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1863. 



THE ILLIKOIS FARMER. 



163 



Making the total cost $1,80 per acre, 

 that is one dollar and five cents for 

 binding and shocking, with labor at 

 one dollar and fifty cents a day. It re- 

 quires one pound of wire to the acre for 

 heavy grain, and this at the present 

 high price of wire is twenty-five cents. 

 The account would stand thus : 



10 lbs. wire $2 50 



1 binder 1 60 



1 shocker 1 50 



The old way. 



$5 50 

 10 50 



Favor of the binder per day. $5 00 



If we set twelve as the usual number 

 of days for the grain harvest, the bind- 

 er would save $60,00, a sum that would 

 pay for it, and all incidental expenses 

 connected, such as attaching to the 

 reaper, freight and storage, and at the 

 end of the season, it is paid for by sav- 

 ing alone. That is the farmer who can 

 cut one hundred and twenty acres, with 

 wages at a dollar and a half a day, can 

 save the cost of the binder. But we 

 apprehend this is not all, for in that 

 calculation it is supposed that labor can 

 be had by the asking, but this we all 

 know at this time is not so, and the 

 question is narrowed down to the sim- 

 . pie fact of harvesting or not harvesting, 

 using the binder or losing a large share 

 of the grain. 



ATTAOHm© TO REAPEE. 



This should not be overlooked. In 

 the I. H. Manny machine, made by 

 Emerson & Co., Rockford, the raker or 

 rather forker, shoves the gavel against 

 a shield board, thus composing it before 

 it is slid from the platform. Had this 

 forker stand, platform and shield board 

 been made expressly for this binder, it 

 could not have better answered the pur- 

 pose, for when the gavel reaches the 

 shield board, it is just within the jaws 

 of the binder, which closes in on it 



draws around the wire, when a slight 

 motion of the foot slides it off, and the 

 bundle is ready for the shocker. In at- 

 taching to other reapers, such as the 

 McCormick, the Manny raker stand and 

 shield board must be added, the plat- 

 form extended and an extra castor wheel 

 added. It will thus be seen that those 

 who have the I. H. Manny machine can 

 attach the binder at once, but those 

 having other machines should order 

 the necessary additions at the same 

 time so that no delay need occur. "W"e 

 do not know how the binder would 

 work on the jointed machines, but sup- 

 pose not so well. 



SELF-EAXEES. 



We cannot but look upon the bind- 

 er as an implement that will in a short 

 time entirely supercede the whole fam- 

 ily of sell-rakers, however valuable 

 they may be. These self-rakers only 

 save the labor of one man, while the 

 binder will save that of three at least, 

 over and above paying for the wire ; a 

 difference that will in a short time be 

 apparent to all interested. 



For particulars in regard to the bind- 

 er see advertisement. 



Planting and Culture of Com. 



Great progress has been made in the 

 management of the corn crop, by which 

 more than half the labor has been dis- 

 pensed with. Twenty years ago, twen- 

 ty to twenty-five acres were considered 

 as much as one hand could tend. Now 

 we find plenty of men who put in fifty 

 to sixty acres, and manage them with 

 more ease than by the old modes. 

 Most of this improvement is due to 

 inventors of agricultural implements, 

 suggested by farmers, who see the val- 

 ue of a change from old ideas. -^'^ 



Many of our readers will call to min 



