SKILL REQUIRED BY THE SCYTHE. 321 



selves after a little practice. But it is especially import- 

 ant to have patience and perseverance, and not to give 

 up in discouragement on account of a failure at the 

 outset, nor even if there should be a second or a third 

 mishap ; for, if proper care was taken in selecting the 

 machine, these difficulties show either the want of suffi- 

 cient study of all its parts, or some mistake in putting it 

 together. Many will give up, in despair, if they have 

 met only with some one of the slight accidents to which 

 every new implement is liable, particularly when time 

 presses and things go wrong. 



That some degree of skill is necessary for the proper 

 use of the mowing machine, is no objection to it, since 

 even the common scythe requires skill, and it is rare 

 that any man who has failed to obtain that skill by 

 practice, when young, ever becomes a good mower. If 

 the machine were so complicated that only a mechanic 

 could operate it, no doubt the fact that it was so would 

 be a serious obstacle to its introduction. But this is 

 not the case, and it is the general testimony that any 

 farmer of ordinary capacity can very soon learn to 

 work it successfully. 



What has been said of the mowing machine applies 

 with equal force to the reaper, into which the former 

 may be easily converted. 



Many of our grain crops, like wheat, barley, and oats, 

 come to their maturity at nearly the same time. Some 

 varieties of oats are very easily shaken out, and never 

 should be allowed to become^over-ripe ; wheat is very 

 liable to sprout in moist weather, and barley to become 

 discolored, if allowed to stand too long. The work of 

 harvesting by the old methods was necessarily pro- 

 tracted. Previous to the introduction of the reaper, 

 very large quantities of our most valuable grains were 

 annually lost, from the impossibility of harvesting 



