68 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



10th. The machine can be drawn by two 

 horses, and is not liable to get out of order. All 

 that is necessary is to have careful hands to 

 work it. It must be kept off stumps, sprouts, 

 and stones that are too large for the wheels to 



run over. I cannot say that mine is more liable 

 to get out of order than the cradle. It matters 

 not what machine you have, it must be kept in 

 order or it will do badly." 



For the Southern Planter. 

 HUS SET'S REAPING MACHINE. 



Being apprehensive that an impression pre- 

 vails amongst farmers of the lower section of 

 Virginia unfavorable to my Reaping Machine, 

 and believing, as I do, that that impression has 

 been formed in many instances from a want of 

 correct information, I wish to occupy a small 

 space in your valuable journal to correct as far 

 as I can such erroneous impressions. To do so, 

 it will be necessary to account for the apparent 

 failures, or what has been called such. It can- 

 not be denied that my first machines were very 

 imperfect, but the work was always well done, 

 the chief difficulties being the liability to get 

 out of order, the failure to cut wet grain, and 

 the severe labor on the shaft horse. The first 

 has been obviated, so far as strength and 

 good workmanship will do it ; the second mea- 

 surably so, and the third is entirely removed ; 

 but carelessness and bad management in the 

 field cannot be guarded against. My machine 

 originally worked with two horses abreast, and 

 rested on four wheels ; it was afterwards changed 

 to shafts, like a cart ; the machines used on the 

 James River were of the latter kind. The diffi- 

 culty arising from the imperfection of these ma- 



chines was much increased by circumstances for 

 which the machines should not be held account- 

 able. In many fields where they were used the 

 land was cultivated in ridges, with furrows much 

 deeper than some farmers have since found ne- 

 cessary, who have cultivated their fields with 

 reference to cutting with the machine ; but this 

 difficulty has been in a great measure obviated 

 by improvements. Another cause of difficulty 

 has been the entrusting the machine to incom- 

 petent hands. The machine has in many in- 

 stances been entrusted to a gang of negroes in 

 one part of the field, while the overseer was at- 

 tending on the cradlers in another part; the 

 consequence has been, the oil has been forgotten, 

 the screws have been neglected, which were 

 liable to shake loose, until some accident has 

 happened; but this liability is now guarded 

 against. Besides this, farmers have sometimes 

 not found so many acres cut as they expected ; 

 this is not always to be attributed to the fault of 

 the machine, but to a want of a reasonable pro- 

 gress ahead, owing to that well known propen- 

 sity of slaves to improve all possible opportunity 

 to stand still. It has been my constant aim, for 



