220 
Harvesting Corn. 
— a sum which agrees with our estimate of the total cost of 
keeping; a horse. 
I shall now proceed to the consideration of my subject in 
reference to the various methods of harvesting practised in 
England, viz. : reaping high, reaping low, bagging, mowing, 
machine-mowing, and machine-reaping ; in all of wliich I have 
had nearly thirty years' experience and close observation. For 
above twenty years I have been in the habit of taking the num- 
ber of sheaves, of a given size, as the fairest and best test of the 
economy of those dif?'erent systems, in all their bearings, as to 
cutting, carting, stacking, thatching, and threshing. 
I find that a full crop of wheat gives about the following 
number of sheaves per acre (of from 8 to 10 inches diameter) : — 
when reaped high, 160 ; bagged, 180 ; mown, 200 ; machine- 
reaped, 170 ; machine-mown, 180,for each foot in length of stratc. 
Oats give about a fifth more ; and barley, when free from 
seeds, a third more, but with a layer often double. 
We may take as our standard a crop of wheat, one of about 40 
bushels per acre, the straw of wliich will be about 5 feet long ; 
this, if reaped 18 inches high will give 560 sheaves ; which at 
the price of Is. 9c?. per hundred, will cost 9*. Wd. per acre for 
reaping. The same reaped low, at 6 inches, gives 720 sheaves ; 
and at the same rate, costs 125. Id. per acre. 
Bagging should be done so as to leave a stubble 3 inches 
high, and will in the aforesaid crop produce 855 sheaves, which, 
at Is. 2d. per hundred cost, 9s. W\d. per acre. Mowing is 
done at about the same height as bagging, at the price of 
lO^d. per hundred sheaves ; producing 950 sheaves, and there- 
fore costing 8s. 3|c?. per acre. 
By machine-reaping I mean the work of such reaping-ma- 
chines as by manual or mechanical power deliver the crop in 
parcels large enough for sheaves ; such are Hussey's, McCor- 
mick's, Dray's, and others made on the same model by other 
makers. Among these Dray's stands foremost, which, with 
fair management, will cut an average of 8 acres a day, or 120 
acres in 15 days, which will represent the average quantity cut 
in a season. The tear and wear of the implement must be 
distributed over that number of acres. If this be estimated at 
20 per cent, on 30Z. (the average cost of the reaper, including 
carriage and extras,) the charge for the use of the implement 
amounts to Is. per acre on these 120 acres. Three horses will 
also be required, at 3s. apiece per day ; likewise two good 
laliourors at 4s. each including beer, who take it in turns to 
<lrive and to deliver the crop. These together cost 17.f. for 
the 8 acres, or say 2s. per acre, which with Is. for wear, &c., 
of machine, gives 3s. as the whole cost of machine-cutting and 
