THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



237 



seven bushels to a total failure. Average, 

 two and a half bushels per acre. 



10th. The price per bushel. 



Ans. — Very fluctuating, owing to crops, 

 here and in other clover raising districts. 

 Varying from $3 to $6 50. 



I have given you what I believe to be the 

 best information I could obtain, and as it 

 comes from those whom I know to be suc- 

 cessful cultivators and those who have 

 raised from one to four hundred bushels of 

 seed in one year, I presume it is to be re- 

 lied on as correct. This county, a few 

 years since, sold for export, over 20,000 

 bushels of clover seed, which I believe is 

 more than what has been produced by any 

 other county in the Union. 



The time is fast approaching when farm- 

 ing, to be successful and profitable, must 

 be done on scientific principles. Our old 

 guess work and chance operations will not 

 compete with scientific knowledge 



With the hope that the above imperfect 

 information may be of some service. I am 

 Very resp'y yours, J. B. Larwill. 



Valleij Farmer' 



HARVESTING WHEAT. 

 Messrs. Editors: — Having observed 

 for several years a great difference in the 

 mode of harvesting wheat in upper and 

 lower Virginia, I am induced to give you 

 the cutting of my hands, who harvest as 

 they do in the Valley, the great wheat 

 growing section of the State. I commenced 

 on the 16th of June. 



Acres. Roods 



June 16, Monday, worked 8J 



hours and cut 12 



June 17, Tuesday, worked 9£ 



hours and cut 13 3 



June 18 and 19, helped a friend 



in his harvest. 

 June 20, Friday, worked, 10 j 



hours, and cut 16 



June 21, Saturday, worked 11 



hours and cut. 11 



June 23, Monday, worked 7|- 



hours and cut 10 



June 24, Teusday, worked 10 



hours and cut, 16 



Worked 6 days, only cut du- 

 ring 57£ hours, and cut a- 

 cres, 78 3 



Fifty-seven and a half hours reduced to 



days of 10 working hours, give 5 days and 



about |, which would bring the average 1o 

 about 13 acres to 3 scythemen, or 4-|- acres 

 to each scytheman per day. This work 

 was done without a word of hurry during 

 the harvest. On Saturday three cutters 

 worked in the forenoon and only two in 

 the afternoon, yet I have made no deduc- 

 tion in the table of time and quantity. 



My mode is this; I use a light cradle 

 with only 4 fingers, which, with the blade, 

 weighs 6£ lbs. We cut the grain and lay 

 it, or cradle it; a lad (a half hand) follows 

 with a long handle rake, and rakes the cut 

 wheat into bundles ; a woman, or three 

 quarter hand, follows next, who also car- 

 ries a long handle rake ; this hand binds 

 the wheat with a double band, throws the 

 bundle behind, rakes the butt of the bun- 

 dle, rakes up trash wheat and places upon 

 the next bundle, and binds the whole to- 

 gether. This operation, if well done, gets 

 nearly every straw and head. 



I worked only 4 takers up after 3 scythe- 

 men. I should have had 6; if so, I could 

 have cut a great deal more grain in the 

 same time; I cut only what the hands 

 could take up. My force consists of 4 men 

 under 22 years old, 1 lad about 14 years, 

 and 2 boys 9 years each. I hired the first 

 two days a Prince George cutter, but he 

 soon gave out, and was too trifling to work. 

 I also hired during these two days and af- 

 ter, 1 young man, a very poor binder, a 

 boy who could neither rake nor bind well, 

 and an old man, who was a good, but a 

 very slow hand at shocking. My harvest 

 expenses were $17, and my hands earned 

 for themselves in the two days they cut 

 from home $10. This, of course w T as mine, 

 and had I retained it, my harvest expenses 

 would have amounted to $7. 



Some of my neighbors say my mode of 

 cutting (never walking back with the 

 scythe on the shoulder, if the wheat does 

 not compel you to do*so by leaning very 

 much,) would prevent their getting hire- 

 lings. What an idea! Judge H. St. 

 George Tucker, used to say that rye and 

 sheep were more abused than any two 

 things he knew of— that you would be told 

 any time to sow rye, and any place for 

 sheep. Let me add the farmer to these : 

 must he alone of professions or trades, 

 pay a man for working half of the working 

 day ? It will take a man nearly as long to 

 walk back with the cradle on the shoulder, 

 and then whet, as it did to cut the swath. 



