16 BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE 



rake is even more barbarous than the old time ball and chain to the leg 

 of the felon. The considerate and feeling farmer would certainly 

 "wait for the wagon " to be better fixed before thus undertaking to 

 reap his grain fields if himself or his hands had to ride in this sort 

 of style. 



We have a letter from Isaac Irvine Hite, Esq. now of Clarke 

 County, Va., which throws some light on the subject; he says, (itali- 

 cised by the writer:) 



"In 1842 my father, by my request purchased for me of C. H. 

 McCormick and Father, a reaper at Suo, which was drawn by two 

 horses, and it was raked off to the right hand side by a ma7i on foot. 

 The father of C. H McCormick stated to me at the commencement 

 of that harvest, that it had been 7nne years since they had first operated 

 with it, in pretty much the form it was then constructed. On a recent 

 visit to Messrs, McCormick, who then resided on the line between 

 Augusta and Rockbridge Counties in this State, the old gentleman 

 stated to me that he had been at odd times at work on the reaper for 

 many years; and either he or his son stated to me that C. H. McCor- 

 mick had been improving, changing or inventing various parts until they 

 had (as they thought) perfected the machine. * * * I disliked the 

 labor imposed on the haiid zvJio had to ivalk and remove the wheat from a 

 platform seven feet in width, and urged Messrs McCormick to attach 

 another contrivance so as to enable the raker to ride and perform his 

 arduous task; the old gentleman contended that that could never be 

 accomplished, butthata self-operating appendage could be constructed 

 to remove the grain, but that would be uncertain, and entirely unrelia- 

 ble. During my visit, he pointed out to me one or more fixtures they 

 had tried for the raker to ride on. I think one was on one wheel, and 

 the other on two. 



I yet contended that it could be accomplished; if by no other 

 means, by changing the construction of the machine, and remarked to 

 him, if I were a mechanic, and understood the construction of the 

 machine well enough to venture to alter its parts, I was certain I could 

 so arrange it, and requested him to urge his son to make the effort; he 

 replied that it would be useless; that they had tried every imaginable 

 way or plan before placing the machine before the public, and that 

 they regarded it as an impossibility, successfully, and properly, in any 

 other way than on foot, and said it was necessary for the heads to be 

 brought round to the right, in which I fully agreed; but contended 

 it could be done while the raker was riding or standing in an erect 

 position. 



After this unsatisfactory interview I returned home, and at the close 

 of the next wheat harvest I had a small carriage, about 3 feet by 3>^ 

 feet, constructed on two wheels, and connected underneath the plat- 

 form, by means of shafts to the back part of the head of the machine; 

 this during the cutting of my oat crop answered every purpose, so far 

 as the raker was concerned, but there was a difficulty in turning. C. 

 H. McCormick came to see this combination sometime during the 

 year, and condemned it in toto. But by the next harvest I had it so 



