198 SOUTH EBX FIELD CHOPS 



tliis cutter made at Iiome from a long seythe blade may be as 

 low as $10.00 (Fig. 90), while the cutters on wheels, with every 

 facility for better work, cost about twice a.s much. 



The sled cutter is drawn by one animal or bj^ two, hitched 

 tandem. If it be equipped with a blade on each side, so as to cut 

 two rows at once, two men catch and shock the cut corn. For 

 the convenient use of such two-row cutters, corn rows should be 

 of a uniform width, suited to the width of the cutter. This is 

 one of the cheapest methods of cutting corn. 



184, The corn binder or harvester (Fig. 97). — This ma- 

 chine cuts the corn and binds it into large bundles. It is 

 usually drawn I)}' three horses or mules. The ordinary 

 cost is about .S125. This limits its use to those farmers 

 or groups of eoojierating farmers who can use it each year 

 to cut a consideraljle acreage, say 30 acres or more. It 

 cuts a single row at a time and may cut 6 or 8 acres in a 

 day. If a cliargc is made for the team, the cost of cutting 

 and shocking and of twine is often al)out eciual to the cost 

 of cutting bjr hand and shocking. But the machine per- 

 mits prompt work and economizes human labor. AVhere 

 the height of the corn is excessive or the rows short, hand 

 cutting is preferal)le. 



The bundles from the machine must iisually be stacked by liand. 

 Some binders have a bundle-carrying attachment, which reduces 

 the labor of shocking. In any case, it is easier and more satisfac- 

 tory to shock bundles than to sliock uuliound i-orn cut by hand. 

 The corn binder usually breaks off a sullicicnt number of ears to 

 require that these be picked up by hand. 



A shocker is a macliiue more complicated and costly than the 

 corn binder. It carries on a platform all of the unbound corn 

 plants, until it gathers enough for a shock, when the team is 

 stopped and the driver, by means ul' a hoisting device or frame, 

 transfers the corn from the machine to the ground, ^\"hero it forms 



