308 



GREAT TRIUMPH OP AMERICAN IMPLEMENTS. 



When cultivated on a brown loam with manure, 

 the produce of grass or green food is — 



ii>3. per acre. 

 About tbe middle or latter end of June when the gruss is in 



lloiver 7,486 



Dried into hay - 2,2*8 



Natritive matter in ditto 233 



When the seed is ripe the produce is — grass or green food. . 7,827 



Made into hay.. -. 3,62:i 



Nutritive matter in ditto 3C6 



The lattermath produce is — grass. 4,764 



Nutritive matter in ditto ^ 223 



The superior produce of this meadow grass, its 

 highly nutritive properties, the peculiar seasons in 

 which it arrives at perfection, and the marked par- 

 tiality which o.xen, horses, and sheep have for it 

 in pastures, are merits which distinguish it as one of 

 the richest -grasses for depasturing, on soils of a rich, 

 moist mil m .■. On soils, however, of light, sandy, and 

 dry pru|Kiiie8, it is of no value; the leaves became 

 shi ivclcd up, the produce is not touched by the stock, 

 and unless the culms happen to perfect seed, the roots 

 perish under such circumstances. It has, in the 

 course of these remarks, been already mentioned 

 that all the essential permanent pasture grasses grow 

 more lu.Kuriautly and continue longer in the soil as 

 individual plants, when they are combined with other 

 species of the valualile grasses. It is the case with 

 the present grass. Tliere are no pastures in England 

 celebrated for fattening properties or dairy produce, 

 but contain a portion of this grass. The nature of 

 the soil, as to whether it be inclined to moisture or 

 to dryness, will determine the quantity of seed to be 

 sown per acre in combination with others. This is a 

 most valuable ingredient for water meadows. It is 

 one of the grasses so highly spoken of in regard to 

 the large produce of the Orcheston meadow in AVilt- 

 shire. Worlkidge, who wrote in 1681, observes, 

 "that at Maddington, in Wiltshire, about nine miles 

 from Salisbury, grows a grass, Poa trivialis, ei 

 Agrostis stolonifera, vm . IdtifoUa, ' whicn grass in 

 some years grows to a prodigious length, sometimes 

 tweuty,-four feet long.' The seed is ripe about the 

 middle of Julv." 



AMEKICAN IMPLEMENTS IN FRANCK 



TRIAL OF REAPING AND THRASHING MACHINES AT THE 

 WORLD'S FAIR IN PARIS. 



A FEW weeks since we received from Paris, by 

 mail, a very good looking sheet, printed in English 

 called " The American" It is dated August 4th, 

 Vol. 1, No! 36. It appears to be devoted to Ameri- 

 can interests at the great Exhibition. We notice a 

 list of Americans in Paris, from which it appears 

 there are thirty-five American gentlemen and seven 

 ladies in Paris. The great contest, as it was called, 

 between English and American Reapers, took place 

 on Thursday, August tbe 20lh. The struggle, how-- 

 ever, after all, was between the difierent American 

 Reapers, as the Eiiglish machines appeared to be 

 entirely distanced. The following account of the 

 trial we cut from " The American :" 



The great battle is fought : Brother Jonathan 

 has beaten John Bull. The question between Eng- 

 land and Ameiica, which has the best Reaper, is 

 finally settled : America has gained the laurels. 



Thursday, August 2d, the International Jury of 

 the Universal E.xhibifion, undertook the trial of the 

 various Reapers e.xhibiled. Eight machines entered 

 the field of battle. A piece of oats was laid out in 

 lots of eighteen to twenty-two ares, which were 

 assigned to the difierent combatants. Three machines 

 were tried at one time, so as to give the Jurors suffi- 

 cient leasure to examine the work, and to ascertain 

 the speed of each. 



A little one horse Reaper; a Bell machine, con- 

 structed in France, and Mi. Wright's au'tomaton or 

 self raking machine, started at the beat of the drum. 

 The American soon ran ahead of the others, did good 

 work, and cut 17.33 ares in twenty-three minutes. 



" The machine was worked only with one hand, 

 and the antomaton. did the raking beautifully. The 

 mechanical arrangemcutof this antomaton, independ- 

 ent of its other merits, entitles it to the high consid- 

 eration of the Jury. 



" Bell's Reaper required the most time, even the 

 little Frenchman with a horse, not cutting more than 

 a yard at a time, beat the great English grain har- 

 vester. Two men were engaged besides the di-iver 

 to steer, and yet the work was not what a farmer 

 would call good and clean. ' 



"Afier the Jurors had noted their verdict, the next 

 three machines made ready, and at the given signal 

 started ; a curious little French one horse Reaper, 

 .Manney's Mower and Reaper, and Croskill's Bell 

 machine. 



" Manney did not loose a second's time; he started 

 beautifully, and down came the oats in sihowens. 

 The machine not being well balanced, cut crooked 

 rows, and the discharge board forming an inclined 

 plane, made the delivery difiicult and less regular than 

 binders would like. The machine worked heavily, 

 and the two large Normandy horses did their utmost 

 to cut the allotted piece of 19.00 ares in twenty 

 minutes. The work, compared with its competitors, 

 was declared superior, and Manney would have 

 carried the day, as to time, if the old racer of the 

 New World had not been in the field. 



"Incredulous farmers began to be convinced that 

 the Americans understand something about taking 

 off a crop in short order; yet they wanted a still 

 more regular cut, a clean field, less loss of grain, and 

 nicer fi.xed sheaves. They critici.?ed Manney's reel 

 deservingly, beating the grain too hard, and causing _ 

 considerable loss. 



" The third machine was Bell's, of English con- 

 struction (Croskill.) It was exactly like the other 

 one made in France, and was looked upon with some 

 misgivings. A stout pair of French horses, equal to 

 Liverpool's best Brewers beasts, started the machine 

 with all their powei-, and drove the formidable engine 

 into the slender oats like an ancient war car into the 

 ranks of the enemy. It only made one round, when 

 something gave way, and there stopped the trial of 

 the second Bell's machine. 



"This was the first time that we ever saw a Bell's 

 Reaper in operation. It has two principal objec- 

 tions : in the first place, the horses are placed behind 



