iSo. 11. 



Indian Corn. 



167 



of my machine have not been sharpened since I 

 have had it ; nor have I yet seen any appearance 

 of a need of it in the quality of its work. How 

 many harvests a machine would cut without 

 sharpening is hard to say. I propose sharpening 

 mine once a year only. I have used two horses 

 at a time in the machine, and sometimes changed 

 at noon ; they worked it with ease, the draught 

 being light. I took no account of what I cut in 

 any one day, with this exception ; in less than 

 half a day I cut six acres, and \va« often de- 

 tained for want of the requisite number of bind- 

 ers; by which much time was lost. My ma- 

 chine being something narrower than those 

 generally made by Mr. Hussey, I could cut but 

 about one acre in going two miles, this at the 

 moderate gait of two and a half miles per hour 

 would amount to twelve and a half acres in ten 

 hours, and at four miles per hour, a speed at 

 which the work is done in a fine style, the 

 amount would be twenty acres in ten hours. I 

 should judge my quantity per day to range be- 

 tween ten and fifteen acres, yet I am decided in 

 the opinion that I can cut twenty acres in a day, 

 of good grain, on good ground, by the usual 

 diligence of harvest hands, with a little increase 

 of ray usual speed, and a change of horses. 

 Two hands are required to work the machine, a 

 man to push off the grain and a boy to drive, 

 besides a number of binders proportioned to the 

 quantity cut. As the machine can be drawn 

 equally fast in heavy or light grain, the number 

 of binders is necessarily increased in heavy 

 grain, except an additional speed be given in 

 light grain. Under every circumstance the 

 number of binders will vary from four to ten ; 

 and when the usual care is practiced by the 

 binders there will be much less waste ^than in 

 any other method of cutting. 



I speak with more confidence of the merits 

 and capacity of Mr. Hussey's reaping machine 

 from the circumstance of hsiving pushed the 

 grain off" myself for several days, in order to 

 make myself practically, and thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with it before putting it into the hands 

 of my laboring men. The land in this county 

 being rather rocky, and uneven, it is hard to 

 say what may be the ultimate advantage of these 

 machines to our farmers, but from what little ex- 

 perience I have had I am resolved not to be 

 without one, or two of them, I can therefore re- 

 commend the machine with confidence, espe- 

 cially to those who have a large proportion of 

 smooth ground in cultivation. It is undoubtedly 

 • a labor saving machine, and worthy of their 

 attention. Joux Stosebbakeii. 



Uagerstown, August 15, 1:^37. 



Ma. HcssET — 



Sir — Your Wheat Cutting Machine was 

 used by me in securing my clover seed ; with 

 one man, three boys and two horses, we cut 

 about twelve acres per day. The operation was 

 in every respect complete — the clover was well 

 cut, and deposited in proper sized heaps, and no 

 raking required, further than to remove the 



heaps of cut clover from the track of the ma- 

 chine, the whole operation was easily performed 

 by the hands and horses. In the operation of 

 cutting wheat, I followed the machine for about 

 two acres in the field of Mr. John Stonebraker, 

 during the late harvest, and can vouch for the 

 operation in securing his wheat in the manner 

 described by him in his publication. 



The late improvement made by you in your 

 machine has added greatly to the beauty and 

 facility of its operation. 



Yours respectfully, 



F. TlLGHMAK. 



Rorklatul, i?.-plpnibpr 15, 1837. 

 We the subscribers certify, that we seen Mr. 

 Hussey's wheat cutter in operation in the clover 

 field of Col. Tilghman, and fully agree with him 

 in the description given of the operation of t he 

 machine. 



William II. Fitzhugh, 



John K. Dall, 



Thomas FiMORT, Eastern Shore, Md. 



William" Hollydat, 



TaOMAS E. TlLGHMAIf, 

 RiCHAHU T. HoLLTDAT, 



FnisBT Tilghman, Jr. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



lutliau Corn. 



There has, within a few years, appeared 

 in this section of country, a species of Indian 

 corn, (Zea mays,) with the history of which 

 I would like to be better acquainted; and I 

 will return thanks to any of your numerous 

 readers who are able and willing to gratify 

 my curiosity. It is commonly called the 

 " Texian" or " forage" corn, and will be im- 

 mediately identified when I mention, that be- 

 sides the general husk which envelopes the 

 whole ear, each grain is embraced in a simi- 

 lar covering. I have heard it asserted that 

 it grows wild some where in the far west; 

 and one gentleman with whom I recently 

 conversed, assured me that it was the original 

 Indian corn in its wild and native state ! As 

 to its having been seen growing wild, that 

 miglit very well be, from the seed having 

 been dropped by a passing bird ; but the sug- 

 gestion that it was the Mays in its wild and 

 native state, I was not inclined to believe ; 

 nevertheless a fact in relation to it has been 

 recently made known to me by two persons 

 that is sufficiently curious to justify my trou- 

 bling you on the subject. I have now before 

 me a small ear of corn of the kind of which 

 I am speaking, viz. the Texian, with the 

 grains enveloped in a husk, and an ear of 

 corn which 1 am assured was gathered from 

 a stalk raised from a seed taken from the 

 identical Texian ear, which has no husk on 

 the grains. When this was shown to me a 

 few weeks since, I had my doubts whether 

 the ear without the husk on the grain had 

 not been produced by the plant having grown 



