310 



GREAT TUroMPH OP AMERICAN ' IMPLEMENTS 



were present occupies half a column of the Moniteur. 

 Nine Arab chiefs of distinction, all tall, fine looking 

 men, were present, and took much interest in the ex- 

 periments. Among the Americans, who were pres- 

 ent in considerable numbers, were Mr. Fim.more, late 

 President of the United States; Mr. Cokcoran, the 

 banker, who attends Mr. Fillmore in his travels ; 

 Mr. Toombs, Senator of Georgia; Mr. Harhinuton, 

 Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Cor- 

 wiN ; several members of Congress, and the following 

 jurymen and commissioners from the United States : 

 Mr. Fleischmann, juryman on the seventh class, New 

 York; Col. Coxe, juryman on the second class, Ala- 

 bama; Mr. Valentine, commissioner, from Massa- 

 chusetts; Mr. Gilman, Connecticut; Mr. Le Vert, 

 Alabama; Hon. Mr. Elliott, South Carolina; Dr. 

 Joii.NSTON, Ohio. 



"The train which conveyed the Prince Napoleon 

 , and suite, arrived on the ground at half past ten, and 

 the experiments commenced at once. A whole regi- 

 ment of soldiers were required to maintain the lines 

 around the fields where the experiments were made, 

 and no one was permitted to enter the field to follow 

 closely the experiments, but the Prince and the Jury- 

 men and Commissioners. The programme embraced 

 what is in France the entire series of agricultural 

 operations. Drainage, tillage, diverse preparations 

 of ground, threshing, sowing, weeding, reaping, mow- 

 ing, and hay scattering and gathering. A large 

 number of implements were on the ground for the 

 minor operations, and in these the J^'mglish carried off 

 at least two-thirds of the honors against all the rest 

 on the ground. But the greater interest of the occa- 

 sion attached to the Reapers, Mowers and Threshers, 

 and in these contests the American machines were so 

 far superior to all others, that the struggle was con- 

 fined to themselves. There were in fact but four ma- 

 chines of any kind on the ground manufactured in 

 the United States, and these were the Reapers and 

 Mowers of McCormick, Manny, and Wright, and 

 the Threshing machine of Pitts, of Buffalo. 



" The Threshers were tried before the Mowers and 

 Reapers. Six men were set to threshing with flails 

 at the same moment that the different machines com- 

 menced operations, and the following were the re- 

 sults of half an hour's work : [36 Pr. litres make 

 1 bushel.] 



Six threshers with flails, 60 litres of wheat. 



1 Pitt3' American Thre-sher, 740 " " 



Clay ton's English Thresher, 410 " " 



Dunoir's French Thresher, 250 " " 



Pinet's Belgian Thresher, ..150 " " 



"In regard to Pitts' machine, the Moniteur says: 

 ' Pitts' machine has therefore gained the honors of 

 the day. This machine literally devours the sheaves 

 of wheat; the eye can not follow the work which is 

 effected between the entrance of the sheaves and the 

 end of the operation. It is one of the greatest re- 

 sults which it is possible to obtain. The impression 

 which this spectacle produced upon the Arab Chiefs 

 was profound." 



"The Moniteur might have added that the effect 

 was no less wonderful to the Prince Napoleon, who 

 returned twice to the machine, and declared that it 

 was 'frightful to look at !' as it must have been to 

 all those who never before saw a genuine, fast Amer- 

 ican thresher. 



"The machine of Dunior is used almost exclusively 

 in France, but already the demand for the Buffalo 

 machine is so great tliat without doubt it will super- 

 cede all others. 



"After partaking of a bountiful breakfast, which 

 was offered to the Prince and the Jurymen by the 

 Perfect of the Department and the owner of the farm, 

 all parties repaired to the field of wheat, where the 

 Reapers were already in place, awaiting the company 

 and the roll of the drum to start off The reaping 

 was the great feature of the day, and so great were 

 the crowd and the excitement, that the soldiers found 

 themselves unable to maintain perfectly the lines 

 which were formed around the field. There were 

 seven Reajiers on the ground — three American, two 

 English, and two French — taut all more or less modi- 

 fications of McCormick's original invention; and the 

 field had been divided into seven equal portions, each 

 portion containing, as well as my unpracticed eye 

 could estimate, slightly more than an are of wheat. 

 The wheat stood heavy on the ground, and was at 

 least one-fourth fallen. At the tap of the drum the 

 machines all started off together, McCormick's rapid- 

 ly taking the lead, a position which it maintained to 

 the end, performing its task in ten minutes and a 

 third. Manney came out in sixteen minutes, and 

 Wright in eighteen minutes. 



The others varied in their time from half an hour to 

 an hour and a half — but I believe an English machine, 

 which did not work well from the start, left the field 

 without finishing its task. After the three American 

 machines the first one out was Coernier's (French) 

 machine, which was drawn by one horse, and whieh 

 was much admired for the beauty and regularity of 

 its movements. 



" The excitement during the trial could only be 

 compared to an animated horse race. The Ameri- 

 cans were collected principally in the neighborhood 

 of the McCormick machine, and at each turn cheered 

 on McKenzie, the able agent who conducted it. In 

 this group the fine form of Mr. Fillmore, who had 

 climbed on to a shock of fallen wheat, was conspicu- 

 ous, and he was as excited for the success of Ameri- 

 can genius as any man on the ground. The machine 

 of MoCoRMioK had never, within the knowledge of 

 McKenzie, cut so fast as on that occasion. The 

 machine was drawn by two large horses, that accomp- 

 lished the whole distance at a pace half walk, half 

 trot, which would have done four miles and a half to 

 the hour. McKenzie was nearly exhausted when the 

 task was finished, and declared he could not have 

 gone another half round. To see his long, brawny 

 arms swinging in unison with the blades of the ma- 

 chine as he raked to one side the great mass of falling 

 grain, was an exciting spectacle to all who saw it, 

 and one not easily forgotten. At tBe end of the 

 performance he was loudly cheered, and the crowd 

 following Prince Napoleon, the Arabs, and the Jury- 

 men, and regardless of (he soldiers who threatened to 

 use their bayonets but did not, rushed to the middle 

 of the field to examine the conquering machine. The 

 Prince, the Arab.s, the Jurymen, and the Americans 

 crowded around the modest McKenzie, and compli- 

 mented him w:irmly for the great feat which he had 

 just performed, and the conductor placing French and 

 American flags on the machine, it was escorted from 



