Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-09-11
An Invention Called For.

From the Correspondence Of the Scientific American.
There is one invention which is very
much needed by the farmers of Amer
lea, one which would add millions TO
their income. millions to the commerce
of our country, and one which, il il can
be invented and successfully operated,
will make the inventor millionaire. Ii
is some kind of q machine by which the
loss in the wheat crop will be reduced
to, say, one-tifth of the crop.
will give you an idea of the loss in
the crop by stating an experiment which
| have tried this summer to test the loss.
A neighbor had field OF SIS acres near
my house, which was judged to make 10
to 20 bushels per acre. When fully ripe
| selected one square yard, which ! was
sure was less than an average OF the
field, cut, dried and rubbed it out care
fully. IL weighed g OF. Calculating
from that datum, the field made 2,51l
bushels. When the crop was cut it was
saved as clean ~ is usual, and was AS
cleanly thrashed as any ever saw and
yet he only got $3.50 bushels, which
shows a clear loss OF .52l bushels; in
other words, he saved about two.iiiths
and lost three.tfths of the crop.
have never known more than one.
half OF a crop saved even by the most
careful management. 1t seems TO me
that one.ii fifth, or 500 bushels, in 2.5OO
would be heavy loss, but when il is
| 800 in crop of 300, it is unbearable.
think if you will present this subject
through the Scientific american. TO the
inventive geniuses Of our country, that
some OF them will probably invent ma.
chineFy by which thia tremendous loss
will be at least greatly reduced. IL may
be proper to say that the wheat was cut
with cradles, and cut very clean, the
field thoroughly raked, and il was
thrashed by an \ No. | steam thrasher.
Will the farmers who see this try similar
experiments next harvest and note their
losses! Very respectfully,
W. F. CoSNoR.
King. George Co, Va, July %, 1879.
We copy the above as I'm example
OF the wild figuring and loose asser-
ton which even intelligent men are
sometimes misled into. 1t may be
true that ''ligures will not lie," but
Mr.. Connor has succeeded in making
them tell some queer stories. The
farmer did not fully expect to got
more than eight hundred and fifty
bushels from the field, and his widest
hopes only reached to seventeen hun
drcd, and yet when the crop was
harvested, and the actual measure.
ment reached the respectable average
OF something more than thousand
bus hels, his neighbor, Mr.. Connor,
Just testitics that it was cut very
clean, thoroughly raked and well
thrashed, and then mourns over loss
of threc-iifths of the crop. The pro-
cess by which Mr.. Connor arrives at
the conclusions which impcl him to
make his absurd statement is quite
as absurd as the statement itself.
We cannot think that it would
occur to any one but Mr.. Connor TO
"rub out" the wheat which grew upon
n single square yard of ground, and
upon the slender basis of its return
assert the loss of three.filhs of the
crop on the eighty-five acre field Of
which it was part, and one-half of
the entire crop of the country. Pos
sibly Mr.. Connor's neighbors in vir-
ginia waste one-half of their crops by
carelessness in harvesting and thrash.
ing, but if he will come to Centre
county We will show him better work
than that. We hope that more of
our farmers will try "similar expert.
mebts next harvest If experiments
of this sort are to serve any substan.
tial end they must be much more
carefully made than was Mr.. Connor's.