282 



lieport on Hassey^s Rectping Machine. 



Vol. III. 



for the whole of France, is furnished from 

 the beet root! The article now pays a duty 

 of 10 per cent., instead of receivini^ a bounty 

 by way of encouragement, as heretofore, and 

 it is in the contemplation of the Government 

 of France, to augment the tax to 20 per cent., 

 which it will be able to pay ; while the bene- 

 fit to the country, in the improvement of 

 rent?, cultivation, stock, labor, wages, means 

 of existence, and moral happiness is far above 

 all price ! The only thing which I deprecate 

 is, a too hasty hot-bed, green-house forcing 

 of the subject; it is a hardy ;3Za?^^ and will 

 bear exposure and rough handling; with 

 common care it is destined to become accli- 

 mated to the soil and circumstances of this 

 country, and in the hands of competent indi- 

 viduals, to prove all that its real, honest 

 friends have ever contemplated, ft is not 

 necessary, or even desirable, that every farm- 

 er should make his ov/n sugar; let him en- 

 gage heartily in the more pleasant and legiti- 

 mate employment of making fat beef and 

 mutton, and superior butter, and he will then 

 affijrd to purchase sugar to his heart's con- 

 tent: all this he will do, while growing 

 large crops of beet ; and let it be remembered 

 for the introduction of this invaluable branch 

 of agriculture and husbandry, the public are 

 indebted to the " Beet Sugar Society of Phil- 

 adelphia." Beta. 



22(1 March, 1839. 



P. S. I calculate it will be many years be- 

 fore America is compelled, through a redun- 

 flancy of population, to become a manufac- 

 turing country — and manufactures have never 

 flourished but in countries where the people 

 stand too thick to admit the free use of the 

 plough. 



The annexed Report on Mr. Hussey's Reap- 

 ing Machine was made by a committee of 

 the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agri- 

 culture, in September last, and is published 

 in the Cabinet by order of the Society. Since 

 our former notice of this machine, we have 

 conversed personally with several gentlemen 

 from the southern and western States, who are 

 practically acquainted with its merits, all of 

 whom speak of it in the highest terms of com- 

 mendation. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Report on Hussey's Reaping MacUluca 



The committee appointed at last meeting, 

 to superintend the operation of Hu.ssey's Reap- 

 ing Machine, beg leave to report: 



That they discharged the duty of their ap- 

 pointment on the day following the same, 

 They met for the purpose on the farm of Mr, 



John Fox, in O.-.ford township, where the ma- 

 chine was put in operation in a piece of sev- 

 eral acres of heavy wheat, considerably lodged 

 — and contrary to the expectations of most 

 of the committee, it performed remarkably 

 well. 



The machine requires two horses to draw 

 it, a boy to drive them, and a man to push off 

 the grain. It is not material whether the 

 speed be a walk or a slow trot, though a walk 

 where the grain stands tolerably fair, is to 

 be preferred. A trot is sometimes necessary 

 where the grain is much lodged, or a stronor 

 wind drives in the direction of the machine. 

 It operates very satisfactorily in grain so much 

 fallen as to be entirely beyond the ability of 

 the cradle; and the grain is generally laid 

 fully as regularly as by the cradle, with the 

 advantage on the part of the machine, that it 

 is laid in heaps ready for binding, thereby 

 saving much labor in thin crops, and render- 

 ing a rake unnecessary. So perfect did the 

 machine perform, even in grain considerably 

 lodged, and in which a cradle could scarcely 

 have been used at all, that not a stalk was 

 left standing, while the stubble presented one 

 uniform height of about seven inches through- 

 out the field. The loss, too, by this mode of 

 harvesting, is greatly reduced. The ma- 

 chine operates somewhat on the principle of 

 the common shears, requiring nothing of the 

 momentum of the cradle, and the only jarring 

 attending it is from the weight of the grain 

 falling on a smooth surface. The wheat cut 

 on the present occasion, was dead ripe, hav- 

 ing been standing two weeks longer than ne- 

 cessary, and yet scarcely a grain could be 

 found shattered out. 



It is estimated by the committee, that the 

 ordinary performance of this machine is from 

 ten to twelve acres per day; although they 

 fully believe, that on an emeigency, it could 

 accomplish twice this amount of work. In 

 confirmation of this, they would state, that it 

 cut, on this occasion, six hundred and thirty 

 square yards in two minutes, doing its work 

 in the most perfect manner. It requires from 

 six to ten persons, according to the state of 

 the crop, to bind up or remove the grain as 

 fast as cut, which it is necessary should be 

 done to prevent it from being crushed by the 

 horses and wheels of the machine, on the suc- 

 ceeding through. The machine is not liable 

 to get easily out of order; and the cutters, 

 although they are very readily sharpened, 

 seldom require it, as more than one Imndred 

 acres of grain, according to the statement of 

 Mr. Hu>isey, had been cut by those attached 

 to this machine, prior to the present occa- 

 sion. 



Upon the whole, the machine did its work 

 remarkably well, where it was possible for 

 any thing except the naked scythe to peue- 



