132 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



elusion) by which, over the immense ex'ent of country- 

 he was here examining, lakes and pools are converted 

 iijiccessfully into mosses and meadows. 



In quoting, I have given you rather the facts and ex- 

 periences than the language of the author — the general 

 details of that which occurs everywhere under cor- 



responding circumstances, without reference to thei^ 

 local application or their connexion with the subject 

 upon which De Luc himself is treating j and with this, 

 strictly considered, neither extract nor epitome, we will 

 dismiss our examination of the land-forming grasses. 



GENERAL COMPETITION OF REAPING MACHINES. 



[translated from the FRENCH OF THE "JOURNAL d'aGRICULTURE PRATIQUE,"] 



REPORT OF THE JURY OF THE GENERAL 

 COMPETITION OF REAPING MACHINES, 

 HELD ON THE IMPERIAL DOMAIN OF 

 FOUILLEUSE, THE 19th, 20th, AND 21st 

 JULY, 1859. 



Circunsstances have never been more favourable than 

 this year, for proving the great advantages that agriculture 

 would derive from the employment of good machines 

 for conducting the harvest. All the cereals have arrived 

 at maturity almost simultaneously ; and it was three 

 weeks earlier than the average of years that it became 

 necessary to cut the wheat. Work has thus all at once 

 become unusually abundant. Hands, always scarce on 

 the eve of harvest, have been wanting on a great num- 

 b3r of farms. Whatever may have been offered in remu- 

 neration for hand-labour, the cereals remained uncut 

 I'Uig after the proper time for their harvesting, to the 

 injury of both quality and quantity. The great extent 

 of the loss consequently sustained by agriculture, calls 

 for a retmedy. The evil, besides, is not purely acci- 

 dental. The progress of agriculture is such, that hands 

 will in future always fail it, if not everywhere, at least 

 in most districts. The amouut of agricultural work 

 demanded of the population has increased simultane- 

 ously with the mass of manufacturing work. Oa the 

 other hand, the cities exercise a fi;tal attraction over the 

 country workmen : the able-bodied men quit the fields, in 

 order to go and obtain a higher wage, which is very quickly 

 absorbed by the indulgence in expensive enjoyments. 

 Machines worked by animals, water, wind, steam, 

 ought therefore to be henceforth employed in perform- 

 ing the task accomplisiied by men when their services 

 were less required. Hands become more insufficient in 

 pi'opoition as civilization advances. The genius of 

 man, then, demands of Nature to give it new auxiliaries ; 

 and it creates new machines in order to satisfy fresh 

 requirements. 



Science is powerful enough now to render any 

 problem easy of solution. We have required of ma- 

 chinery to replace hand-labour in harvest-work. Has 

 not the mechanic discovered the means? This is what 

 it is necessary to decide. For this purpose, M. the 

 Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works 

 has determined that a general competition of reaping 

 machine maniifacturers should be inslituteJ. The Em- 

 peror consented that this competition should take place 

 on the imperial farm of Fouillcuse. 



The assurance of protection, encouragement, and high 

 public utility, which presided at the institution of the 

 competition, was comprehended by all, agriculturists as 

 well as machinists. Forty-five machines were entered 

 to take part in the struggle ; but only twenty-eight 

 presented themselves upon the ground. Seventeen 

 stood the trial, with varied success ; ten were meritorious 

 enough to be rewarded by the jury. At the Universal 

 Exhibition of London, in 1S51, three machines only 

 were presented. In 1855 there were only six that 



would bear the examination ; and the same were again 

 shown at the meetiwg of 1855. Thus, then, in three 

 years, we may notice a consiider;ible increase in the 

 number of inventors of these nen- implements, who dare 

 to confront public opinion. On the other hand, the 

 agriculturists have hastened from the most distant of 

 our departments, from Algeria, from different parts of 

 England, Scotland, &c., to witness the experiments, at 

 which a considerable a/lluence of visitors was present. 

 Convinced of the importance of the trials, the agricul- 

 turists wished not only to see the machines pointed out 

 to their attention by the jury, but also to acquaint 

 themselves with their mode of operation, before de- 

 ciding upon what choice to make. Numerous pur- 

 ciiases of machines have given a characteristic sanction 

 to the attempt; and we may affirm that no exhibition of 

 reaping machines has yet been so remarkable. 



To bring out the proper qualities of the different ma- 

 chines, and to give to the French and foreign inventors 

 equal chances of success, the Minister of Agriculture 

 decided that the machines should be divided into two 

 classes, each to obtain three prizes, besides honourable 

 mentions which the jury considered it ought to award. 

 In addition, a large gold medal was awarded, with the 

 title of honorary prize, to the exhibitor of the machine, 

 whether French or foreign, that should be considered 

 the best in the whole exhibition. In applying this 

 programme, the jury decided that the nationality of the 

 inventor, and not that of the constructor, should con- 

 stitute the nationality of the machine, on the principle 

 that we ought to regard as foreign machines all those 

 invented by a foreigner, and first experimented on in an- 

 other country, when even, as now, it should be manu- 

 factured in a French workshop. 



As it happens with all inventions and difcoverics, we 

 can find in history, attempts made at remote periods to 

 execute the harvest with the help of machines. Pliny 

 and Paiadius have preserved to us the memorial of cars 

 employed by our ancestors the Greeks, for plucking off 

 the ears, and leaving the straw standing in the fields. 

 It was only at the commencement of this century that 

 the problem has been distinctly proposed by the agri- 

 culturists, and taken up by the inventors. In 1799, 

 Boycc patented in England a machine in which sickle- 

 blades, worked by a rotary movement in a horizontal 

 plane wire to cut wheat and other cereals. British 

 agriculture had then begun its rapid march forward, and 

 it was hence foreseen what would be the necessities of 

 the future. He felt besides that the rainy climates of 

 Scotland and England required that the harvest should 

 be rapidly secured. The question was broached at many 

 agricultural societies, and put in competition. We saw 

 appear in succession the machines of Plucknet, Glad- 

 stone, Salmon, Scott, and lastly Smith, the celebrated 

 agriculturist of Deanston, who received in 1841, from 

 the Society of Dalkeith, a donation of 50 guineas. 

 These machines were composed of circular- saws, large 

 rotary scythes fixed to drums of a conical form sua- 



