148 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



June 



MCCORMICK'S PATENT VIRGINIA REAPER. 



THE undersignpd, in a<:ain offering his Ucaper to the farmers of 

 N. York, for the ensuing hnrvest, deems it unnecessary to say 

 much in the way of aitvertisement, liaving provided for bringing 

 tlie subject directly to the attention of those interested, by means 

 of travelling and local agents, whoare provided with band-bills om- 

 distribution in the ditrirent «lii'at growing sections of the ijtate. 

 which furnish fuller accounts of the Reaper with tb^'fct'it im- 

 provements made on it. than could be generally (T'>en through the 

 newspapers of the country. It is deemed sufficient to say here 

 that the undersigned has made amjile arrangements for the supply 

 of whatever demand sh.Tll be found in the State of New V ork. for 

 his Improved Reaper, (having improved it more or le.^s every suc- 

 cessive year since its first introduction.) provideii that application 

 Jor the same shall be made in due time, and that lion Thomas J. 

 Paterson, of this city, will still act as bis principal traveling agent 

 and will appoint local agents in all the unoccupied districts, and 

 from time (o time supply local agents for counties or small districts 

 with hand-bills and all needful information in relation to the 

 Keapers. which will be kept on deposits at Buffalo and Rochester, 

 and it is also intended to have one at Brockport. at some suitable 

 place where persons desirous of purchasing will do well to call and 

 examine them. They are referred forthemto Holt, Palmer & ("o., 

 of Buffalo. T. J. Paterson, Joseph Hall, and David R. Barton, 

 Esqs., of Rochester— Mr. Hall well known throughout this State 

 for the last 10 or 15 years as the most extensive and successful 

 manufacturer of Thrashing Machines in this state; and Mr Bar- 

 ton, equally well known as the most extensive '• Tool manufactu- 

 rer" in the State, have, as will be seen from their advertisements, 

 taken agencies for the sale of of the Reaper, the former in the 

 counties of Monroe. Ont.irio and Wayne; and the latter in those 

 of Livingston, Genesee and Wyoming. Mr. Hall will be supplied 

 with patterns, and can furnish any parts of the Reaper that may 

 be wanted, to purchasers, and Mr. Barton will be supplied with 

 sickles for new and old machines. 



The improvement made on the Reaper since the last harvest, 

 ■which is in the Cutting Apparatus, as shown iu the F'igure. con- 

 sists of a combination of the Shoulder or back angle of the Finger 

 (as patented and used in my Machine.) with a slightly indented or 

 zig-zag edged Sickle, by which arrangement, as seen from the cut. 

 the angle in the Sickle edge is made so obtuse, as together with the 

 angle of the Kingerfor holding the grain to the Sickle, to effect 

 the most perfect philosophical principle of cutting, by using just 

 the right slope for cutting with the least resistance, and in the 

 most perfect manner. The objections to the zig-zag edge, as used 

 by Hussey and others, are in this entirely obviated, while all the 

 benefits derived from the use of my Finger are still secured — 

 Without the angle in the Finger for holding the grain to the 

 sickle, it has been necessary to use so acute and abrupt an angle 

 in the blade to effect the cutting, as to require a very high motion 

 to the blade, and that, with so much friction and resistance as to 

 make the Machine very liable to get out of order— the cutting 

 being done more by means of the abrupt stroke against the grain 

 than by the edge of the instrument. This is understood by every 

 boy who knows how to draw a knife in cutting a stick, and needs 

 only to be stated to be understood by all. 



The price of the Re-sper will be the same as heretofore, deliver- 

 able at Rochester or Buffalo, subject to storage— ^0 payable on 

 dolivery, and $80 on the first of December thereafter, with inter- 

 est from the first of July, or $105 cash, and warranted to cut one 

 and a half acres of wheat or other small grain per hour, and that 

 the raking can be well done by a man riding upon it— that it is 

 well made and durable with proper care. One of them cut at a 

 late harvest 300 acres without a shSling's repair, or without 

 changing or sharpening the sickle. Further comment is unne- 

 cessary—the undersigned being still determined (as heretofore) to 

 introduce the Reaper upon its merits and to the satisfaction of 

 the favoring community, who should look well to the form of the 

 guarantee offered by others. 



The undersigned will be excused for taking only a passing no- 

 tice of two or three other Reapers he finds advertif-ed in the 

 papers before him. And first as to Seymour 8c .Morgan's New 

 York Reaper, it would seem almost like being cruel to say much 

 now. after the tame and subdued account given by them in the 

 April number of the '■ Gene.sec Farmer," comi)arcd with the inso- 

 lent as well as false account published by them in tile Democrat of 

 December last, which was replied to by the undersigned shortly 

 thereafter, (and which may bo seen by reference to the Democrat 

 or to any of the agents.) and to which they have not ventured an 

 attempt at ^ repiy. It may be remarked here, that th« certifi- 

 cates they have published, are of the operations of the Reaper of 

 last year, which they have been enjoined from building or selling; ^ 



that those certiflcates are few and far between— there being but 

 one from ti^is State, and that a very weak affair; that all of the 

 thousaud and one reapers offered to the public, have been accom- 

 panied with a flourish of certificates quite equal, if not superior 

 oc recommend it to the public favor; provided, too, that they had 

 to theirs — some such being in all such cases, attainable at a 

 cheap rate, and that this new born experiment of theirs, to 

 which they have felt themselves driven a.s a last resort, has noth- 

 ing but their opinion, in their straightened situation, to sujiport 

 the right to make and sell it. which, also, remains to be tested. — 

 From trials made in the west of placing the raker on the 

 "back side" of the platform, and which were well known to Sey- 

 mour St .Morgan before they, from their suppose I necessity of the 

 case, adopted it, the undersigned is sure it will result in a failure, 

 and has been informed that they have provided what may be 

 used as a seat at the side of the machine also, in direct and abso- 

 lute defiance of the injunction, to be rest rted to if the other should 

 fail. The effect of the weight of the man on the left and back 

 sides of the platform will be at once perceived by all who know 

 any thing about the machines,— and which creates the iudispen- 

 siblo necessity for the '■ lai-ge wheel" on that fide, of which they 

 speak, in addition to the fact that it is impos,sible for the man 

 from behind to discharge the grain from the machine in good 

 order for binding, which can only be done at all by a fork, at arm's 

 length, instead of the grain being turned around neatly, as it 

 can only be done by the natural sweep of the rake around the 

 body of the man, (at the side,) as the centre of the circle describ- 

 ed, and his weight balances so much on the other side of the ma- 

 chine, instead of adding to it. Under these circumstances, how 

 far the public can again be induced to lean upon the broken reed 

 of ■' Seymour 8t Morgan" remains to be seen. Their repeated 

 cry of •' wolf," in the former case, will at least not be likely to be 

 headed in the latter. And the public are really too well advised 

 of the fact that the Virginia Reaper has been ■■ thoroughly test- 

 ed," and they might have added, by thousands, to be influenced 

 in the smallest degree by the ridiculous, as well as false statement 

 of S. M., that a '• large number of Virginia Reapers are now scat- 

 tered throughout the country, condemned and unsold." This is 

 another base and unmitigated falsehood of their own making, there 

 being only thirteen of the (Chicago) Reapers sold in the State of 

 New York, now unsettled for, most of which, if not all, it is be- 

 lieved will be, after a trial in the next harvest, and which was 

 mainly owing to a want of due attention in putting them in opera- 

 tion properly, and believed to be a larger number than all other 

 contested cases put together, of the 1400 Reapers sold at Chicago 

 for the last harvest. These worthies well knew that, considering 

 the amount of business done in the manufacture and sale of the 

 Virginia Reapers, no parallel to its success can be furuLshed iu this 

 country in the manufacture of agricultural implements; and yet 

 they would resort to such unmanly and contemptible meaiiS to 

 undermine the character of a Reaper which they have been unable 

 to overthrow by all these piratical efforts, which are likely soon to 

 be punished as they justly deserve. 



In relation to Hussey's machine, tho undersigned will only repro- 

 duce the following notice of the inventor, in the last number of tho 

 Albany Cultivator, which repudiates his own machines as hereto- 

 fore manufactured at Auburn for years by bis brother, and which is 

 the only one that has been offered to the farmers of New York, and 

 refer to the communication of Joseph Hall, Esq., which follows it. 



•' Editor Cultivator— As the inventor of what is known as Hus- 

 sey's Mowing and Reaping Machine, 1 am not willing to bo held 

 responsible for the operation of such machines as are not built by 

 myself at my manufactory in Baltimare ; if those per.sons in other 

 parts of the country, who are building by permission, aiid those 

 who are infringing on my rights, do not keep up with my improve- 

 ments, it is unjust that these machines should be allowed to give 

 a character to my own. OBED HUSSEY." 



C. H. McCormick, Esq :— I haye been induced to take an agency 

 for the sale of the Virginia Reaper, believing it to be the test ma- 

 chine for cutting wheat in use. and have determined to place one 

 upon my own farm, after having purchased and used one of Hus- 

 sey's Machines, and thrown it aside upon finding there was no 

 economy in using it ; it being necessary that the grain should be 

 bound as fast as cut, reqtiiring more help at one time than at oth- 

 ers, to keep up with it, occasioning the stoppage of the machine 

 at times, while at other times the men were not fully employed. 

 Then again, tho difficulty of cutting thin wheat, or cutting at all 

 upon hill sides, the speed with which you have to drive, the power 

 required to cut scout wheat, the wear upon hor.se flesh, and the 

 impossibility of cutting at all (as it has no reel) when the wind is 

 blowing with you. destroys, in my judgment, the utility of the ma- 

 chine. JOSEPH HALL. 



Rochester, May 13, 1851. 



Local Agents are requested to keep up a regular Correspond- 

 ence with the undersigned, at Chicago. 111., who wiJI at all times 

 be pleased to be enquii»d of through the mail, by any one, in re- 

 lation to the Reaper, or so directly to receive orders for the same. 



Mr. PaterS'in may. and should also be written to, but he will 

 necessarily be much from home, and all delay should be avoided 

 that can be. V. II. i»IcCORI»UCK. 



N. B.— Keapers will be forwarded to any part of this State, or 

 to (Canada; where there are no local agents to attend to the de- 

 livery and in starting them, without warantee, at five dollars de- 

 duction from the prices named, if ordered in season of THO.M.AS 

 J. PATERSON. Rochester, N. Y., Office No. 6 Bum's Build- 

 ing.', accompanied by a satisfactory reference. 



Rochester, June, 1851. 



