Obed Hussey Part 12

"WM. BUTLER, J. H. TAYLOR, W. SHORTT, JOSEPH M'MURRAN, DANIEL G. HENKLE, DAVID L. HENSELL, W. G. BUTLER, JAS. S. MARKELL, V. M. BUTLER, ANDREW M'INTIRE, ADAM SMELL, GEORGE TABB, JOHN MARSHALL."

"Washington County, "Aug. 7th, 1845.

"I hereby certify that I have used Mr. Obed Hussey's wheat cutter through the late harvest, and that it answered my fullest expectations, in every respect, except that it will not cut when the wheat is _damp from rain or the dews of the morning_. I cut 140 acres of wheat with it in nine days; and on one occasion, cut off thirty acres in eighteen hours, from daylight in the morning until 11 o'clock the next day, and with the same four horses, never having changed them during that time.

"JOHN R. DALL."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hussey's Rear-Delivery Reaper.

(From "Who Invented the Reaper?" by R. B. Swift.)]

"Oaklands (near Geneva), N. Y.

"26th August, 1845.

"_Mr. Obed Hussey, Baltimore:_

"Dear Sir:--Having housed all the grain crops of this farm, it is due to you that I should now frankly admit the removal of all my doubts in regard to the effectiveness and excellence of your 'Reaping Machine.' The doubts expressed in my early correspondence with you arose from the many abortive attempts in this country and in England to produce a reaping machine, possessing power and simplicity and durability; most of them were complicated, and proved too fragile.

"Soon after the arrival of your machine, I tried its power and became readily familiar with the manner of using it; the result of my experience will appear from the following facts:

"The wheat crop of this farm covered 104 acres, producing 2,540 shocks, 30,480 sheaves, as counted on the ground, and again when housed in the grain barn and sheds.

"The whole crop was cut by your reaping machine in eight days, using one team, a boy to drive and a man to manage the machine.

"The average quant.i.ty cut per day was thirteen acres.

"The largest quant.i.ty cut on any one day was seventeen acres.

"The longest period for working the machine on any one day was nine hours.

"Seven men were stationed on the field to bind the sheaves.

"The cost of _cutting_ the wheat with your machine is _twenty-five cents_ per acre.

"The total cost for cutting, raking, binding and shocking is _seventy-eight cents and a fraction_ per acre.

"The cost may be stated as follows, viz:

A man and team for eight days at $1.50 per day $12.00

A boy to drive for eight days at fifty cents per day 4.00

Interest on cost of machine and for wear and tear, say at 10 per cent 10.00 ______ $26.00

"Which is equal to 25 cents per acre on 104 acres. The seven men employed to rake and bind received, each, $1 per day for eight days, say $56, which sum added to the cost for cutting or reaping, gives a total cost of $82, or 78-88/100 cents per acre.

"I have compared this cost with the cost paid by my neighboring farmers this season, and find it vastly in favor of your machine.

The individual in this town who harvested with the most economy paid $1 13/100 per acre--other farmers have paid from $1 25/100 to $2 per acre.

"Since the wheat harvest the machine has cut with signal advantage about twenty acres of oats.

"The wheat and oats were cut with such neatness and precision that the gleanings were not sufficient to pay the labor of raking.

"The machine remains in perfect order, and did not fail to perform all you promised.

"I deem it one of the best labor-saving machines ever offered for the advantage of the farmer; its effectiveness, simple and durable construction, have been witnessed with satisfaction by a large number of my neighbor farmers.

"Respectfully yours,

"J. DELAFIELD."

The machine alluded to in the above letter is the low priced one at $100.

For 1846, 1847 and 1848 we copy from the _Richmond Planter_ and _American Farmer_--and all from North Carolina, though the evidence from other sections is much more extended, and equally as conclusive:

"Somerset Place, Washington Co., "North Carolina 25th Aug. 1847.

"_To the Editor of the American Farmer:_

"Dear Sir:--Yours of the 6th ult. arrived at my residence during my absence in consequence of which I was unable to return you an answer in time for your August number of the _American Farmer_. I trust, however, the delay will not materially affect the value of my communication. In consequence of the recommendation of a gentleman who had used "Hussey's Reaper" in the harvest of 1846 with much satisfaction, I was induced to make a trial of one the present season. It was put in operation under the direction and supervision of Mr. Hussey himself, upon a field of reclaimed low ground, originally Cypress Swamp, which of course could only be cultivated in beds--these beds were six feet wide, including the water-furrow between, and were intersected at intervals of about fifty yards by drains, known to us as _tap-ditches_, which cross the water furrows at right angles, and are cut from two to four inches deeper than the furrows themselves. I am particular in describing the land, as I had always supposed that an insuperable obstacle in the way of the regular action of any machine would be found in the irregularity of surface into which our land is necessarily thrown by our system of culture. The machine surmounted every antic.i.p.ated difficulty, and was eminently successful, both in cutting lengthwise with the beds and across them. The wheat was cut in a most thorough manner; nothing escaped the cutting surfaces, nor did weeds or any other obstruction of the kind hinder the machine from doing its work perfectly. During the running of the machine one day in the harvest, seventeen acres of wheat were cut by it.[6] This was done by using relays of horses, four at each time, the same hands being employed, however, and the working time was twelve hours. After a heavy rain we were obliged to abandon the use of the machine, owing to the fact that the ground became so soft that the "road wheel" as it is termed, buried in the soil, and would become clogged with mud. This difficulty can, I have no doubt, be easily overcome by increasing the "tread" of this wheel, and making some slight alteration in the cog-wheel which gears into it.

[6] When Mr. Hussey was with me I informed him that the piece of wheat cut by the machine on this occasion equalled twenty acres, but I have since discovered that I had been mistaken in my calculation of the acre.

[Sidenote: A McCormick Failure]

"Some two years since I saw an experiment made upon an adjoining estate with McCormick's machine; it cut occasionally well where the wheat was free from weeds, but any obstruction from that source would immediately choke it, when of course the wheat would be overrun without being cut. The experiment proved a failure, and the machine was laid aside. The blade in this machine appears to me to be too delicate in its cutting surface to succeed, except under the most favorable circ.u.mstances. Quite a number of McCormick's have been in use in this part of the country during the last two years, and to my inquiries concerning them I have received but one answer and that an unfavorable one. The few of Hussey's machines, on the contrary, that have been employed within my ken, have in each instance given entire satisfaction. I do not hesitate to say that when well managed, with a skilful hand at the rake, in dry wheat (I do not recommend it when the straw is wet), it will, as compared with _ordinary_ cutting, save per acre the _entire expense of reaping_, from the thorough manner in which every stalk is cut, thus preventing loss or waste.

"Believing, as I do, that a great desideratum to those who grow wheat upon a large scale, is to be found in Mr. Hussey's reaper, I cannot but wish that both he and they may _reap_ the benefit of its general adoption.

"I am, sir,

"Very respectfully your ob't serv't,

"JOSIAH COLLINS."

"Edenton, N. C., "January 25th, 1848.

"_To the Editor of the American Farmer:_

"Dear Sir:--Some months ago I received a letter from you, making enquiries of me relative to Hussey's Reaping Machine. When your letter reached me I was on the eve of leaving home for the summer, and since my return home, my engagements have been of such a character as to cause me until the present to neglect replying to it.

"I have used one of Hussey's machines one season, and though under circ.u.mstances not very favorable for the machine, I take pleasure in stating that its operation was satisfactory. During my harvest, which was about three weeks' duration, this machine was kept constantly at work, with the exception of a day and a half, yet I did not ascertain how many acres it would reap. Mr. Collins, of Lake Scuppernong also used one last season, and from him I learned that he cut upwards of twenty acres a day.

"There is certainly much less wheat left in the field by one of these machines than is by the ordinary method of reaping by the scythe or reap hook; it cuts close, lays the straw smoothly, thus rendering tying of it in sheaves much easier.

"I have witnessed McCormick's, which I consider _a poor affair_, and _meriting no consideration_ except a dissent from me. Many of this last kind of reaper found their way here a few years ago; they now, or rather their remains, may be seen lying in the field whence they will never be removed.