THE GENESEE FARMER 



2t 



ADVAin:AGES OF CUTTING GRASS OR GRAIN BY 

 MACHINERY. 



The superiority of the modern system of cutting 

 gras? :md grain by machinery, over the old way of 

 using the sy the and cradle, is very great: for, in the 

 J first place, it is a saving of time. During the sea- 

 son of harvest, every moment is precious, and an 

 economical use of the Heeting hours, should be 

 sought after by every farmer who would be success- 

 ful in securing his crops well. We will suppose two 

 farmers— A. and B.— have cacli six acres of grass 

 to cut for hay, and thatiV. practices the old method 

 of cutting with a syihe, and B. uses a mowing ma- 

 chine. As it will take no longer to haul one lot of 

 hay into the barn than the other, after it is "made," 

 (supi)osing the distances to he equal) we will take 

 tlie making only into consideration, and see how 

 much time can be saved by the improved method of 

 cutting. 



Farmer A. and his two hired men commence 

 mowing with their sythesin the morning, and con- 

 tinue until ten or eleven o'clock, when they must 

 stop and shake it out to dry. As soon as this is 

 completed, that which was first shaken, will be ready 

 to turn. It must then be raked into winrows, and 

 afterwards put into small cocks, which will oc- 

 cupy the remainder of the day. In this way, they 

 can cut and make into hay, an acre and a half of 

 I grass, which, I think, is a very fair estimate. At 

 ! this rate, it will take them four days to make the 

 ) six acres. 



Farmer B. commences his also in the morning 

 witii a good macliine, and by sunset his grass is all 

 down. His two men can be occupied at otlier work 

 on the farm until ten o'clock, wlien they can com- 

 mence turning the grass which was first cut. By 

 two or three o'clock, one of them can commence 

 raking with a liorse-rake, and the other put it in 

 cocks, until four or five o'clock when the raker 

 can also go to cocking. In this way, two acres 

 and a half may be prepared for the barn on the first 

 day. 



The next day, as soon as the dew is off, the three 



men can commence turning what is still left on the 



ground, and as soon as this is completed, one of 



tiiem can rake, while the other two put it up, and 



at tiie close of the second day the six acres may be 



completed. The weather is supposed to be good 



and the grass also. And I think the com])arison is 



a very fair one, as I am pretty well acquainted with 



/ both the systems. Thus, one half the time is saved. 



It is also a saving of labor ; for one man and a 



good team will cut as much grass as six or seven 



men with sythes; and they may be employed at 



work which is far less wearing on the system. But 



time and labor are money. And supposing wages 



to be $1.25 per day ; — if half the time of three men 



(or two days) can be saved, it will amount to $7.50, 



And supposing the six acres must he cut in one 



day ; — the wages of the five extra hands will 



amount to $0.25 ; or, the saving of both time and 



\A labor, for only six acres will be, according to the 



]v above estimate, $13.75. Where a farmer has ten, 



twenty, or thirty acres of grass to cut, a mowing 



machine will soon pay for itself. 



But these are not the only advantages. It is fre- 

 quently almost impossible to get good hands, and 

 sometimes even in localites where they are generally 

 plenty. So that nothing certain la this respect can 



be depended upon. It is therefore a great object to 

 be able to get along with as little extra help as 

 possible. 



Nor is this all. For we can neither make it ram 

 nor sliine ; and hay must be made, and grain cut, 

 when tlie sun does shine. We somethnes have a 

 week or two of good weather at the commence- 

 ment of harvest, and then have rain every day or 

 two for a month. Tbe farmer who can take advan- 

 tage of this pleasant weather, and get twice as 

 much done as his old-fashioned neighbor, must cer- 

 tainly feel, as he sees all his hay and grain securely 

 stored a^^^ay, while his neighbors' is being ruined 

 with the soaking rains— that his mower and reaper 

 is worth two or three times its cost. 



But let us take a peep into the respective kitchens \ 

 of farmers A, and B., and see Avhat the other sex 

 are doing; for he who cares not to see a wife, 

 dangliter, or sister, weary and toiling with unneces- 

 sary labor, should look well into his own heart, for 

 he will there find a great void which should be fil- 

 led with an aftectionate mercy for those whom God 

 has placed beneath his care. 



In the kitchen of farmer A., everything is hurry, 

 bustle and confusion. They have eight or ten extra 

 men to provide for, and accordingly an extra (juau- 

 tity of bread and pies must be baked, an extra 

 sheep or shoat, must be dressed and cooked, an 

 extra quantity of vegetables must bo prei>ared ; 

 and tea, coffee, dish-washing etc., be increased in 

 the same proportion. They dread harcest. A far- 

 mers' life appears to them a life oi misery ; and who 

 can wonder ? 



But farmer B. can get along very well with half 

 the amount of hired help, and of course the labor 

 in the kitchen is greatly reduced. They have more 

 w<jrk than nsual, to be sure, but everything goes 

 along smoothly and pleasantly, A great am< )unt of 

 food is saved, for tlie mower and reaixjr, and horse 

 rake, do not eat. 



To sum it all up,— 7ia(/" the time maybe saved, 

 and a much larger proportion of hard labor. The^ 

 farmer is not obliged to procure a great number of 

 extra hands, which is frequently very difficult to 

 accomplish. The female part of the household are 

 saved a great deal of laborious work, and much 

 less food is consumed. 



So that if a mower and reaper does cost an liun- 

 dred and twenty-five or fifty dollars, the amount 

 which will be saved on a large farm in four or five 

 years, will much exceed that sum, 



Sulem, Ohio. DAVID STREET. 



THE BEST TIME TO CUT TIMBER. 



The best time to cut timber I believe to be while 

 the bark will peel readily, and just before it gets 

 tight. The sap of the tree is then elaborated into 

 wood, and conse(iuently the wood is dryer, while 

 heat of the summer soon seasons jjeeled logs, or 

 rails. AVhoever has tried peeling saw logs in sum- 

 mer, has found them easier to handle the next win- 

 ter, and the timber much less liable to rot. 



Again ; timber cut and peeled in July or August, 

 will never powder-post, I have been tokl by sliip- 

 builders that August is the best time to cut oak for 

 shii)-building, and have seen Linden rails in Illi- 

 nois, said to have been made nineteen years and 

 perfectly sound. They were cut and made in July. 



Lynn, Pa., December, 1857. G. C. L. , 



