TRIUMPH IN FRANCE. 39 



vania, and Delaware in 1802, but they were too complicated 

 and were soon laid aside. An Eno;lisli machine was intro- 

 duced in 1816 that proved a success in respect to speed and 

 ease of cleaning grain, and portability, but subsequent inven- 

 tions have so far surpassed all these comparatively early at- 

 tempts, that they have superseded them, and later Ameri- 

 can machines have been used for many years. 



As early as the Paris Exposition of 1855 the victory was 

 won by an American machine. To ascertain the comparative 

 rapidity and economy of threshing, six men w^ere set to work 

 at threshing with flails. In one hour they threshed 36 litres 

 of wdieat. In the same time Pitt's American machine 

 threshed 740 litres ; Clayton's English machine threshed 410 

 litres ; Duvoir's French machine threshed 250 litres ; Pinet's 

 French machine threshed 150 litres. Speaking of this trial 

 a French journal said : " This American machine literally de- 

 voured the sheaves of wheat. The eye cannot 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 attain. The impression which it 

 produced on the Arab chiefs w\as profound." Good as that 

 machine was at that time, it has been greatly improved since 

 then ; and it is a fact that wherever our first-class machines 

 have come into competition with those of European manufac- 

 ture, they have invariably proved themselves superior in 

 point of simplicity, rapidity, and perfection of work. 



OTHER IMPLEMENTS. 



Nor has the progress in the improvement of other indis- 

 pensable machines of the farm been less marked and impor- 

 tant. The smaller implements have felt the impress of the 

 mechanical genius of the age. The corn-sheller has been 

 brought to such perfection as to separate the corn from the 

 ear with great rapidity, and with the application of little 

 power. It has been adapted to horse-power also, and to 

 different sections of country, where different varieties of 

 corn are raised, and to shell one or two ears at the same 

 time. Its economy of time and labor is such as, upon 

 large farms, where the product is large, to pay for itself in a 

 single year. 



