THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



69 



years, to discover, and guard the weak points, 

 and I think my present machines strong and 

 durable. With your permission, I will insert 

 some short extracts from letters which I have 

 received. The first is from Col. Edward Lucas, 

 of Jefferson county, Virginia, writing for his 

 brothers, he says, " I have now the pleasure to 

 communicate to you the result of our experi- 

 ment with your grain cutters, which have been 

 highly satisfactory, indeed, they have exceeded 

 our most sanguine expectations, and this too af- 

 ter a fair trial of some eighteen days cutting 

 with them this year, and in comparison with 

 cradles in the same field, we found the cutters 

 (meaning the machines) much less liable to 

 break, or be injured by running over rough, and 

 hilly ground, and coming in contact with ob- 

 structions, such as rocks, stones, and stumps, 

 than we had anticipated. My brothers say 

 they would not be without them for any consi- 

 deration. They had four hundred and forty-five 

 acres of heavy wheat, some of it unusually so, 

 and much of it lodged and twisted, and sixty 

 acres of oats, all of which, except forty or fifty 

 acres, was cat by the cutters (two machines) in 

 less than fifteen days, making as high as twenty 

 acres some days, and could have gone up to 

 twenty-five acres to the cutter, if the grain had 

 stood up, and the mules had been urged to their 

 fastest walk." Mr. William H. D. C. Wright, 

 of Queen Anns county, Maryland, in a letter, 

 says, "The machine fulfilled its object to my 

 satisfaction. Where my wheat was heaviest it 

 gave full employment to fourteen binders." 



I could multiply such testimonials to fill your 

 journal, if admissible. Many farmers say that 

 the machine has made an additional saving of 

 at least its cost in one year. As to my own 

 opinion, 1 am aware that it will amount to litlte, 

 but I will say this much, that I am ready to 

 engage to cut thirty acres in one day with one 

 machine, with good horses, in good wheat and 

 on good ground, and the field shall be better cut 

 than any cradled field that can be produced. — 

 The machines used by Col. Lucas had shafts 

 and rested on two wheels ; that used by Mr. 

 Wright had a tongue and rested on four wheels. 

 The restoration of the tongue and the necessary 

 wheels, combined with my other late improve- 

 ments in other respects, is found to be advan- 

 tageous ; it relieves the horses of an objectiona- 

 ble weight, and adds much to the steadiness of 

 the machine, the speed, and quality of the work 

 being the same. 



I see in your last Planter an account of an- 

 other reaper in your State, which is attracting 

 some attention ; it shall be my endeavor to meet 

 that machine in the field, in the next harvest. — 

 I think it but justice to give this public notice 

 that the parties concerned may not be taken 

 unawares, but have the opportunity to prepare 

 themselves for such a contest, that no advantage 



may be taken. Those gentlemen who have 

 become prudently cautious, by being often de- 

 ceived by humbugs, will then have an opportu- 

 nity to judge for themselves. 



Respectfully, 



Obed Hussey. 



Baltimore, Jan. 30, 1843. 



VIRGINIA MANUFACTURES. 



The Messrs. Barnes have sent to our office, 

 for the inspection of our country friends, some 

 of the most splendid specimens of agricultural 

 and other edge tools we have ever seen. Are 

 the farmers of Virginia aware that we are sell- 

 ing axes made by these gentlemen, for $1 25 

 apiece, or $14 a dozen, and warranting them to 

 be equal to any made in the United States ? 



For the Southern Planter. 

 BROOM-CORN HAY. 



Messrs. Editors, — For the last three years I 

 have been in the habit of sowing the broom-corn 

 seed, broadcast, mixed with the common field 

 peas, which has made an excellent hay, when 

 properly cured. The spring of 1842, through 

 the middle of my patch I sowed a strip of about 

 ten feet wide with Indian corn ; the whole being 

 managed precisely in the same way, and to my 

 surprise, when ready to cut, the broom-corn on 

 each side of the Indian corn, looked like two 

 walls — the broom-corn about five feet high, while 

 the Indian did not much exceed two feet. Of 

 course, it was all seeded very thick, and it must 

 be thick, or it will be too coarse for good hay. 

 So, I conclude that the broom-corn is much to 

 be preferred. I have some of the hay on hand 

 that is now two years old. My practice is to 

 house it ; my stock eat it kindly. I try to sow 

 it thick to prevent the stalk being large. I es- 

 teem it best when the stalks are about the size 

 of large oat-stalks, and from three to four feet 

 high ; it should be cut just after the broom or 

 head makes its appearance ; that, which is cut 

 in the forepart of the day, should be shocked up 

 after four o'clock ; it need not be spread the next 

 day, but the day after, it may just be upset and 

 opened — at evening it should be shocked up 

 again, and if not too coarse, in a few days, it 

 will be ready for the house. You need not fear 

 rain while in the shocks. 



One word about the land and seed. Very 

 rich land is not so good ; land that will produce 

 from four to five barrels of corn per acre, is rich 

 enough ; if the land is very rich, it will grow 

 too large in spite of you. I think one bushel 

 of broom seed and a half bushel of peas, clay- 

 red or black-eyed, will make it thick enough ; it 



