Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-11-23
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ALEXANDRIA. GAZETTE E..
TERMS OF ADVERTISING:
LABOR SAVING IMPLEMENTS.

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~, LABOR SAVING IMPLEMENTS s
:itsA An interesting article from the pen of Col.
Johnson, President Of Randolph Macon Col
Il ege, upon the 'subjeet Of farming in the West,
has recently made, it's appearance in tie Rich
mond Christian Advocate, and it contains SO
IN many reflections which may be profitable to the
farmers of Virginia, ,at this time, that We trans
fer portion Of his observations TO these-ool--
umns, aid hope. our agricultural friends will
profit by the information conveyed. h..'!':
y OF the extent to which machineryis employ.
ed IN substitution ofihuman labor, in the scene
of its operations Col J. testifesi in the follow
ing extract, which, from its PRACTICAL interest,
q We sIyiiv give at some length: - ,l,3.1
1,.' 1,..'ss:I have lately travelled extepsYeyin Illinois,
Iowa and AlissOuri. and will give you Isome ac-
.ilcount of what L saw. - Laudng at Dubuque,
.fIowa,I travelleds out on the L ubuque and
y Sioux, City railroad a hundred and forty;
miles, and there procuring a buggy, travelled.
north nearly to the Minnesota line, and oirclel
: round in the west, and returned to the point
where left the railroad. Every depot that |
passed was crowded with an, kinds Of agricultu-
raj machinery. Every farm [ saw, mo matter
how humble the dwelling, had these labor
% savers. confess / never saw so much wheat
aud oats aud corn, and so few people to raise it.
There, men break up their land with strong
teams, pulling sat the same time two or three.
plows attached to the same beam, that run two
OF three furrows, and all operated by one man.
When, the land is broken, up the farmer puts in
his wheat with the seeder, ,ot which there are two
kinds one that drills the wheat and the other
THAT sows it's broadcast. The machineIis on two
wheels and drawn by two horses - the box is
filed with wheat, and the farmer, mounts On
ton, of: the box and drives backwards and for
wardstill the whole field is seeded and covered.
When. he plants his corn he brings out his
colrn:planter, bitches two horses, puts his corn
in the box, mounts the machine and goes ahead.
Tt lays off the ground, drops the seed and COW
ers it up When the corn comes up he brings
out his sulky plow--with its wheels nearly as
large as the Old fashioned sulky- beneath the
axle Of which is suspended four tplows, which
can be regulated to throw the dirt from or to
the corn. The horses walk 'inathe middle Of
the rows, the wheels straddle the corl!row, and
in the early powing two revolving solid wheels
prevent all possibility OF, covering up the corn.
When, the corn gets strong so as to- bear the
4dirt, these wheels are taken. off, and the plows
are made to hill the corn. The DRIVER has the
means of regulating the depth of, the ploWs,
and by the means of alever lifts the plows over
rocks or other Instructions. All the plowlng
Of corn after planting is done with the suky
plow. This plow enables one man with two
horsesto do the work Of four men, ,efour plows
and four horses BY the ordinary methods. The
great saving is, that it. absolutely dispenses
With, the labor Of three men and two horses,
and thereby saves their, wages and feeding -7-.
This saving. Isl enormous, and constitutes
great profit In talking with a gentleman
about this plow4 said he, if We choose we can
fasten an umbrella to the back of the seat, and
the driver sitsin the shade all day ; a man with
one leg is about as efficient ias a tWolegged
man land having driven my sulky all the week
in the corn field, I car, take of the plows on
Saturday night, and ride to meeting in it on
Sunday..,3 .,.a.la.s3. l.'Eh 49'
When the wheat and oats get ripe they are
cut with the reaping machine5 OF which there
are many patterns There is the Nc Comrick,
= Nanny, Buckeye Excelsior, and many others,
which bear The, name Of the inventor, [ saw
. various kinds used, and found that different
Opinions existed as to the value Of tie several
The Mccormick and Buckeye
seemed to be most used along my route oftravel.
Il saw both in operation, and, both seemed to
possess some advantages. The McCormick
required four horscsto draw 1T. and in addl-
tion man stood on the machine to raj ke OFT the
wheat. But it cut a Very wide row. The
Buckeye required but two horses, and the drl-
yer threw off the wheat into bundles by simply
manipulating lever which he always held
In bis hand. For small farmers II would prefer
the latter. Another reaper has recently been
kod- &C. hv w
it is SO arranged that two men stand on the
machine and do 1.-the binding. The machine
throws the wheat into bundles ready for the
binders, and tits found that two active men
can bind all the machine cuts l learned also
q that still more important invention has been
made recently-a machine that cuts of the
s. heads of the wheat and leaves the straw stand
ing intthe field. This, machine leaves the
straw for manure to the next crop and saves
the handling of the straw, which f,ls lmmense
labor, and more valuable as manure than any
thing else. In practice L found thatIS OF 10
acres day were cutgby a reaper, and trial ex-
periments show that twenty acres CAP be cut
by some machines drawn by two horses. ln all
my journey L did not see or hear Of tn ordlna-
~ grain cradle, So common among ns!
e.l iAll grass in the West is. cut by the mower,
drawn by two horses it israked by q machine
pulled BY one horse ii. shafts and the rake IS
completely under The! control of the driver.
The cocks are drawn to the stacks by pne horse
99n.alvery simple mechanical arrangement, and
}, aolsted up by "a machine operated py morse
power called aIsSstacker. htn.a e's713f:
!. In the West treading yards saare upknown.- -
All grains are re- gota oft and famed by the
d atthresher-a most bea1titap and Splendid ma;
chine Il IS IpeEamapsnt ea on yheels, and ID
Z sas readily hauled about an ordinary loau
90 Of wood. Generally, jtris operated 10y hqrse
power but tits getting serg, &c common to driye