INVENTION OF KFCAl'lNG MACHINES. 41 



of oats, and fifty acres of timothy with it, to my entire satisfaction — 

 after which I cut sixty acres of cloverseed with it in less than five 

 days. I could not have saved the cloverseed without the machine, 

 so I consider 1 saved the whole cost of the machine in the saving of 

 the cloverseed alone. 



Samuel Thomas. 



Springfield, III., Dec. 25, 1850. 

 Mr. Obed Hiissey, Baltimore, Md. 



Dear Sir:— During the harvest of August, 1849, with one of your 

 machines I cut sixty acres of Hemp, using a set of 43^ feet knives and 

 guards, and two teams of four horses each, changing every two rounds, 

 which cut on an average eight acres per day. This last harvest, the 

 same single machine, with 6 foot guides and knives,* operated by the 

 same force, cut successfully 250 acres of hemp, or from 10 to 12 acres 

 per day. From this experience, I take pleasure in recommending 

 your Cutters above the hemp cradle and hook, not only as labor-sav- 

 ing, by the expedition with which they cut, but as hemp saving, from 

 the perfect thoroughness, evenness and nearness to the ground with 

 which they do their work, and the regular and collected form in 

 which they leave the hemp after being cut. 



Vours respectfully, 



Euw.vKD S. Cox. 



Carrolton, Lebanon Co. III. Sept. 1850. 

 Mr. 0. Hi/sscy:— The four Reaping and Mowing Machines you sent, 

 arrived safe and in good order. Their performance far exceeded our 

 expectations, the work went on so smoothly that we scarcely knew it 

 was hay time and harvest. * * * If your machine had been as 

 well known as they are now, you could have sold twenty as well as 

 one. Vours, Jonas Ward. 



The few letters which follow, taken from the American Farmer, 

 and referring to a still later period, are selected for their brevity, from 

 many others, and principally from Maryland and Ohio. It is consid- 

 ered unnecessary to extend the list, for the operation and character of 

 the machine is too well and too widely known at this day to render it 

 necessary to the intelligent farmer and general reader, in any grain 

 growing section of the country.f 



*The cutters were lengthened by removing a board that previously reduced the 

 cutting space to 4'< feet in length. 



fWith the view of determining as far as possible, which was the best Reaping 

 and Mowing Machines fi>r the farmer to purchase, the Maryland State .Agricultural 

 Society in 18n2 offered a prize of one hundred dollars,— the largest yet offered in the 

 country— for the best machine, to be tested by a committee appointed by the Society; 

 a large committee of men of the first standing in the State, and all large wheat 

 growers, was appointed, and extended notice publisheil of the trial to take place 

 at "Wye " the scat of Col. Edward Lloyd, Eastern Slu)re, Md., in July. 



Every effort was made by the Society and Committee to give a fair and satisfac- 



