1 Dzc., 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 415 
to lie on the ground. The stalks are then seized and kept erect by hooks of a 
peculiar shape, fixed on endless chains, moving rapidly towards the back of the 
machine. ‘The stalks are meanwhile being cut, close to the ground, by an 
ingenious combination of a V-shaped fixed knife with a movable triangular 
knife, and carried further back into the gatherer. When there is enough of 
these to form # bundle or sheaf, a curved needle passes round and ties it in a 
way analogous to that used in reapers and binders to bind wheat-sheaves—with 
this difference, that in the cornharvester the stalks and sheaves are constantly 
in a standing or vertical position. A little curved knife cuts automatically the 
twine, and a simple device throws the bundle gently on the ground in less time 
than it takes to describe it. A man follows picking up the sheaves and 
stooking them in the field, where they are left until stalks and cobs are 
thoroughly dry. Stooking is easy enough, provided the work is done carefully 
and conscientiously. The stook should be started with four sheaves, the tops 
of whichare kept together with a twine-tie, whilst the bottoms should be well 
spread; otherwise the wind is sure to blow the whole stook down. Other 
sheaves can now be added all round. In that way the crop can stand a good 
deal of rain and bad weather without being in any way injured. 
On a level clean ground, the Columbia Cornharvester can cut up to 8 and 
perhaps 10 acres aday. On dirty ground, the wheels get sometimes clogged with 
grass. This 'could be easily obviated by fixing an iron sheet under the cogwheels. 
Tt saves all the stalks as a fodder, and a valuable fodder it is when chaffed and 
mixed with some lucerne or cowpea chaff. It makes the land ready for the 
plough some three or four weeks earlier than with the ordinary method of 
harvesting, thus allowing it to be ploughed before the autumn weeds have taken 
hold of it, and early enough for wheat-sowing. And last, but not least, it 
saves about 90 per cent, of the harvesting expenses. It might be objected that 
the implement, which costs from £30 to £40, is too expensive to be within 
reach of most farmers. So it is, but so are also reapers and binders, wheat 
threshers, &c. As in the case of the two last-mentioned implements, the 
difficulty can be overcome either by a few farmers combining to buy one or by 
a more wealthy farmer buying one for his own use, and cutting his neighbours’ 
crops at a reasonable price, which would, I am sure, give satisfaction to all 
interested parties. 
And then, forthose who cannot in any way get the use of a cornharvester, the 
writer has made recently, at the Westbrook Experiment Farm, an exceedingly 
simple implement which cuts—but does not tie—from 10 to 12 acres a day, 
with a single horse and a man to drive it. It costs a trifle, and is thus within 
the reach of the shortest purse. It would certainly do for the small farmer 
who has a.family to do the tieing and stooking. It can be also of service to 
the dairyman, who can cut with it every morning one or two rows of greenstutt 
for his cows. 
As there have been inquiries for it from various parts of the colony, I 
give here an illustration and a short description of the machine which will 
enable any farmer to make it himself, with only one or two pieces of iron to 
be got from any country blacksmith. 
Take a piece of hardwood 8 inches by 4 inches—5 feet long. To this 
attach a hook on the front end to hang the swinglebar on. Then, about 6 inches 
from the end, fix a wheel from an old plough, and on the other end a pair of 
old plough-handles. Now take two pieces of hardwood, 4 inches by 2 inches, 
4 feet long, and fix them on both sides of the centre piece by means of strong 
hinges, situated about 1 foot from the front end, which will allow them to 
open and shut at will, as required, to cut rows standing from 2 to 6 feet apart. 
Those side pieces are kept at the proper distance from each other by means of 
wooden cross pieces, 2 inches by 2 inches, provided with a few holes, and fixed 
by means of bolts, say, 1 foot from the back-ends of the side pieces. They are 
then bolted together on the centre piece. 
Now the machine is complete except for a knife and a bender, which are 
both fixed on the right-side wooden piece. 
