430 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. I. of the Second Series. The two parts are thus 

 described in the newspapers of 1825 : — 



The scythe is a short blade of twenty inches, or nearly like the point half 

 of an ordinary hay scythe blade. It has a handle of the same length. The 

 blade during cutting is quite level, both from point to heel, as well as from 

 edge to back. The handle stands in a position nearly upright, or inclines 

 forward at the top, so as to form with the blade an angle of eighty degrees. 

 That portion of it held in the hand is turned back a little, or nearly to forty- 

 five degrees, and is longer than the breadth of the hand, on which over length 

 the arm rests, and is strengthened during the cutting. In the left hand the 

 operator holds a staff of three and a half feet long, at the extreme end of which 

 is a hook ; while cutting, this is used in pressing back the corn about mid way 

 up, at the time the scythe strikes the bottom. At each stroke the scythe cuts 

 the length of itself, and a foot or more deep, which cut corn it leaves standing 

 quite upright in front of the uncut corn. As soon as the operator has pro- 

 ceeded as far as he wishes across the ridge, he turns, and with the hook pulls 

 the corn towards the open side, cutting a little more at the same time, so that 

 in going and returning, about five feet may be cut. 



The subject of abridging the labour of the harvest by 

 reaping the crops by machinery early engaged the attention 

 of the Society. In consequence of the offer of a premium 

 by the Society, intimation of intention to compete for it 

 was made by several parties, and a variety of models were 

 lodged, to which various degrees of encouragement were 

 given. Of these, five may be noticed. Mr John Glad- 

 stones, Castle Douglas, sent a model which is fully described 

 in the seventh volume of the Farmers Magazine for 1806, 

 and is said to have possessed great ingenuity of contrivance. 

 Mr Archibald Kerr, Edinburgh, also sent an ingenious 

 method of working a revolving circular cutter. Mr James 

 Smith, Deanston, invented, in 1812, a machine for which 

 the Society awarded a premium of ^^50. It was tried in 

 actual operation on a field near Dalkeith before a joint 

 committee of the Highland and Dalkeith Societies, and 

 again in 1835 on the occasion of the Society's show at Ayr. 

 Mr Jos. Mann, Raby, Cumberland, brought out, about 1820, 

 a machine which was exhibited at the Kelso show in 1832. 



The most celebrated machine was the reaper invented 

 by the Rev. Patrick Bell of Carmyllie. The Society's pre- 

 mium of £$0 was voted to the inventor in 1827. The 

 reaper was afterwards used for some years principally in 

 Forfarshire. Four of the machines were sent to the United 



