116 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



these instruments without trial, arc unsatis- 

 factory and incouehisivc. In fact, an award 

 given, without trial, is useless, valueless, non- 

 sense. A machine may have a beautiful fin- 

 ish, and may not work. A macliinc may be 

 rough in apjiearance, and yet do tlie work 

 well. 



I suggest to Col. AVebstcr, tlie respected 

 l're>idcnt of the State Society, the propriety 

 of making arrangements, if j)(\-.siblc, to try 

 the reapers and mowcr^j ;dt^o the wlicat drill-; 

 and Corn j)hiutcrs. 3Iany l-irmcrs wonld lie 

 present, and witness the iriais; and lie com- 

 mittees would liave stimuthing ]iraetic:d on 

 v»fhich to base their awards. 



A AViiKAT i;.\is;;i;. 



IJdifor (if the I'on.nr: 'J'iie trfUibles, 

 or stagg'ers ainoiig swine is ;i. (lisca^e so 

 rapid and fatal in its course as to i-'Mider 

 the application of any remedy almost 

 useless ; hence the idea is generally 

 prevalent that the disorder is incurable. 

 A successful experiment tried by uie the 

 other day upon a fine shoat of some 

 eight mouths may induce some of your 

 readers to repeat it. 



I saw the animal about five minutes 

 after the attack, lie was then making 

 sundry gyrations in the road, with his 

 snout considerably elevated. In some 

 three minutes more he tvmiblcd against 

 the fence and could not rise. He seem 

 ed to sufier greatly, llis eyes wore 

 turned up, and were evidently blind. I 

 had several backets of water brought 

 from the well forthwith. One of these 

 I threw on him, then slit each ear pretty 

 deeply, and took about tln-ee inches of 

 his tail off. But little effect was pro- 

 duced, and I felt sure my hog Avas a 

 "gone Sucker." I then poured from 

 the spout of a watering j)ot in a contin- 

 uous stream right upon tlie scalp at least 

 four buckets of water. This operation, 

 at first, appeared to distress him, but he 

 soon became quiet. \ left him to his 

 fate. In about tAVo hours afterward he 

 got up, staggered from place to place 

 for a while, began to recognize his fel- 

 lows, and soon Avas pretty Avell over the 

 spell, lie is noAV entirely recovered 

 Yours, J. 15. W 



WoodiL'ild, near Alton, elulv 7. 



Tariiips. 



UJ.itnr l\(j-,nir : — 1 lu'i\e obtained good 

 crops of turnips by the i'oUoAving proce-^s : 

 After the crop of Avheat WoS taken irom the 

 land, I have plowed a ])at(li of ground ti n 

 inches deep, taken care to bury the straAv 

 and weeds Avell — then liarroAV the ground 

 very line — sow a quarter of a pound of .seed 

 to the acre — bush the seed in lightly and then 

 pass over the ground Avilh the ruller. 



If the Uy takes the jilants ts soon as tliey 

 appear above ground, 1 harrow the ground. ! 

 soAv agaiu^ brush in iuid roll as before. 1 

 have done this way three times before I could 

 get a stand of plants. 1 always endeavor to 



got in the seed before a rain 

 cced and sometimes fail. 



-sometimes sue- 



s. 



TIIK (U{EAT r.EArFJl AND STA(^KEE, 



ur 311 nUAV, A'A.N DOKEN & Cil.OVKU, 



Proprietors, Ottawa, Illinois. 



Above Ave nresent to our readers a cut of 

 this neAV machine, which attracted so much 

 attention among the farmers at our State 

 Fair at Feoria last iall. It Avas in operation 

 on the 'hi and nth of .July in this county. 



One of these machines has been placed at 

 the disposal of the .Society, and Avill be ex- 

 hibited at the State Fair next fall, at Ccntra- 

 lia, to be aAvarded to the best oO acres of 

 spring Avlieat raised in the State. {ISo: Pni- 



llli'i'ill fjif't ('i' tlif S"'-i<fty.) 



'flie cutting- arrangement of this machine 

 is similar to all llu; leading machines. The 

 grain i'alls on the plat forJiiANdiich is composed 

 of a series of vibrating rods, havnig inclined 

 rake teeth. These teeth slip under the 

 grain :;s they go fruiii the driving wheel but 

 catch and ilraw il as they return and thus 

 liny draw tlie grain in a constant stream to- 

 Avard the driving Avheel. ^Vllen it arrives 

 near there, tlie same rods are bent upAVurds 

 and thus they, together Avlth an endless apron 

 Avliieh lies over it, ami is geercd by pully and 

 belt to the sickle shai't, discharge the grain 

 npon the little platform; Avhenee the cut 

 shows the man in the act of taking it. The 

 top of llie endless apron is slioAvn in the cut 

 at ( D.) The man in the box taking the 

 grain (rom the little platiorm deposits it in a 

 certain and proper order in (he box. When 

 the box is conij)letely filled, he tics or hooks 

 t(\L';ethcr the tAvo ends of several ropes, (0. O. 

 O.,) Avhich lies over the sides of the box and 

 the cranked end (F. II.) of a shaft Avhich lies 

 nlonii the bottom of the box is turned by the 

 driver, Avlio now stops his team. As the 

 rop(\s (O. O. O.) pass through eyes in the 

 rod, of course they wind aronnd the rod and 

 thus tighten the stack wifli great compres- 

 sion. The man in the box noAV cpiickly tics 

 the binding cords, which you see lying over 

 the side of the box (near to the ''tightening 



ropes 0. O. 0.") when the crank is reversed, 

 tlic "tightening ropes" thrown ofiF and the 

 door (C.) thrown open, the small end of the 

 box tipped up and the stack (E.) discharged 

 as seen in the cut, WIND AND WATER 



PROOF. 



About six of these stacks are formed to 

 the acre. Consequently the team must stop 

 six times to each acre cut. This seems to 

 us to be one objection to the machine; the 

 proprietors should seek to obviate it. How- 

 ever, it is trifling compared to its other great 

 advantages, so far as we can judge. 



These stacks are intended to stand in the 

 ileld until the threshing time comes. Then 

 the thresher is set in the middle of the field, 

 tAvo yoke of oxen or a good span of horses 

 are hitched to a "slide," or stone boat, or low 

 truck, made of small wheels of the machine, 

 one of Avhich is seen at B., and upon this 

 from half an acre to an acre of grain is put, 

 by driving the team close to the stack and 

 tipping it over upon the slide. When it 

 reaches the thresher, the stack is rolled or 

 drawn up on to a platform and fed in a steady 

 stream, there being no hands to cut, except 

 18 strings to the acre. The strings are then 

 tied togdher, wound en a reel and saved for 

 next year. 



It will be seen that but two men and four 

 horses are needed to do all the work of cut- 

 ting, binding and stacking, and that all the 

 usual losses from exposure to weather between 

 the time of cutting and the time of finishing 

 off a stack in the usual way of harvesting, are 

 saved. And this exposure is a very great 

 matter." It will also be apparent that the 

 saving of labor in binding, shocking, drying 

 out bundles that have been drenched with 

 rain, and hauling to the stack durmg harvest, 

 is very great. We learn that Murray, Van 

 Dorcn & Glover last year, cut and put up 

 140 acres which saved well, and that stacks 

 which stood six months in the field were per- 

 fectly dry throughout, except such moisture 



