110 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



he curves up the fingers a little in front, so that, on meeting an obstruction, they will be 

 likely to rise ap and slide over tin.- same; secondly, in the attachment of the finger-bar to 

 the frame, he employs springs in such a manner that when one end of the finger-l tax strikes 

 a stone, the bar yields, and easily glides over the obstacle, without raising the whole machine. 



Burgess's Improved Reaper. — An Rn gliqti reaper has been recently patented in the United 

 Stat \ ignst, 1866,) the peculiar improvement of which consists in employing the prin- 



ciple of the Archimedean screw for the purpose of delivering or laying off the cut grain as 

 it falls upon a platform. 



Rug,. '' er and Reaper. — This machine differs from most others in the fact that the 

 horses are placed behind the cutting apparatus, by which the side draught is avoided, and 

 the driver sits behind them, guiding the machine 1 > v a sort of rudder-wheel underneath his 

 seat. It has some advantages and some disadvantages as compared with others, being 

 somewhat complicated, has much more weight of material, occupies more space, and is not 

 so readily managed in turning about ; it performs its work, however, most creditably. 



Improvements in Maize Harvesters. 



Three patents for machines for harvesting Indian corn were granted, during 1854, to 

 James S. Burnham, of West Jefferson, Ohio ; 0. A. Bruce, of Mechanicsburg, Illinois ; and 

 William Lapham, of Salem, Ohio. 



In the invention of Burnham, the machine is mounted on a truck frame, the cutters being 

 arranged in front, in connection with horizontal reels, which receive the falling stalks, and 

 lay them in a position to lie bundled. 



In the machine of Bruoe, the stalks are severed by oblique rotary cutters, placed upon the 

 side of a truck, and revolving through motion communicated from the wheels of the carriage. 

 As the stalks fall down, they are caught by revolving arms, and by an ingenious arrange- 

 ment deposited in bundles upon the ground. 



The invention of Lapham was for an improved reel for collecting the stalks. 



An intelligible description of these machines cannot be given without engravings ; they 

 all, however, appear to answer the end for which they were intended. 



Experimental Trials of Mowing and Reaping Machines. 



Dciun*; the past season, numerous experimental trials of the various popular mowing and 

 reaping machines have been instituted by various agricultural societies in different seotions 

 of the country. The following is a summary of the reported results of the principal experi- 

 mental trials : — 



The first trial IW have to notice was instituted by the State Agricultural Society of Illinois, 

 in the summer Of 1864, to test the respective merits of Manny's reaper, and Atkins's self- 

 raking reaper, (1600 being proposed as the premium. The last-named reaper is distin- 

 guished ia the report as Wright's, the name of the manufacturer. The trial lasted several 



daj J , and the report of the umpires gives the following as some of the results : 



Wright cut 2QM acres in IS hours and 66 minutes; Manny cut 20]^j acres in 10 hours 

 and '■'< minutes. Time consumed in reaping, binding, ami si,,, eking: Wright's first field, 

 DOUnd in 18 llOUH and '_'•"> minutes; Wright's second field. -I |^j acres, bound in 

 26 hours and 80 minutes; sli«M-k<'>l in I hours and 88] minutes. Manny's tirst field, :; |V(5 

 acre-, raked and bound U 26 houn and 17 minutes, (this included tfal time Of the raker, 

 who standi "" ""' machine ; | shooked in i hours and 40 minutes. 



refused to decide between the two reapers, declaring the contest so close as 

 to render it impossible to say which was the beat. 



Under the auspices of Ikt weatoheeter (New York) Agricultural Society, a trial of mow- 

 ing machinal tool ptaea at Bedford, New York, June 15, 1855. The following machines 

 wars entered for trial : — 



Ketchum - machine, manufactured by Howard & Co., of Buffalo, New York. 

 Russcl's machine, manufactured by EL M. Pease, of Albany, New York. 



