266 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



have present with us this evening, Mr. Bodman, who own as 

 large farm here, and also one at the West, and who runs 

 several of those sulky-ploughs and several binders and seed- 

 sowers. I would like to hear from him in regard to the 

 practicability of those ploughs, and also of the binders, 

 particularly for New England. I know of no binder in 

 Massachusetts or in New England, except one that Mr. Sted- 

 man has purchased this year. I would like to know whether 

 it is a practical thing, how many horses it requires to oper- 

 ate it, and also what its capacity is. 



Mr. Luther Bodman of Northampton. I did not come 

 here to occupy any time, nor with any preparation, and have 

 bad no idea of saying a word. I w^as raised on a hard, side- 

 hill farm here, and the ideas that I got from farming here, I 

 think have been quite useful in the West. We do not make 

 much use of manure on the prairies. If we undertook to 

 manure for wheat, oats or rye, we should get such a growth 

 of straw that it would lodge and we should lose our manure, 

 so manure is of but little value. But the inquiry has been 

 made of me about these ploughs that * 've been spoken of. 

 We use a plough made at Moline. Years ago we used a 

 plough that did not run on wheels at all ; but those have been 

 discai'ded altogether. We now use a plough, the wheels of 

 which, that were formerly made of wood, are made of iron. 

 When the plough had wooden wheels, it would shift around 

 so that it would not work well. Now the wheel is made of 

 iron. It cuts sixteen inches, and is drawn by two horses, 

 and will plough about three and a half acres a day ; go right 

 along and do the work nicely, and do it equally well on turf 

 or on old land. We have one plough that we use when we 

 want to turn under green crops. A very sharp roller runs 

 on the beam, that cuts trie stubble. I do not know why that 

 could not be as well used here as there. 



As to binders and reaping-machines, we use them there. 

 I have run three this year. We use three horses abreast on 

 thim, or three mules. We cut from fifteen to twenty acres 

 a day. The binder binds the grain up well. We use the 

 cord, and use the wire also, in binding. But here I will say 

 that I never saw one of those three machines run in my life. 

 That may seem somewhat singular. You may say, "You are 



