heavy wheat, on the Genesee flats, were
harvested in two hours and a quarter.

"In what condition is the wheat left, and how is the work done
where the wheat is lodged?

"The machine leaves the wheat in gavels large enough for a sheaf,
and where grain stands well enough to make fair work with the
cradle, it leaves the straw in as good condition to bind as the
gavels of a good reaper. Whether the grain stands or is lodged is
of little consequence, except as to the appearance of the sheaf,
and the necessity of saving more straw, when lodged, than is
desirable. The condition of the sheaf when the grain is lodged
depends much upon the adroitness of the raker.

"What number of hands, and what strength of team is necessary to
manage the machine advantageously?

"Two men, one to drive the team and the other to rake off the
wheat, and two horses, work the machine; but when the grain is
heavy, or the land mellow, a change of horses is necessary, as the
gait of the horses is too rapid to admit of heavy draft. The
horses go at the rate of four to five miles an hour, and when the
growth of straw is not heavy a fair trot of the team is not too
much.

"Is the machine liable to derangement and destruction from its own
motion?

"This is a question which cannot be so directly answered as the
others. We have only used the machine to cut about fifty acres,
and have had no trouble; judging from appearances so far, should
say it was as little subject to this evil as any machinery
whatever. The wear upon the cutting part being so little as to
require not more than fifteen minutes sharpening in a day; there
is no loss of time on this score.

"Is the sheaf a good one to thresh?

"The man who has fed the threshing machine with the grain of
twenty acres cut by this machine, says the sheaves are much better
than those of cradled grain, and quite as good as those of a
reaper.

"There is one more advantage beyond ordinary inquiries, of
consequence, where so much grain is raised as in this valley; be
the grain ever so ripe, there is no waste of grain by any
agitation of the straw, and all the waste which can take place
must arise from the handling and shaking in binding.

"I am yours, etc.,

"WM. C. DWIGHT.

"Moscow, Livingston Co., N. Y., Nov. 14, 1834.

"N. B.