288 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



feet shape, as if placed by hand, for the binders. It finished its piece 

 most gloriously." The contest was finally narrowed down to three 

 machines, all American. Two machines were afterwards converted from 

 reapers into mowers, one making the change in one minute, the other 

 in twenty'. Both performed their task to the astonishment and satis- 

 faction of a large concourse of spectators, and the judges could hardly 

 restrain their enthusiasm, butcriedout, ''Good, good I" "Well done !" while 

 the excitable people who looked on hurrahed for the American reaper, 

 crying out, " That's the machine !" " That's the machine ! " The report of 

 a French agricultural journal said: "All the laurels, we are free to con- 

 fess, have been gloriously won by Americans, and this achievement 

 cannot be looked upon with indifference, as it plainly foreshadows the 

 ultimate destiny of the Kew World." 



Five years alter the Geneva trial there was a general desire to have 

 another on a scale of magnificence that should bring out all the promi- 

 nent reapers and mowers of the country. The United States Agricul- 

 tural Society accordingly instituted a national trial at Syracuse, ISTew 

 York, in 1857. More than forty mowers and reapers entered, and were 

 brought to test on the field. It was soon apparent that striking im- 

 lirovements had been made since the meeting at Geneva. The draught 

 had been very materially lessened in nearly all the machines, though 

 the side-draught was still too great in some of them. Most of the 

 machines could now cut fine and thick grass without clogging, and there 

 was a manifest progress in them, but of the nineteen that competed as 

 mowers, only three could start in fine grass without backing to get up 

 speed. The well-known Buckeye, patented only the year before, won 

 its first great triumi^h here, and carried off the first prize. 



Every year now added to the list of new inventions and improvements. 

 In 1859 the Wood mower was invented, and soon gained a high reputa-' 

 tion. By the year 1864 there were no less than a hundred and eighty- 

 seven establishments in the country devoted to the manufacture of 

 reapers and mowers, many of them very extensive, and completely fur- 

 nished with abundant power, machinery and tools of the most perfect de- 

 scription, while the work had become wisely and thoroughly systema- 

 tized. The people directly sustained by these factories exceeded sixty 

 thousand, while the value of their annual product exceeded $15,000,000, 

 the number of machines amounting to one hundred thousand. 



Nine years after the Syracuse trial, another exhibition of mowers and 

 reapers, national in its character, was held at Auburn, New York, under 

 the auspices of the New York State Society, in July, 1866. The number 

 of mowers that entered, single and combined, was forty-four ; the num- 

 ber of reapers, thirty ; or seventy-four in all. It was plain, at a glance, 

 that a decided improvement had taken place in workmanship and me- 

 chanical finish. The mowers were more compact, simpler in construc- 

 tion, lighter, and yet equally strong ; they ran with less friction 5 the 

 draught was easier and the machines generally were less noisy ; they 

 cut the grass better, and were capable of working over uneven surfaces. 

 The committee say in their report : 



Those who had been present at former trials were astonished at the general perfec- 

 tion -which had been attained by manufacturers of mowing-machines. Every machine, 

 with two exceptions, did good work, Avhich would be acceptable to any farmer ; and 

 the appearance of the whole meadow, after it had been raked over, was vastly better 

 than the average mowing of the best farmer in the State, notwithstanding the great 

 difficulties that had to be eucountercil. At previous trials, very few machines could 

 stop m the grass and start without backiug for a fresh start. At the present trial 

 every machine stopped in the grass and started again without backing, without any 

 difficulty and without leaving any perceptible ridge to mark the place where it occurred. 



