1851. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
II 
time. Four horses (or mules,) are required to ope¬ 
rate the machine throughout the day, without a 
change, though the draft is not more than two horse 
power; and it is attended by a boy to drive the team, 
and a man to rake the grain from it into gavels of 
suitable size for sheaves. Six or seven men, (or 
“ women,” as the case maybe,) are required to bind 
and shock the wheat. This is the estimated labor 
of harvesting wheat that stands up, and yields, say 
twenty to thirty bushels per acre. If the wheat be 
heavier, and fallen, the operation will of course be 
more difficult, and the speed retarded. 
This reaper has uniformly been warranted to cut 
one and a half to two acres of wheat or other small 
grain per hour, (equal to fifteen or twenty acres per 
day;) to save at least three-fourtlis of the wheat that 
would be scattered b}^ ordinary cradling; and it is 
also warranted to be durable. Perhaps the best evi¬ 
dence of the satisfaction given by the Reaper has been 
the continued large and increasing demand for it. 
It is constructed to cut as high or as low as requir¬ 
ed, and the sttumg of wheat by it, over that cut by 
the cradle , is estimated at not less than one bushel 
per aere, and in some situations more; the whole 
operation being more perfect than can possibly be 
done by hand labor in any way, and without being 
materially obstructed by “ May-weed, thistles, dock, 
&c.” u What will be the expense, per acre of 
wheat,” may be calculated from the foregoing. The 
following is the estimated cost here, as taken from a 
certificate signed by some hundreds of farmers who 
have used this Reaper, viz: 
Cost of Cradling and binding 16 acres of wheat; 8 eradlers and 8 bin¬ 
ders, at $1,25 : each,..; ...$20 00 
Cost of cutting and binding 16 acres of wheal with the reaper; 
two men, or a man and a boy with the machine, at $1,25 
and $1.00,..$2 25 
Five binders, (the grain being raked into gavels,) at 
$1.25,...... 6 25 
Use of four horses, (this number of horses in fact only- 
nominal,) .„... 1 50 
Total cost,... 10 00 
Which deducted, shows a saving in labor of half the 
whole expense, being per day saved,. $10 00 
Amounting at $10 per day, in cutting a harvest of 210 
acres, to,_............... 150 00 
To which add one bushel of wheat per acre, saved 
extra, (which is the lowest estimate made,) at 40 cts 
per bushel, ....... 96 00 
Making a total saving, in a harvest of 210 acres, of. .$246 00 
The cost of the labor per acre by this estimate, is 62£ cents. 
From which deduct for a bushel of wheat saved, 40 
And the actual cost is found to be, per acre,. 22£ cents 
I may add that this reaper has recently been pa¬ 
tented in England, with a view to its immediate in¬ 
troduction there,—one of them having been prepared 
for exhibition at the great "World’s Fair, in May 
next, and for which the gold medal of the c ‘ Ameri¬ 
can Institute” has been awarded. C. H. McCor¬ 
mick. Chicago, III., Nov. 12th, 1850. 
Letter in reference to different Reapers. 
Eds. Cultivator —Four years ago, the first har¬ 
vesting machine was brought into this county, and so 
fast did such machines come into favor with the 
farmers, that for the two seasons past nearly all the 
grain has been cut by them. Mr. McCormick, when 
introducing his Virginia reaper, warranted it to cut 
one and a half acres per hour, and save one bushel 
per acre more than by the ordinary mode of harvest¬ 
ing, or it might be returned. No machine has ever 
been returned to my knowledge, or any dissatisfac¬ 
tion expressed on account of a failure to fulfil the 
warrant. 
This machine, as well as others, has been greatly 
improved, while a host of new ones are brought into 
the harvest-field every year. In reply to the in¬ 
quiries of your London correspondent, I would say 
these machines are worked by horses, sometimes two 
being used, hut more generally four. Some of the 
machines require the horses to go by the side of the 
standing grain, while the machine works on one 
side. The cutting apparatus of others is directly in 
front of the horses. Some drop the grain directly 
behind, which must be bound before the machine 
comes round again, while others drop it at one side, 
and the whole field may be cut before any of it is 
removed. Some require a man to rake the grain 
from them; others are constructed for self raking, 
and one has been brought into the field the past 
season that does its own binding. 
The cost of these machines is from 75 to 125 dol¬ 
lars; the amount which they will cut per day, varies 
from 12 to more than 20 acres. The price charged 
per acre for cutting, is from 50 to 62^ cts. From 
seven to nine men are employed to bind and shock 
the grain. Women’s labor is too scarce and valuable 
to be employed in tying grain. These machines cut 
all the grain, and if the raker is careful none is 
scattered, and if the binders carry a rake and use 
it, none need be lost. Fields harvested by these 
machines present a beautiful appearance. The stub¬ 
ble is uniform in height, while no prostrate, scatter¬ 
ing straws speak of waste. If the binders have felt 
at all interested in doing their work well, there is 
nothing to glean with the sickle, bagging-hook, or 
rake- Weeds, brush, pitchforks, rakes, if standing 
