THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER. 



223 



This enables it to work sooner after a rain than 

 any other machine, besides adding to the ease 

 of draught. We worked it on flat clay land, 

 commencing at 9 o'clock in the morning after a 

 heavy nights' rain of several hours, when the 

 water was still standing in the water furrows. 

 Hussey's tried on the same land, at 12 o'clock, 

 came to a stand still. 



With a change of horses every two hours, one 

 may trot the reaper all day long and cut over as 

 much wheat less than thirty acres, as his hands 

 can secure. With a small force, we cut over fifty 

 acres in two and a half days, including a stop- 

 page of some four hours in consequence of an 

 accident to the reaper, and a delay at least as 

 great in shocking the wheat. The wheat, to be 

 sure, was light; but it could have been cut as 

 easily if heavy, though our force would not 

 have secured it. 



Like all other reapers, this has faults ; some 

 of principle, some of .construction. It has not 

 enough motion of the knives, which are a modi- 

 fication of Hussey's blades ; and we do not see 

 how it can be given without increasing tne 

 draft. It is too far from the main wheel to the 

 cutting end of the crank, so that it is apter than 

 other machines to overrun wheat ; and it some- 

 times clogs from inequalities of surface, which 

 a shorter sweep would overcome or avoid. The 

 knives of the only two that we have seen, are 

 not of good metal, being on the whole much too 

 soft and unequally tempered. 



The seat for the raker — who delivers either 

 at side or rear — is uncomfortable ; and if Mr. 

 Caldwell does not alter it, he ought to furnish 

 leather for the purpose, as our friend W. W. 

 Gilmer expresses it, of " half soaling" the pan- 

 taloons of the rakers. 



Lastly, the price is too high. With less than 

 half the gearing or weight of casting of other 

 machines, the price is $125. It can be made at 

 a profit for half the money, we should think. 



But in spite of all these defects, candour and 

 justice to our subscribers impel us to declare 

 that it is the best reaper we have seen. 



But let no one buy it on our recommendation. 

 We call attention to it. Let the purchaser ex- 

 amine and look for himself, and buy if he likes 

 it. We are but an indifferent judge of machine- 

 ry, and not at all disposed to undertake a gratui- 

 tous agency in a matter which we do not under- 



stand, and in which we would be held to a strict 

 accountability. 



H. M. Smith, the well known machinist of 

 Richmond, is also trying a new reaper. We 

 have not seen it at work, and can say nothing 

 about it. Hussey has added a side delivery and 

 pivot rake to his machine. We found the pivot 

 rake harder to operate than the old plan, and 

 could not use the side delivery without racking 

 the machine to pieces. But in adapting his 

 reaper to these alterations, he has made a very 

 great improvement in it, by lifting the crank 

 several inches higher. We need not say that 

 for solid strength and honest workmanship, 

 ability to stand and tear, and capacity for clean 

 cutting, Hussey's reaper cannot be beaten, and 

 we honour him as the first man who introduced 

 this great invention to the world. 



CHINCH BUG. 



This destructive bug, or fly, is doing very ex- 

 tensive damage in various sections of the State 

 below the mountains: and as the corn and oats 

 are both backward in consequence of "the long 

 dry season in May," we expect they will prove 

 much more injurious than common. 



The only remedy we have tried against them, 

 is found to succeed partially. If whilst they 

 are crawling from place to place, a streak of gas 

 or coal tar be laid across their track they will 

 not cross it. We have tried to force them over it, 

 but they will not go, and manifest the greatest 

 uneasiness at its presence. How far this check- 

 ing their migration will answer we cannot tell 

 as yet; for as soon as they can fly, the tar is no 

 barrier to them. But thousands, or millions 

 rather, may perish for lack of subsistence be- 

 fore they become fledged. 



PREMIUM LIST OF THE VIRGINIA STATE 

 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 We devote a considerable part of this num- 

 ber to the premium list of the Virginia State 

 Agricultural Society. It will be found on ex- 

 amination to be somewhat more extensive than 

 the very liberal schedules heretofore offered at 

 our meetings. The amount of premiums in 

 nearly all cases is somewhat less, but the sub- 

 jects are greater. Some things which it was 

 thought expedient to encourage at other exhibi- 

 tions are omitted now because they are intro- 

 duced and there is no longer occasion to reward 

 them in this way: others, for the same reason, 

 are included in this present schedule. 



