1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



133 



mower separately, the demand compel- 

 led the division. The difference in the 

 two is so radical that it has astonished 

 us that the change had not been made 

 before. More than ten years ago we 

 urged this change and persisted in its 

 accomplishment, but manufacturers 

 laughed at the idea. The argument 

 was this : most farmers want a reaper, 

 and are content to have one that will 

 cut grass moderately well; they will 

 not be at the expense of the two sepa- 

 rately. But we urged that they can af- 

 ford it, for a combined machine will 

 cost more from the simple wear and 

 tear of grass cutting. 



In the cutting of grain a slow motion 

 is only required, and as the sickle is 

 long and consequently heavy ; the strain 

 on it and the wear at the wrist is com- 

 paratively light, but when the motion is 

 doubled, as it must be in cutting grass, 

 the machine cannot stand the strain on 

 it ; the wrist soon begins to wear, and 

 in two years' use the machine is worn 

 out and thrown aside. 



We have three different reaping and 

 combined mowers in use on our farm, 

 all of which are good reapers, and for 

 the first season the J. H. Manny did 

 very good work as a grass cutter, but 

 since then has been of no value for that 

 purpose. The cutting of forty acres of 

 grass wore it more than four hundred 

 acres of grain would have done. As a 

 grain cutter it is yet an excellent ma. 

 chine, and being so well adapted to the 

 Bunson binder that we hope to use it 

 several years to come. 

 The Wood mower (see advertisement) 

 was generally used in this county last 

 year, but from two defects did not give 

 so complete satisfaction as its high rep- 

 utation warranted. Some of the sickles 

 were made of poor iron which was not 



discovered until put in the field and 

 found wanting. The crank was also 

 defective, which caused the breaking 

 of the sickles. These defects were not 

 uniform and only attached to a few of 

 the mowers. These are now remedied 

 and but few other machines can be sold 

 in the county. When we take into 

 consideration that this countv of Cham- 

 paign is one of the great stock counties, 

 not only sending to market annually 

 thousands of head of fine cattle, sheep 

 and swine, but ships thousands of tons 

 of hay south, we may consider this a 

 strons: recommendation for the Wood 

 machine. In many cases these mowers 

 cut their hundreds of tons of Timothy 

 hay and prairie grass during the season, 

 and yet they have little appearance of 

 being worn. The short, (four feet,) 

 light sickle can be run at a high speed 

 without jerking, and if kept well oiled 

 will cost but little annually for a long 

 series of years. 



In most of the combined machines we 

 must use four horses and of course will 

 require an expert driver to manage 

 them. It may be claimed that a six 

 foot combined machine will cut more 

 grass in a day than the four feet ma- 

 chine, but though the theory is correct 

 yet the performance is at fault, and as 

 a general thing the delays of the large 

 machine more than compensate for the 

 always ready little clipper that the 

 farmer boy is proud to handle. — 

 We can state th^ case in another form. 

 If we could hire a machine by the day, 

 we would pay more for the four feet 

 single mower than for the six feet com- 

 bined, even if an extra team was put 

 with it at the same price. We do not 

 know of a single combined machine hav- 

 ing been sold last season in this comity. 

 , The Woods self raking reaper b e- 



