42 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
HUSSEY’S REAPER. 
in the way, and even horses legs, are all cut smooch 
alike. Weeds make heavy raking, that is all. 
Now as one man can cut from two to five acres 
per day with a cradle, of the grain that stands up¬ 
right, and another can rake and hind it, it may be 
supposed that there is no great difference in the ex¬ 
pense per acre, by hiring a machine or cutting by 
hand; but other considerations render the machine 
valuable in the estimation of farmers. First, it is 
supposed that it saves over and above other modes 
enough to pay for cutting, if not the whole expense 
for harvesting, and then it cuts lodged and crinkled 
grain readily, saving much in both labor and grain; 
and again, it enables us to cut our grain in season, 
which we could not do with the limited amount of 
help in the country. 
There are other machines at work in the harvest- 
field, differing from those to which your correspon¬ 
dent’s inquiries alluded. They take th o'heads of the 
grain only, dispensing with binding and shocking. 
This machine is really a labor saving machine, 
yet, on account of the prejudice in favor of the time- 
honored custom of binding grain, they are working 
themselves but slowly into use. Those who have 
tried them cannot be induced to return to the old 
method. The grain as it is gathered in and cut by 
these machines, is thrown into a canvass which car¬ 
ries it one side and deposits it in a wagon-box, made 
for the purpose, and driven by the side of the ma¬ 
chine. From sixteen to twenty acres can be cut and 
put in rick in a day, by six men and eight horses. 
The only objection raised against this mode of har¬ 
vesting, is the danger of the grains damaging in the 
rick, but the testimony of all who have tried it is 
in its favor. In a damper climate than this, it might 
not save well; but here, with our sunny sky and 
pure air, I think there is no danger. If we had 
your correspondent’s two hundred acres of wheat 
here on the prairies, we would, in two weeks time, 
with six men and eight horses, put it all in rick for 
him, wasting no more than he will with all his men 
and his women. 
We are doing more here than your correspondent 
or many of your readers may be aware of. Horses 
will soon do our haymaking as well as harvesting. 
For three years or more, there has been in use a 
harvesting machine that has been made to cut timothy 
and timothy and clover mixed, but not until this 
year has there been any thing presented to the pub¬ 
lic that would cut our prairie grasses, some of which 
are the most difficult of all to cut by machinery. 
At the late fair of the Buel Institute held at Gran¬ 
ville, Putnam county, two machines of different 
patterns were exhibited, and tested in cutting prairie 
grass, to the entire satisfaction of all. One of the 
machines clogged in some of the worst places, but 
the other cut its way through every thing as close or 
closer to the ground than a scythe, leaving the grass 
in a much better condition to dry. I learn that one 
of these last mentioned machines was used some 
few miles east of us, working to the entire satisfac¬ 
tion of its owner and all others who witnessed its 
operation. Both of these machines are also designed 
for harvesters, and both are manufactured at Ottawa, 
in this county. The price of the latter I understand 
is 75 dollars. L. L. Bullock. La Salle County y 
Illinois , November , 1850. 
^Letter in reference to Hussey’s Reaper. 
Editors Cultivator —In answer to inquiry about 
reaping machines, page 379 of the Cultivator for 
1850, I would state that I have used one of Hussey’s 
for two years. Our wheat crop was not heavy in 
straw in 1849, and we cut with two horses, chang¬ 
ing twice a day, on an average, rather over fourteen 
acres. This season the straw was very heavy, and 
I could not get over from ten to eleven acres cut per 
day, even using three horses at a time, and changing 
horses twice or oftener per day. The machine ought 
never to be worked with two horses,except the grain is 
quite light. It requires about seven men to bind after 
the reaper, one man to drive the team, and another 
to push off the sheaves from the platform of the reap¬ 
er. In this way, I think wheat can be taken up as 
clean as in any way I am acquainted with; even the 
best reapers cannot do it so clean. It leaves a stub¬ 
ble of about seven and a-half inches in length; it can 
be cut lower, but then it is harder on the team. 
Much “ May-weed” might impede the cutting some¬ 
what, but docks and thistles would not hinder. 
Any grain requires to be fully ripe before it is cut 
with the reapers, as it is impossible for a man to push 
off the cut grain from the platform when cut in a raw 
state. It is, on the whole a wonderful labor-saving 
machine, as even in heavy grain, nine men may cut, 
bind and shock, ten acres per day. The reaper 
