THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



110 



cated, which may be connected with the agri- 

 culture or economy of the county or other lo- 

 cality treated of, and of which the discussion 

 would be useful in aid of improvement. 



From the American Farmer. 



SAVING CLOVER SEED — ECONOMY IN THE 

 USE OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. 



As requested at our recent interview, I will 

 briefly give my "mode of harvesting clover 

 seed with the mowing machine, and also the 

 manner of preparing the seed for market." I 

 will also add a few remarks as to the decided 

 economy to farmers, of machine over hand 

 work, in securing our crops. 



A large portion of my crop of clover seed 

 the past season was so fallen and lodged, that 

 scarcely half the seed could be saved with the 

 cradle ; consequently, we were compelled to re- 

 sort to the slow and expensive mowing with 

 scythes, or use the machine. The trial with 

 cradles, resulted in breaking out the fingers, 

 and leaving much of the best seed uncut ; the 

 scythe was both too slow and too wasteful. 

 Indeed to look over the fallen and tangled jnass 

 of vegetation, persons unacquainted with the 

 machine would have supposed it impossible to 

 cut it clean, with any thing short of the scythe. 



The machine (one of Hussey's improved) 

 was set to cut rather higher than for mowing, 

 and by a side delivery of my own construction, 

 the seed was delivered at the side and out of 

 the track, in straight loose bunches in the best 

 possible order for curing and taking up after- 

 wards : and with almost the precision of clock 

 work. It was one of the most beautiful and 

 perfect farm operations I ever saw — scarcely 

 leaving a head standing to the acre, and lite- 

 rally leaving nothing for the rake to glean af- 

 terwards. It was completely cut and raked, 

 in about one-third the time the same hands 

 could have properly raked it alone. We would 

 occasionally, though not often necessary, throw 

 out of gear, pass on through the cleared track, 

 and only cut- across and against the lean; in 

 this way every head raised up four to five 

 inches high, or above the guards, [snakes heads 

 included,] was not only cut, but saved on the 

 platform. We could well afford to lose a little 

 time in this way, when the machine was doing 

 the work of full ten to a dozen scythes. 



The seed is usually left from five to ten days 

 in this state, in order to make it hull more rea- 

 dily; and a shower or two on it, improves it 

 both for the threshing and hulling operations. 

 At a leisure time in winter, and in cold dry 

 weather, we pass it through the common wheat 

 thresher to separate the heads from the straw. 



If in good order for threshing, the spike con- 

 caves are removed, and blank ones substituted, 

 in their places, which answer a better purpose ; 

 avoids cutting up the straw, and rendering the 

 raking much less tedious. 



The next operation is the hulling; this is 

 done either by running it two or three times 

 through the same machine (spike concaves re- 

 placed) as fast as it can be forced in by a board 

 fitting the opening, and having a short handle 

 in the centre, fifteen or eighteen inches long. 

 It is then fanned, when the unhulled seed, fall- 

 ing near the fan, and being much reduced in 

 bulk, may all soon be hulled by passing four 

 or five times through the machine; or second- 

 ly, by an opening to feed in the front of the 

 thresher, about nine or ten inches wide, and 

 another opening at back, at the opposite end 

 of the cylinder, the chaff passing diagonally 

 through : but this plan, without much care, is 

 very apt to cut or break too much seed; nei- 

 ther does it save much time, as the feeding is 

 necessarily slow. 



An efficient machine that will hull and fan 

 at the same operation is a great gain; for the 

 hulling alone is a short job compared to the 

 fanning. I used a hulling machine this year 

 for experiment, instead of the thresher, (with- 

 out fan attachment,) but lost considerable seed; 

 perhaps a bushel or more from cutting the 

 seed. It is a tedious, and very annoying ope- 

 ration from dust, to hull with the thresher and 

 fan afterwards ; but all the portable clover ma- 

 chines with fan, that I have seen, cost from 

 $75 to $100, — too expensive for general use, 

 and often cutting the seed. I am satisfied, 

 however, after some years experience with the 

 crop, that an efficient and durable machine with 

 fan, may be made for about half the money. 



My crop of seed this season on seventeen 

 acres, yielded forty- three bushels cleaned and 

 ready for market : besides sowing a large cart 

 load of partially hulled chaff, not considered 

 at the time worth hulling over, but proved af- 

 terwards by hulling a similar lot, to contain 

 from three pecks to a bushel of seed; without 

 close attention, considerable loss may occur in 

 throwing out the chaff, or sowing the seed too 

 thick, in the chaff. The crop at the present 

 market value, is worth near $300; and did not 

 cost me, all expenses included, over $15 to 

 $20; two-thirds to three-fourths of this, is 

 chargeable to the in-door work. 



The average yield on so many acres is rather 

 unusual; the more so, as over half the ground 

 had produced two crops of grass, and on seve- 

 ral acres of this the clover seed was quite light. 

 I attribute it to two causes ; first, to the liberal 

 use of lime; for without it, the yield would 



