HIS LIFE AND WORK 



was the most preposterous of all. It was said 

 to be "a cross between an Astley chariot, a 

 wheelbarrow, and a flying-machine." It was 

 unlike anything else that English eyes had ever 

 seen, and by all odds the queerest and most 

 ungainly thing that lay under the glass roof of 

 the Crystal Palace. Undeniably it was the 

 "Ugly Duckling" of the American exhibit. 



But one day there came to the Reaper booth a 

 remarkable Anglo-Italian named John J. Mechi. 

 His father had been the barber of George III., 

 and he himself, by the invention of a "Magic 

 Razor Strop," had made a fortune. His hobby 

 was scientific farming, and he was hungry for 

 new methods and new ideas. At the time of 

 the Exposition, his farm, which lay not far 

 from London, had become the most famous 

 experimental ground in England. Therefore, 

 when he spied this new contrivance called a 

 Reaper, he proposed that it be taken out to his 

 farm and put to the test. 



This was done on July twenty-fourth. In 

 spite of a pouring rain, there were present a 

 group of judges and two hundred farmers. Lord 



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