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 up and slide over the 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-bar strikes 

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



Burgess's Improved Reaper. An English reaper has ben recently patented in the United 

 States, (August, 1855,) the peculiar improvement of which consists in employing the prin- 

 ciple of the Archimedean screw for the purpose of delivering or laying oif th,e cut grain as 

 it falls upon a platform. 



Ruffff's Mower 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 by 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 ; G. 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 be bundled. 



In the machine of Bruce, 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 Heaping Machines. 



DURING the past season, numerous experimental trials of the various popular mowing and 

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

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

 mental trials : 



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

 in the summer of 1854, to test the respective merits of Manny's reaper, and Atkins's self- 

 raking reaper, $1500 being proposed as the premium. The last-named reaper is distin- 

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

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



Wright cut 20 T 2 ff 2 ff acres in 12 hours and 55 minutes ; Manny cut 20 T 2 <^ acres in 10 hours 

 and 3 minutes. Time consumed in reaping, binding, and shocking : Wright's first field, 

 ^iVff acres, bound in 18 hours and 25 minutes ; Wright's second field, 4^'^ acres, bound in 

 25 hours and 30 minutes ; shocked in 4 hours and 38 minutes. Manny's first field, 3 T 8 5 9 ^ 

 acres, raked and bound in 25 hours and 47 minutes, (this included the time of the raker, 

 who stands on the machine :) shocked in 4 hours and 40 minutes. 



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

 to render it impossible to say which was the best. 



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

 ing machines took place at Bedford, New York, June 15, 1855. The following machines 

 were entered for trial : 



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



Russel's machine, manufactured by R. H. Pease, of Albany, New York. 



