ee weno Sur Lae Ya Be SE wT e Eneenee 
REAPING. 
tion, while the latter, keeping it tight within the | 
band, dries slowly. 
‘¢Tn regard to carrying and stalking, as has already 
been remarked, mown sheaves are closer and firmer 
at top than shorn ones, and, on this account, lose 
less grain by shedding than the latter, in the pro. 
cesses of carting and stacking. By observation, Iam 
quite satisfied that this is the case, but cannot say 
precisely to what extent, nor could it be easily as- 
certained. Sheaves cut by the sickle are even at 
the stubble end, an |, therefore, a stack wall is easier 
built of them than of mown sheaves, and has a more 
handsome appearance; but, being close, excludes 
the air from the interior, A stack wall of mown 
sheaves is rough but open, and can be put up with 
safety in a state of dampness, which would be de- 
structive to shorn sheaves. When a crop is reaped 
with the scythe by inexperienced hands, a consider- 
able quantity of grain is exposed on the outside of 
the stacks, owing to the straws having been irregu- 
larly laid into the sheaves; but with dexterous 
mowers, the quantity thus exposed will be very 
trifling, as it only happens when the wind blows in a 
direction contrary to that in which the crop has been 
laid by a previous storm, and not sufficiently strong to 
turn it completely back, that the mower finds it im- 
possible to make aneven swathe. A case of this kind 
rarely occurs, and when it does, the grain exposed 
in consequence need not be lost. A man with a 
scythe. blade fixed to a fork-shaft can dress a stack 
in an hour, spreading a sheet of canvass at the bot- 
tom to receive the heads of grain as they are cut off. 
With respect to carrying and stacking the work of 
the smooth and serrated sickles, provided they have 
been alike carefully performed, they are very little 
dissimilar. 
‘* In regard to thrashing of mown and shorn grain, 
the flailman gives preference to the latter, because 
the grain is more exposed to the action of his imple- 
ment, and is, therefore, more easily beaten out. In 
ordinary cases, a flailman can thrash about 10 per 
cent. more of shorn than of mown sheaves; and if 
the mowing has been improperly performed, the dif- 
ference will be still greater. A good machine will 
thrash the one kind as effectually and expeditiously 
as the other; but mown sheaves are more difficult to 
part asunder than shorn, and although a man may 
feed both kinds equally fast into the machine, the 
former fatigue him more, as they require greater 
force to separate them. As to thrashing the work 
of the smooth and serrated sickles, it is much the 
same; however, by the smooth sickle, some straws 
are apt to be laid in a wrong direction, and usually 
some rakings are left, and a feeble or imperfect ma- 
chine will not thrash the rakings and inverted straws 
perfectly—and, to thrash these well, they must be 
put twice through the machine. By the serrated 
sickle, fewer straws are in a wrong position, and 
there are no rakings to be dealt with. 
‘* As to the amount of work performed by differ- 
ent modes of reaping,—having had many opportuni- 
ties of ascertaining this point in various parts of 
Scotland, I shall here state what I have found to be 
the average amount of work performed by a band 
of reapers with scythes, and smooth and serrated 
sickles—the reapers being in every case thoroughly 
trained to their respective modes of reaping. Seven 
is the most convenient number, as six reapers re- 
quire one binder, and two mowers require five at- 
tendants, viz., two gatherers, two binders, and one 
raker. Seven reapers, then, will reap of an average 
crop in one day of ten hours: — 
Of Wheat. 
Of Oats or Barley. 
Acres. Roods. 
Poles. Acres. Roods. Poles. 
By the scythe, . . 2 3 0 4 0 20 
By the smooth sickle, 1] I NS} Py AKO) 
By the serrated sickle, 1 0 8 my (ONG) 
REAPING-MACHINE. 20 
This shows a considerable difference in favour of the 
scythe, although I have stated the average extent 
of land reaped by expert shearers when working 
briskly. In this district, it is thought no great feat 
for one man to mow three acres of a light crop in one | 
day; in fact, I have repeatedly done so myself, but 
with very great exertion; but of a fair crop two 
acres, or very little more, is as much as can be done; 
the mower might do more, but this is as much as 
two attendants can gather, bind, and stook, and a third 
cannot be employed to advantage. 
‘* As to the comparative merits of the different 
modes of reaping, the preceding facts show a differ- 
ence in favour of reaping by the scythe, with the 
exception of thrashing, which is comparatively an 
unimportant point, as the quantity of grain thrashed 
by the flail in Scotland is very triffing. ‘There is an- 
other and somewhat serious objection urged by the 
opponents of mowing, namely, that more is left by 
it for the rake than by shearing, and that that so left is 
either lost altogether or deteriorates the rest of the 
crop if mixed amongst it. This, I admit, is, in 
many instances, true enough; but is it an unayoid- 
able result of reaping by the scythe? Assuredly 
not. I beg to submit that I have employed mowers 
for ten harvests, and that the quantity left to the 
rake has not averaged more than 4} per cent., which 
is little more than what is commonly left by the 
smooth sickle, and I have neither left the rakings to 
rot in the fields, nor spoiled the rest of the crop by 
them; and I know no good reason why others should 
do so. When a crop is reaped by the serrated 
sickle, there is nothing left to the rake, but this is 
its only recommendation; it is otherwise a laborious 
and expensive mode of reaping, and has now, with 
few exceptions, given place to the smooth sickle and 
the scythe. As it is now little in use, few can reap 
with it without uprooting part of the straw. With 
respect to learning to reap with the scythe and 
either kind of sickle there is this difference,—be- 
ginners with the sickle very soon learn to reap neat 
enough, but are defective in point of speed,—be- 
ginners with the scythe very soon learn to reap fast 
enough, but are defective in point of neatness. Both 
mowers and gatherers require some instruction, be- 
sides a few days’ practice, before they can do their 
work properly; even although the former be good 
mowers of hay, they will require some practice in 
mowing grain, to enable them to lay it evenly in the 
swathe; but, if they are anxious to learn, a very 
short. time will suffice;—and until mowers and 
gatherers are both expert, their conjoint work will 
appear rough and defective.” 
REAPING-HOOK. See Sickuz. 
REAPING-MACHINE. A machine for cut- 
ting down corn-crops and other field crops by 
means of horse labour. It is desirable for the 
sake of saving expense of reaping, of creating in- 
dependence of temporary and precarious supplies 
of labourers, of expeditious harvesting in a fickle 
or critical season, of preventing over-ripeness in 
any part of suddenly and contemporaneously 
maturing crops, of commanding a competent 
harvesting apparatus for increasing breadths of 
corn cultivation in farms and districts, and of 
enabling farmers to thrash out a part of their 
crop immediately on its being carried from the 
field. Mr. Slight calculates, from the instance 
of the most recent good attempt at constructing 
an effective reaping-machine, that the expense 
of it, in the saving effected over the average 
cost of hand-reaping, would probably be saved 
