^GRICULTURe 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-EOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, AUGUST 15,1863 
SWHOLE NO. 709 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WKEKLV 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FA MILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Assistants mid Contributors. 
improvements facilitating its adjustment to sur¬ 
faces. In the wheat the team was hard driven to 
make time. The acre was cut in 38 minutes. 
Width of cut, five feet. Draft, 275 pounds. 
T1IE BIS DISKS. 
Three were entered. Two of these wore on the 
ground and tested. The third, Sherwood's, has 
always carefully avoided ptildic trials in the field. 
I should not mention this fact were it not true 
that there has been complaint among farmers 
of the operations of the inventor in the West. 
Some people are beginning to doubt whether 
Sherwood's binder baa any practical existence, 
and whether it is right that this gentleman and 
his agents should be allowed to run wound 
loose, longer, without demonstrating that he has 
got a good thing. Tho writer hereof would like 
to go and see one at work in tho harvest field ; 
and would go any reasonable distance to do it. 
Bimsnvs Binder on a J. IT. Manny .Ma¬ 
chine.— This J. 11. Manny machine is entered 
here for a premium with a binder attachment. 
This bindur attachment is Burson'*. So that 
I must speak of the two machines in combi¬ 
nation. This J. H. Manny machine has been 
greatly improved the past year. The old wooden 
sickle bar Is replaced by an iron one. The driv¬ 
ing wheel is enlarged. The old crank pitman is 
replaced by the. balance-wheel pitman common 
on all the improved machines. Like John 1’. 
Manny’s machine, it is easily raised and lowered 
by the driver when in motion. In short, this 
veteran of so many field and legal battles is 
making active effort to keep pace with improve¬ 
ments in other machines. It has always been a 
good machine; it is better now. Added i<> its 
other now features is Bnrson’s Binder, which, the 
inventor says, attaches to it with greater ease 
and better adjustibility than any other machine. 
Now about the Binder. These Binders are 
what attract the crowd. It goes into the barley 
the first day. There is one man on the platform 
with a clutch fork, or a fork with three fingers 
and a thumb, who forks tho grain to Bckson. 
lie stands ready to operate his Binder. It binds 
with No. 21 or 22 wire. The machine enters the 
barley. Burson begins to kick off the bundles. 
Now sec the farmers handle them 
binder, as the farmers did, there is no economy 
in them. For it was evident that three men on 
the hand-binder would do as much work in a 
given time as three men with Burson’s Binder; 
and with as great ease Then the cost of wire 
used is placed against Burson’s Binder, and in 
favor of the hand-binder. What is that cost ? 
No. 21 and 22 wire, costs now, twenty-fire cents 
per pound; whereas in 18G1 it cost but nine cents. 
Burson told me a farmer would use 12 pounds 
per day in the harvest field. This at present 
prices would cost three dollars; and tho logical 
conclusion is, that compared with the band- 
binder, there is no economy in it. But hand- 
binding machines are not readily obtained. I 
know of only one in existence. lienee the econ¬ 
omy of tho thing must be established by compar¬ 
ison with the present cost of binding after the 
grain has been deposited on the ground. If it 
saves the labor of two men it is economy to use 
it, Jt certainly does that: and it probably saves 
the time of four men; it is claimed that it saves 
the labor of five men. If it does it is an econom¬ 
ical machine. 
Bokso.v's Binder on John P. Manny’s 
M a chink. -It is claimed that this Binder can be 
attached to- auy machine; but that it attaches 
best to J. H. Manny's Reaper. But John P. 
Manny claims that it is easily attached to his 
machine; and he was on the ground with one 
attached to his •• .1'inior” reaper, its position 
relative to the grain on the platform is unlike that 
of the J. II. M. machine. Instead of using 
Bckson’s clutch fork, he has invented an adjust¬ 
able rake, by which the grain is swept from (lie 
platform and thrust into the arm of the binder 
and compressed there. I was watching the 
mowers when this machine was being tested, and 
failed to see it work. But the Officers of the 
Society, and other gentlemen who did see it ope¬ 
rate, told me it did good work. 
Powers «fc Lancaster's Binder.—T his is a 
Michigan machine. It Is new here. It lias never 
we can raise red Avlieat, and sometimes white, 
instead of green, there would be no cause of 
complaint, but upon what principle is it required 
to do the largest service under the greatest disa¬ 
bilities? 
Corn gets manure, and ample culture; wheat, 
barley, peas and potatoes luxuriate in tho rich¬ 
est of the hand; but grass, trodden under the 
feet of men and beasts, is put where nothing else 
will consent to stay. Where stones, and sticks, 
and sterility hold undisputed sway, the husband¬ 
man quietly orders, “let it go to grass." Land 
so steep as to be almost t'other side up; so wet 
as to endanger the frogs, or so dry as to jeopar¬ 
dize plantain and purslane, goes to grass. Odds, 
ends and outcasts, go to grass. Having gone to 
grass, that’s the end of all further trouble about 
it, except the annual complainings, “ grass is 
light." True, tho agricultural press, Avben ut¬ 
terly used up for anything else to say, expatiates 
on the beauties of an autumnal top-dressing for 
grass land; but if there ever was a man that 
faithfully fed his meadows and pastures in that 
way, I have no doubt he went to heaven fifty 
years ago. I am sure he took his “ mantle ” with 
him. I don’t deny that now and then a few 
loads of manure have been so applied; I have 
even done it myself, just enough to show the 
utter fully of not doing it more; but 1 have been 
around a good deal with both eyes open, and 
have seen very little of it. 
Here let me say, T do not advocate applying 
animal, manure, made in stables and, sheds, in 
that way. I care not what anybody says, such 
manure loses a good share of Us best properties 
by exposure in the >pen air. But if the volatile 
portions are fixed by some powerful absorbent, 
like charcoal, plaster, or dry muck, the casu is 
altered. Striking results arc of course obtained 
by a surface application of amrnoniacal manures, 
without the above precaution; but the real ques¬ 
tion is. Do you get their full value in that way? 
Vcm certainly do not. Unless you can contrive 
to retain what floats away when left, to itself, you 
had better put your choice stable and shed ma¬ 
nure under ground. But there will generally 
be the scrapings of your yards and lanes, and, 
alas! too often, drenched and leached deposites, 
that sun and air cannot harm much. These you 
can do no better with than spread widely over 
your grass ground in September and October, to 
be washed down by the fall rains. 
The wonderful efi'ects of surface manuring do 
not result entirely from tho nourishment con¬ 
tained in the dressing they are largely owing 
to mechanical and other conditions, which con¬ 
ditions are in a good measure obtained byinuck, 
soil, straw, leaves, weeds, and other litter sproad 
evenly over the surface, but not ho thick as to 
smother the grass. These last are within the 
reach of every farmer. 1 would answer the 
inquiry of the Rural’s Michigan correspondent 
about “muck,” by saying that it may be taken at 
once from the bed, and spread upon grass land 
to groat advantage, without any previous prepa¬ 
ration. 1 recommend that use of it; I also re¬ 
commend, most emphatically, that it be dried, or 
taken out when dry, and put where it will not 
freeze, so that it can be used as an absorbent of 
liquid manure, and to mix in the winter through 
sheep and horse dung, that are so liable to heat 
—and do not fail to spread it over the yards and 
sheds after the manure is renioved. 
All of our grass lands want manure, and 
many of them Bhould be thoroughly plowed, har- 
roxned, cultivated and subdued, and then re-seeded 
in a way to insure a good “catch.” It is usual 
to let a field go, for better or worse, when grass 
seed has been sown, no matter whether any of it 
in particular grows or not, Oats are not good to 
seed with, nor anything else that is sown thick 
to smother out ihe lender grass plant. The first 
of September is the right time to sow timothy 
and red top on any land that is suitable for 
wheat, rye, or winter barley; but if you how in 
the spring, sow curly, and if the ground is too 
wet to sow grain early, plow and harrow it in 
the fall, and sow in March without any grain, 
and have the grace to be thankful for a good crop 
of grass—when you get it. 
1 have just harvested and secured in good 
order thirty-five acres of first-rate winter wheat 
—as good as we used to raise in those glorious 
days when midge and kindred pests were un¬ 
known. I ndeed, I have scarcely seen any midge, 
except in a field that I scolded the owner most 
unmercifully for sowing the first of October, 
lie lost his crop, pretty much, and he ought to 
have lost it all. Nobody has any business to 
tempt Providence by sowing wheat in this lati- 
ludge after the middle of September. I believe 
TUK MOWERS. 
Late iii the afternoon of the second day, the 
mowers were put in the field. It was found that 
auother day would be required to complete the 
trial if the same painstaking was had in the trial 
of Mowers which had obtained in the trial of 
Reapers. This formality was waived by general 
consent, and a grand mowing rampage was 
determined upon. Twelve machines entered the 
field following each other in succession; each 
one in turn followed by its friends and the 
curious crowd. The grass was clover, timothy, 
red-top, blue grass, upland and lowland pasture 
grass, with a diversity of surface to match, i 
shall make no comparison of the work of these 
machines. Most of them did good work; and any 
comparison might be deemed invidious, under 
tho circumstances. It was an animated scene 
and a fitting finale to the more careful labor of 
two days. The committee, however, faithful to 
the last, examined the work of each machine, 
in upland, (am« and prairie grass, and down in 
the bogs and hurnrnockH among tho wiry sedge 
of the sloughs. They stopped them and started 
them; measured the width of out, and strode 
hither and thither in search of salient points, 
until, I have no doubt, they became thoroughly 
satisfied there was little choice. The result of 
their investigations are however given in 
THE awards. 
Late in tho evening of the second day the Com¬ 
mittee, through the Secretary, announced the 
premium machines, which are as follows : 
Beit Combined Reaper and Mower, first premium, $25, 
to John P. Manny * lwuhlne, Rockford, I!!. 
Second best, premium $U), to Seymour & Morgan’s 
self raker, Hroekport, N. Y. 
Best combined Reaper and Mower with a binder at 
taehrnent, diploma to J. II. Manny's machine, Rockford, 
Illinois. 
Best self raking Reaper, premium $15, to Walter A. 
Wood’s machine, Hoosick Folia, N, Y. 
’Best Mower, premium $10, to “Ball’s Ohio,” Canton, 
Ohio. 
Best harvester, or heading machine, premium $25 and 
diploma, to Mayberry Brothers, Rockford, Ill. 
Best harvester and hand hinder, premium $5 and diplo¬ 
ma, to Marsh Brothers, Slmhbnna Grove, Ill. 
It is only justice to the Committee to say that 
they worked hard, were faithful, and gave, in the 
awards, the results of their best judgment, I have 
no doubt. They are all practical farmers, and 
know what the farmer needs. 
Among competitors there was no undignified 
wrangling 1 Great good feeling, and healthy, 
good-natured competition, characterized the con¬ 
duct of competitors. The trial has done good, 
and is worth to the country all the labor and ex¬ 
pense attending it, 
KUNDKLT.’s HORSE PITCH-FORK. 
This was tho only machine present that did 
not belong, legitimately, to the harvest field. 
And I think the horse pitch-fork does—that it 
sustains the same relation to the hay-harvest 
that, thejmower does. Itis labor-saving and time- 
gaining—both essential in these days of large 
harvests and little help. This particular fork is 
a new one, light and strong. The committee 
and reporters were invited to see it work. It 
elevated a ton of hay over the big beam into the 
mow in a short space of time, 
CHA3. D. BRAQDON, Western Corresponding Editor. 
Thk Rural Nrw-Yorkkr is designed to he unsurpassed 
in Value, Purity and Variety of Contents, and unique 
and beautiful in Appearance. Its Conductor devotes his 
per?onal attention to the supervision of its various 
departments, and earnestly Inborn to render the Rerun an 
eminently Reliable Guide on all the important Practical. 
Scientific and otherSuhjectsuiliroatrly connected with tho 
business of those whose interests it zealously advocates. 
As a Family Jocrnal it is eminently Instructive and 
Entertaining— being so conducted that it can he. safely 
taken to tho Homes of people of intelligence, t.istn and 
discrimination. It embraces more Agricultural, Horticul¬ 
tural. Scientific, Educational, Literary and News Matter, 
interspersed with appropriate Engravings, than any other 
journal,—rendering it the most completo Agrhtltpral, 
Litkkakt a.sd Family NKWSFAriru ia America 
iy For Terms And other particulars, sco Inal page, 
HAND-RAKING REAPERS. 
Mason’s “ Empire.’’— This is a new machine 
in this State, and why it has not long ago de¬ 
parted I cannot divine. It was started while I 
wa9 In another part of the field. I asked an 
honest Sucker farmer how it worked. “Oh," 
said he, - it cuts about an inch and a half wide, 
and would be excellent to run around a hundred 
swarms of bees to keep them from swarming." 
I believe it ia an Eastern machine and was in¬ 
vented for the purpose of dodging stumps and 
stones. It has got too far from home, its draft 
is put down at 250 pounds. It cuts four feet 
eight inches. It cut its acre, exclusive of long 
stoppages, in 50 minutes and 21 seconds; but it 
left the grain in bad shape. 
Ball's •* Ohio." —This is a good machine. It 
cuts well, the grain is easily delivered and in 
good shape. It cuts six feet wide. Its draft is 
reported to be 300 pounds. Tho State Society 
last year called it 325 pounds. It did well in the 
barley and capitally in the wheat, cutting its 
acre in the short space of twenty-eight minutes 
and a half. 
Curtis’ Cam Machine.— In the barley ibis 
machine cut well, but the grain after it was cut 
was badly handled. It was not delivered nicely. 
I had the same complaint to make of it last year. 
In the wheat, the second day, it did splendidly, 
cutting its acre with great ease in thirty-four 
minutes. The grain was well cut and well de¬ 
livered. The machine used here cut live feetsix 
inchee. The draft was reported 225 pounds. 
Last year its draft was put at 325 pounds. This 
machine, because of its simplicity and ease of 
draft, makes a good impression among farmers. 
There are many wise heads among manufac¬ 
turers shaken at the “ cam principle" involved 
in its construction; but if one may judge by the 
signs of the times, it is gradually convincing 
these men that the friction involved in the “ cam” 
may be overcome. 
JohnP. Manny’s “ Medium."— It will be re¬ 
membered that J oiiN p. Manny's machine took 
the premium last year at the Dixon trial, as the 
best combined machine. It has some important 
points of merit, of course it has, or the premium 
would not have been given it. It did its work well 
in the barley,—that is. it cut well,—but the grain 
was not delivered as 1 like to see it,—doubtless as 
well as hand-rakers will average. In the barley 
Hear what 
they say: —“That binder does not bind tight 
enough.” *• No, sir; I can shake it out of the 
band; but there is no worse grain to bind than 
green barley.” ‘ That is true. There are few 
binders yon hire who bind closer.” “ Well, well; 
that band is not tight enough—no use o’ talking; 
I tell you when the bundle gets dry it will shrink 
right out of that baud.” 
The farmers are right. The machine did not 
bind tight enough. T v lcott comes to my elbow 
and I tell him so. -It can bind tighter,” he re¬ 
plies. I know it, for I have seen it do it. The 
tension of the band is regulated by adjustment. 
A short stop would have changed the tension. 
But tho machino does not stop—so Talcott 
says : “ To-morrow, in the trial in wheat, we will 
show you we can bind tight enough.” But here 
were scores of farmers who came up to see the 
Binder operate, who went away at night, disap¬ 
pointed and did not return the next day to see it 
work in wheat. They called it a failure. If it 
could have bound tighter in barley it should have 
been stopped arid adjusted to do it. 
But bow did it work in wheat ? I went to see. 
A good team was drawing it, The grain was 
heavy, and stood up well. The machine was 
made to cut Us full width—five feet. The team 
waJ.ked fast; the forker and binder labored vigor¬ 
ously to take care of the grain. Bukso.n's blood 
was up. He did not like what the Suckers said 
of bis barley binding. The Binder is not to be 
called a failure if he can help it. He kicks the 
snugly bound bundles from the platform rapidly 
and spitefully, implying by his motion, “There, 
try that; stick your linger under that band if you 
can; shake the grain from it if yon wish. PH 
show you this binder is no failure.” Around 
went the reaper. Clink and jerk went the Binder; 
off dropped the bundles to be picked up by two 
muscular men and put in shocks. These men 
were compelled to work lively to keep up. At 
last the work was complete—tho acre of wheat 
cut, bound and shocked in forty-one minutes. A 
span of horses and five-men did it. Burson was 
congratulated. One farmer said, “I pronounced 
your Binder a big failure yesterday; to-day I 
pronounce it a big success.” And such was the 
verdict of all of us. 
The mechanical appearance of this Binder has 
been much improved since last year. There was 
some talk about the economy of its use among 
farmers. And it is proper to discuss it. Com¬ 
paring it with Marsh’s self-raker and haud- 
It compares well 
with other horse hav-forka I have seen; and in 
simplicity and elliciency I have seen none supe¬ 
rior to it. The peculiar feature noticeable in it, 
is its strength and lightness combined, resulting 
from the* peculiarity of its construction. 
HOW TO IMPROVE GRASS AND GRAIN. 
I have just received from the “ Department of 
Agriculture” the Monthly Report of the Condi¬ 
tion of Crops in the Loyal States. Speaking of 
grass, the report says: -“This crop is certainly 
injured very much from drouth generally, and, 
in certain localities, from freezing out The 
table for Juno shows it to he two-tenths below 
the standard appearance of a good crop.” 
This is the old story —“grass is light.” I 
am sure I have heard it nine years out of 
ten, for the last for -be the same more or less. 
That complaint is undoubtedly chronic—it runs 
thus—“ Grass is light, particularly old mead¬ 
ows.” Well! il old meadows are not os good as 
new, make them over; but mitid—you will want, 
something beside a plow and drag to do it with, 
if you expect a good crop. You must havo 
either manure or a miracle, and, judging (rom 
the past,. Lhere is about as much chance for one 
as the other. Grass, the back-bone of our agri¬ 
culture, is the most abused member of the vege¬ 
table kingdom;—it,seems to have no rights which 
anybody is bound to respect. If it was “black,” 
Mayberry’s Improved Harvester. — Al¬ 
though no premium was offered for a Header, 
this machine was on the ground and attracted a 
good deal of attention. It is a header, cutting 
ten feet wide, is propelled by six horses and 
requires six hands to operate it. With this help, 
three acres per hour are cut and put in a rick. 
It requires two teams to attend it and receive the 
beheaded wheat. The draft of the machine is 
light—only 375 lbs. The draft at the Dixon trial 
was put at 400 lbs. This machine is easily 
handled, raised and lowered with facility, turns 
the comers quickly, and is probably the best 
machine of the kind, all things considered, in the 
West. 
