Hand Reaping. 
99 
changes of drivers, a spare team is inevitable. I have gone at 
length into this matter because I hear of many farmers who 
use one team of two or three horses all day on these machines ; 
but it is sounder economy to keep up the pace and work the 
cutter continuously. If this latter plan is adopted and the 
amount cut and tied averages twelve acres per day, twelve 
horses employed on two self-binders will be required for a 
fortnight to do the work. On twelve-horse farms practically 
all the team will be needed, even after the earlier interruption 
for grass cutting. So serious is this interruption of summer 
tillages, that there are still farmers who prefer to employ men 
to mow their corn crops in spite of the greater cost. It is such 
considerations as these which make the relative advantages of 
hand labour and horse reapers or binders a difficult question. 
Still, the general result is in favour of the newer method, 
whether viewed from actual cash expenditure, or from the 
points of view of rapidity, certainty, and independence of 
expensive manual labour. 
There are some other trivial objections to the self-binder 
which its superior merits have silenced. There are, for example, 
laid and twisted crops which can only be reaped by hand. 
There is also the objection of tying up clover and grassy herbage, 
which would dry more quickly if left in broadband. The 
well-known beneficial effect of night dews, and even of showers, 
in mellowing and increasing the size of barley are not forgotten 
by many growers, although the practice of cutting barley with 
the binder has undoubtedly increased. In some seasons the 
drawbacks attendant upon self-binders are more evident than 
in others, but the tendency for many years past has been in 
their favour. 
Relative Cost. 
It is not difficult to establish the fact of a gradual diminu- 
tion of actual cost in cash payments due to each successive 
improvement. Horses must be maintained whether they are 
profitably employed or not, and unless they are urgently 
needed on the land, they are well employed in cutting the 
corn. The saving on the pay sheet is very considerable and 
the total apparent cost of harvesting is much reduced. 
Hand Reaping. 
Reaping by sickle was quite usual from 1850 to 1860, 
although the reaping machine came first into notice in 1851. 
In 1852, Hussey’s, and Burgess & Key’s (McCormick’s) reapers 
were before the public, and by 1857 were coming into general 
use. At that time much corn was cut by the sickle at a cost 
of from 10s. to 20s. per acre according to circumstances, and 
the work was in all respects excellent. The sheaves were 
