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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



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full grown bundle and quietly place it be- 

 side the Reaper. No spasmodic twitching 

 from til e driver's whfp making it scatter 

 grain, is at all to our taste. This machine 

 should be driven slow and steady when it 

 will do first rate work, but it was never in- 

 tended for horse raicing. '^ • '- 



Eugg's machine looks a little awkward^ 

 like a great tumble spider, rolling up the 

 sheaves which it does expeditiously and 

 neatly, leaving a very" clean stubble. It is 

 winning laurels, and the farmers are gather- 

 ing about and hovering in its track. — 

 "Didn't think the awkward thing would 

 work so," was a common expression. It is 

 driven by two horses, cutting six feet one 

 inch inside the guards, laying down bundle 

 j»fter bundle with a steady hand, all of 

 which are of the right size for binding. 

 They are laid so compactly that the binder 

 can grasp them without extra effort. 



Manny's machine is evidently in the hands 

 of experienced men, and doing itself great 

 credit. It was taken out of an adjoining 

 fieJd and not in first rate order, the sickle 

 had been used some days without grinding, 

 and one of the boxes was loose; bat the 

 , cutting was excellent and raking almost as 

 perfect as that of the Rugg's machine, — 

 occasionally a few heads fall out of line, but 

 this was mostly owing to the horse racing 

 spirit that the driver was imbibing from the 

 Atikns' machine. The silk was soon freely 

 used on this team, and the race was fully 

 under way. The Atkins' machine was five 

 feet two inch^ inside of' guards and that of 

 Manny's five feet five inches, — a round must 

 be gained by the former if he won, — an ex- 

 tra whipper volunteered for the Atkins' 

 team, and the Oiler was soon begrimmed 

 with oil and dust. On they drove, kicking 

 up a cloud of dust amid the shouts of their 

 respective friends, — sinews of steel and iron 

 against those of flesh and blood; oil was 

 pOur6d freely into the joints of the iron. 

 Bake, and running down over the uncon- 

 scious automaton, it was soon begrimmed 

 and its polished beauty marred. Water 

 was poured into the other as freely and ooz- 

 ing otit from the thousand pores, the gather- 

 ing dust soon disguised him, so that, but 

 from his stalwart form, his own mother 

 would not have known him. In two hours 

 and twetity -minutes and the cloud of dust 

 settled down, the last sheaf was cut by both 

 machines at the same time, and the excited 

 multitude became quiet and turned their at- 

 tention to the other machines. Rugg's 

 machine after cutting part of its work, fail- 

 ed by the breaking of a spurr wheel which 



was cracked in driving it on the shaft, and 

 not noticed until in the field. A new one 

 was sent for, but only arrived in time to try 

 the draft. ..-:?^:-:.:^^tK:...^tti^i^;;•^r'^yff^.^^ 



The Self Raker of Seymour & Morgan, 

 which we have before called Old Shark 

 Mouth, Irom the peculiar way in which it 

 pounces on the bundle, was working stead- 

 ily away, doing excellent work, but does not 

 lay the bundles so compactly as from the 

 hand rake, yet doing this part of the work 

 much better than the Atkins' rake. It 

 made many new friends and confirmed the 

 wavering of old ones. It was drawn by two 

 horses of ordimary fcize, and had no appear- 

 ance of being in. hurry, but aiming at doing 

 the work welL This, we think, the true 

 way of making a fair triaUi y? ? "^^j^^ 7^ • . 



The machines, were then put in position 

 to try the draft. 



Draft. 



Atkins c 



Manny 



S. & Morgan.. 

 Kugg 



SSOlbs 

 426 lbs 

 400 lbs 

 860 lbs 



Rugg's machine was driven at a fair 

 moderate pace, and having a wide cut, the 

 raker couldl sweep his bundle off without 

 much interference of the falling grain. 

 This must account for the superior form of 

 the bundles, as- the raker was a new hand, 

 and as it could not be attributed to superior 

 skill. Mr. Lyon contended that the draft 

 would have been much less had the machine 

 been worked a day or two to get the ma- 

 chinery smooth. 



In this he was probably correct as Mr. 

 G. does not put on as nice a finish as he 

 might or should do, both for his own credit, 

 or the value of the machine. Taking this 

 machine as a standard of speed, the Atkin's 

 machine would cut twenty acres in ten 

 hours, which, we think, no team can do with 

 it, judging from the trial. Taking the same 

 standard, Seymour & Morgan's would cut 

 17 11-100, but its actual cutting was less, 

 the higher draft probably making the differ- 

 ence. 



Manny's would cut in the same time 

 twenty-one acres. But it is evident that 

 the Rugg machine on trial will cut an aver- 

 age wider swath than either of the others 

 as compared with the measurement inside 

 of guards. The cutting of all the machines 

 was first rate, the difference being in time 

 of cutting, draft, raking, and binding. It 

 appears that what is gained by the Self- 

 raker in raking is lost in binding, by not 

 having the bundles of full size and placed 

 compact ho as to be bound readily. 



S£ 



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