xxii INTRODUCTION. 



$1 90 per acre. The binding is now done with wire on the large grain-fields of the west, and 

 a machine has lately been invented for performing that part of the labor. There can be little doubt 

 that we shall soon have machines that will cut, gather, and bind up the grain at one operation. 

 American reaping and mowing machines have now been introduced into every civilized country. Their 

 usefulness has been universally acknowledged. In our own land, where labor is so high, and the season 

 so short, they are indispensable. In many sections the labors of sowing arid planting the spring crops 

 are quickly followed by haying and harvesting. Corn, beans, potatoes, and other crops require the use 

 of the hoe and cultivator. Summer fallows, for wheat claim attention at this time; and no sooner is 

 the labor of harvesting over, than the American farmer is under the necessity of sowing his winter 

 wheat, which in the northern and western States is sown from one to two months earlier than in 

 England. 



The nature of our climate, the character of our crops, the scarcity of labor, and the extent of our 

 agricultural operations, all conspire to increase the introduction and use of these and all other imple 

 ments and machines that will expedite the labors of the farm. 



It is difficult to conceive that American agriculture could have attained its present condition had the 

 invention of reaping and mowing machines been delayed thirty years. The extent to which they 

 are already used is enormous. 



The editor of the Genesee Farmer, Rochester, N. Y., has collected directly from the manufac 

 turers the following statistics of the number of reaping and mowing machines made by a few of the 

 leading firms engaged in this important branch subsequent to the returns of the census in 1860. 



C. Aultman & Co., Canton, Ohio, made last year (1863) 3.100 &quot;Buckeye&quot; mowing and reaping 

 machines, and this year (1864) 6,000 of the same machines. 



Bomberger, Wight & Co., of Dayton, Ohio, have made 1,250 &quot;Ohio Chief&quot; reapers; and Rufus 

 Dulton, who formerly manufactured the same machine, has made 3,156, making 4,306 in all. 



Of the &quot;Manny&quot; reaping and mowing machine there have been manufactured in the State of Illi 

 nois, up to 1863, about forty thousand. In 1864 there have been made of the same machines in 

 Rockford, Illinois, 10,500. 



Messrs. Ad nance, Platt & Co., of Poughkeepsie, New York, have also made 2,500 &quot;Manny&quot; 

 machines for the New England States. The same parties have also manufactured 1,100 &quot; Buckeye &quot; 

 machines for the New England States, New Jersey, &c. 



S. M. Osborne & Co., of Auburn. New York, have made 15,000 of &quot;Kirby s&quot; mower and reaper. 

 The Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works have also made 7,000, and other parties have made 5,000, 

 making 27,000 of these machines that have been manufactured in the United States. 



Messrs. Seymour, Morgan & Allen, of Brockport, New York, have made 7,200 of their &quot;New 

 Yorker&quot; and other machines. Messrs. AYarder & Childs, of Springfield, Ohio, also manufacture the 

 same machine, and have made about 9,000. 



The Messrs. McCormick Brothers have manufactured at their establishment in Chicago over 

 55,000 of their celebrated reaper 6000 in 1864. 



The establishment of Mr. R. L. Howard, of Buffalo, New York, has manufactured 20,000 of the 

 &quot; Ketchum &quot; mowing-machines, and 5,000 reapers and mowers combined, and 3,500 of the &quot; Howard 

 harvesters.&quot; 



Mr. Walter A. Wood, of Hoosick Falls, New York, has made over 30,000 reaping and mowing 

 machines. In 1858 Mr. Wood sent an agent to England with fifty; the next year he sent two hun 

 dred and fifty machines, and since then his sales in great Britain and on the continent of Europe have 

 averaged over 1,000 per annum. 



It thus appears that the manufacturers we have named have made two hundred and fourteen 

 thousand and ninety-four mowers and reapers. 



We present these facts, obtained directly from the manufacturers, that our readers may form some 

 idea of the magnitude of the reaper and mower business. There are other machines manufactured of 



