered too poor to 

 produce a corn crop, but on which lime had been 

 applied in the fall of the year previous to sowing 

 wheat, at the rate of 96 bushels per acre, never 

 have I seen the benefits of lime more sitongly 

 exhibited. The growth was here heavy, and 

 was judged woidd yield 25 bushels of wheat per 

 acre. From 35 to 38 cradles were employed 

 during the day, and a large portion of ground has 

 been gone over. The vveaiher throughout the 

 day was warm, but not so oppressive as Ibr seve- 

 ral days previous. A shower early in the even- 

 ing passed over the upper portion of the estate, 

 but none fi^.ll wht*re we were rea[iing. 



Hussey's reaping machine was again started 

 this morning, but had perlbrmed very little work 

 when the large propelling wheel became loose, 

 and shitled its posiiion, and beiore it could be 

 again put to rights, caused the loss ol'a half day's 

 work. Alter remedying this defect, the machine 

 perlbrmed well Ibr the latter half of the day. 



3d. Early this morning a heavy shower of 

 rain ; belbre which got up all r&aped wheat into 

 shock. Forty-two cradles started reapinor, as soon 

 as the shower passed over, at Teddin<rton ; and, 

 after some partial delays from rain, finished reap- 

 ing all, with the exception of about one acre, left 

 for reaping with Hussey's reaper, on Monday. 

 The weather throughout the day has been very 

 unlavorable Ibr harvesting; and, from nearly con- 

 tinued slight rain all day", nearly all of the wheat 

 cut is yet to shock. Our harvest operations may 

 now be considered as nearly completed, and on the 

 whole have been satisfactory. Alter deducting 

 delays from rains, during the first three and this 

 last day, the time occupied will be about eight 

 days. The laborers, including hirelings, have 

 wrought well and cheerfully. 'As was lo be ex- 

 pected, amongst so many negroes, frequent re- 

 proofs and admonitions were necessary ; it is, 

 however, a graiifyinsr retrospect that in no in- 

 stance was corporeal punishment deemed necessa- 

 ry, or iiifficled. The crop has proved, so far as can 

 now be judged, a good one, and I gladly hope may 

 not subseqenlly disappoint in its expected results. 



5fh. Finished reaping remnant left with Hus- 

 sey's reaper, which perlbrmed well. All wheat 

 now shocked up, presenting a total of 2501 shocks, 

 judged to average from 4 to 4J bushels each. 



Thrashing out of this crop was begun by two 

 machines respectively on the 21st and 24lh of 

 July. With the exception of occasional showers 

 at night, the weather proved favorable until the 

 9th of August, when a succession of heavy rains 

 and cloudy warm weather occurred, until the 16th, 

 causing a delay of five days, and during which 

 period the wheat in the shocks, where exposed, 

 sprouted considerably, exciting serious fears of a 

 heavy loss Irom ihat cause. The weather and 

 condition of the wheat having again become fa- 

 vorable, thrashing was resumed and continued un- 

 til the 21st of August, when completed. During 

 this operation the extent to which rust had pre- 

 vailed, over nearly all of the crop, was alarmingly 

 exhibited. Never have I seen as much rust in 

 any crop ; every portion of the barns and laborers 

 employed presented the appearance of having 

 been heavily powdered with red lead, and where 

 left to accumulate undisturbed, could have been 

 taken up in handfuls, frequently causing sickness 

 and vomiting among the laborers. These appear- 

 ances, together with Ihe rapidly increasing piles 

 of straw, and slowly increasing bulks of wheat, 

 too plainly foreboded a serious falling off in the 

 crop. The following results will show to what an 

 unexpected extent these fears were verified. 



Bushels. 

 Sold of white turkey wheat 2697^2_ 



" purple straw " 2234|» 

 Retained Ibr seed of white 600 

 purples. 1000 



ffn 



=4931|3 

 =1600 



6531i 



In the above statement are not included 85 

 bushels of sprouted wheat, nor a small quantity ol 

 inferior wheat, which may yet be fanned out Irom 

 tailings. It presents, however, a truly mortifying 

 result: being at the low average of 5g4| busliels 

 (or one sown of white turkey wheat, and 5§g| 

 bushels of mountain purple straw for one sown. 

 During harvest and the operation of thrashing, 

 the prevalence of rust excited fears lor the result, 

 hut no idea was entertained of such a falling ofi'. 

 Since I have been in Virginia, I have not seen a 

 crop which altogether presented so promising an 

 appearance belbre and during harvest, nor have I 

 ever seen a result which lell so far below reasona- 

 ble expectations. The causes producing such a 

 result were evidently beyond hOtnan control ; rust, 

 in my opinion, being altogether, or very nearly so, 

 the sole cause, though Hessian ffy was generally 

 over the crop, as also chinch bug in some places ; 

 yet, so liir as could be judged from frequent and 

 careful observation, they efiected little or no injury. 

 The white wheat weiglied per bushel Irom 56^ to 

 58^ pounds, the purple straw from 58 to 61^ lbs. 

 The heaviest white wheat was from limed land, 

 on clover fallow, and the heaviest purple straw 

 from fallowed land, but which had not been limed. 

 The results, low as they are, are in favor of the 

 purple straw variety, though not, in this instance, 

 to an extent which would warrant the giving to it 

 a decided preference, but yet sufficient to have in- 

 duced our altering of the amounts of each variety 

 retained for seed this fall ; as during the reaping 

 and thrashing of the late crop, it had been con- 

 cluded to reserve 900 bushels of white wheat, and 

 700 bushels of purple straw for seed, as it was 

 then considered ihat the former variety was likely 

 to prove the most productive. The results, how- 



