338 THE CULTIVATOR Oct. 
wheeler’s COMBINED THRESHER AND WINNOWER. 
€\t /nrrair'H $n\t-%wk, 
Wheeler’s Combined Thresher and Winnower. 
This machine was invented and patented by Thomas 
B. Wheelr, of the firm of Wheeler, Melick & Co., 
Albany. As the name purports, it is designed for 
threshing and cleaning grain at one operation. The win¬ 
nowing apparatus ma^ be fitted to powers of either one 
or two horses ; the cut represents the latter, and with 
this power the machine is capable of getting out 150 
bushels of wheat, or 800 bushels of oats in a day. The 
number of hands required depends much on the facili¬ 
ties for working the machine, the convenience of feeding, 
and the room for disposing of the straw. We saw it in 
operation lately, in threshing mowed oats, which were 
not in the best order, and it worked at the rate of 40 
tushels an hour—cleaning the grain in a thorough man¬ 
ner—the number of hands employed being four men and 
two boys. 
The cost of the whole apparatus, as above represent¬ 
ed, is $200; the additional cost on account of the win¬ 
nower, is $55. Further particulars "ill be learned from 
the advertisement of Messrs. Wheeler & Co. 
Harvesting Indian Com. 
Eds. Cultivator —I notice in the Cultivator for Sep¬ 
tember, under the head “ Harvesting Indian Corn,” an 
implied call for an experiment I made about 12 years 
since, in which I was highly gratified. 
I made an experiment on about one and a half acres, (I 
should judge,) by topping the stalks on half the piece— 
divided by plats of four rows each, commencing with two 
rows topped, then left four untopped, then topped four, 
and so on, through the piece, ending at the last side as I 
began, with two rows untopped—so that just half of the 
corn was topped and half left untopped, and the division 
so made as to leave no difference in the. quality or quan¬ 
tity of corn in either part. The rows were north and 
south. 
It is so long since I made the experiment that I am 
unable to give the details as to the time of cutting, the 
exact amount of difference, 8cc. The above piece was 
topped, (or half of it) as above described, at the usual 
time of topping in that section of country, Franklin 
county, Mass., on the east of the Connecticut river. 
The corn was planted on my land, by a neighbor, upon 
shares, and his share was half, and the reason of my 
making this experiment was, I was convinced that corn 
lost more by topping than by cutting up at the bottom, 
while my neighbor belived otherwise. When the corn 
was ripe, we gathered it in the same day, husking it 
in the field, weighing the ears as we put them into the 
wagons, and the result was, I had from my half of the 
piece, divided as above described, and left to ripen in the 
order of nature, 1400 lbs., while the owner of the other 
half, which was topped, had only 1112 lbs. from his part, 
making a difference of nearly 300 lbs. 
It is proper to mention that we were satisfied that his 
corn was a little the dryest, but deduct 50 lbs. of the 
overplus on that account and it leaves more difference 
than the value of the tops he took off. 
I had another piece of about an acre in the same field, 
but planted myself and having no partnership about it. 
About 10 or 12 days after my neighbor had topped his 
part of the former piece, a frost came, and supposing it 
to be so severe on the corn that it was best to cut it up 
at the bottom, I went into it with my help and cut about 
half of that piece, on one side. We found on the dry¬ 
ing off of the frost and dew, &c., that the corn was not 
as badly injured by the frost as we had anticipated, so I 
left the remainder to ripen as before, in the order of na¬ 
ture. * 
When we gathered the corn, we took the same method 
to ascertain the proportional quantity, by weighing the 
‘ears, and found about half the difference in quantity in 
favor of the part standing, that we found on the former 
piece. It may be proper here to remark that we cut it 
up a little earlier, in relation to its ripened condition, 
than is commonly done when cut up at bottom, and 
somewhat later than the usual time of topping. 
Now from the above two experiments, we obtain two 
important items of information. First, the most corn 
