AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS AND RURAL ECONOMY. 115 



by those who wish to buy machines ; and, 3. That the awards of different committees may 

 be understandingly compared. 



It is idle for any committee, no matter how capable of judging clearly and correctly, to 

 jump at a decision in the aggregate between the claims of rival reapers, so many of which 

 are established as good machines; some of them, perhaps, nearly equal in all important 

 respects, and no one of which is best on every point. A comparison must be instituted between 

 them, and a careful decision had upon each specific point. Having a scale of these various 

 points, with their relative value fairly apportioned, even an inferior committee could hardly 

 fail to arrive at a pretty correct award. 



Such has been the character of most of the trials, that the decisions have little weight. 

 The premiums at one trial are given to certain machines, and in the adjoining county or 

 state the verdict is reversed, and other machines declared best. None of the details upon 

 which judgment was formed being known, it is impossible for a farmer not at the trials to 

 get any aid from them in selecting a reaper. Indeed the variety of verdicts given in this 

 blind manner tends to confuse him ; whereas, had the decisions been given upon each specific 

 point, he could, by comparison of the reports, decide which reaper was best suited to his 

 circumstances. 



It is important for farmers to have such machines used in trials as are ordinarily built 

 and sold to them. They do not want to be misled by a machine of extra cost and finish 

 taking the highest prize. They want to see the machines tried that they have got to buy. 

 Therefore, let all societies introduce a rule to this effect ; and if any manufacturer is found 

 trying to work underhandedly or unfairly on this or other points, he should be excluded 

 from the trial and the award at the judgment of the committee. 



The following scale is not offered to the public as being perfect, but as being an improve- 

 ment upon any plan as yet proposed. It has received the careful consideration of farmers 

 well acquainted with machines and with public trials, and has been altered so that it meets 

 the united approval of leading persons in the agricultural societies of five different States. 



Scale of Points in Trials of Reapers. 



Cost of machine. 



Simplicity of construction to do its work. 



Facility of management, including time and room required for turning. 



Durability and reliability. 



Adaptation to varied and uneven surfaces, and to cutting at different heights. 



Freedom of the knife from clogging by fibrous or gummy matter. 



Motive power, or power required for a given amount of work. 



Manual labor in raking. • 



Rapidity, or amount of harvesting in a given time. 



The manner of leaving the grain for binding. 



Saving of grain in cutting, binding, and handling, and in the stack. 



300* 



To determine the relative value of points correctly, they should, as far as practicable, be 

 estimated by dollars and cents, though several cannot be arrived at in that manner. As a 

 matter of convenience, those are put into the scale that can be estimated by money, at a unit 

 for each dollar. 



1st Point, " Cost." — This I get at by supposing a machine good for five years' wear, which 

 the higher-priced ones certainly are ; the difference in price between the cheapest and the 

 highest-priced is $35. This amount, divided among the five years, gives $7 ; and the inte- 

 rest on $35 is $2.10, making $9.10. This, therefore, is put at 9 in the scale, being a unit 

 for each dollar. 



The 2d Point should read, " simplicity of construction to do its work. The more a machine 

 does, the more machinery may there be to do it. A self-raker, and even a binder, may be 



* Judgment being formed by the committee relative to each machine on each specific point according to the 

 following scales, the machine whose aggregate reaches the highest number is the victor; three hundred being 

 the sum total of a perfect reaper, two hundred and twelve of a perfect mower, and five hundred and fifty of a 

 perfect combined,machine. 



