General Notices. 303 



us at our request. We agree with some of the reporters, that few men 

 deserve better of his country, and indeed, of every civilised country where 

 agriculture is practised, than Mr. Bell ; for surely that invention must ulti- 

 mately be of great benefit to men and women, which enables them to do by 

 horses, oxen, or steam, that which they have hitherto done by a most severe 

 description of manual labour, rendered doubly oppressive by the season of 

 the year in which it must necessarily be performed. 



Report No. 1. — We, the subscribers, members of the Highland Society, and others, having 

 witnessed Mr. Patrick Bell's reaping machine, employed in cutting down barley and oats, at Grey, 

 stone, in the parish of Monckie, Forfarshire, on the 16th of September, 1829, beg leave to express 

 our entire satisfaction with the manner in which the work was performed. The barley was thin, 

 rather a light crop, and though not wholly lodged, yet from the state of the weather, many of the 

 plants were broken down in different directions. It was, however, cut by the machine, and laid 

 in a regular manner, without a single ear being left behind, and the work was much more neatly 

 executed than by any of the implements at present in use. The oats were a very heavy crop, and 

 generally lodged ; and it was supposed by every spectator that every attempt to cut them by a 

 machine would prove entirely useless. The execution, however, was admirable ; the stubble was 

 equally cut, and the corn was laid in a straight continuous line, which could be collected with the 

 greatest facility and despatch. Owing to the state of the crops, the machine could cut only in one 

 direction, yet in half an hour it cut down 1 rood 21 falls Scotch measure. We understand that 

 when the crop is not much laid by the weather, the machine will cut both going and returning ; 

 and in that case the rate will be ij acres per hour. Six persons are necessary to accompany the 

 machine when operating, as witnessed by us, and a considerable portion of them may be women 

 and children. The machine exhibited to us was 6 ft. broad, it was drawn by two horses, and they 

 seemed to move and exert themselves much in the same manner as when going in the plough. 



Having made this statement of facts, we consider it altogether unnecessary to refer to the many 

 and valuable advantages that would result from the introduction of such a machine into common 

 use, as it will be readily acknowledged that the expense of harvest work would thus be greatly 

 reduced, the inconvenience of obtaining and accommodating reapers greatly lessened, and the crop 

 secured with much less danger from the weather. Besides the neatness and despatch with which 

 the work was executed, we cannot omit to mention two advantages that seem to be peculiar to 

 this machine : — it cuts and removes the corn to its place so gently, that there is no danger of 

 shaking, even in potato oats come to full maturity, and the cutters being in the form of scissors, 

 do not require to be sharpened, perhaps, in the course of a whole harvest. Fully satisfied our- 

 selves of the utility of the invention, and of the immense benefit it will confer on agriculture, we 

 humbly recommend to the Highland Society of Scotland to extend their patronage to this ma- 

 chine; to take the steps necessary for introducing it into general use, and remunerating Mr. Bell 

 for the merit of the discovery, as well as for the labour and expense to which he has submitted 

 for the public good. (Signed by a great many gentlemen and practical agriculturists, 



who witnessed the operation.) 



No. 3. — The following is a report from three joint proprietors of one of these machines : — 



We, the subscribers, having got one of Mr. P. Bell's reaping machines, beg leave to express our 

 decided approbation of the work performed by it. From the advanced state of the harvest before 

 the machine was got ready, we cannot state accurately the quantity that may be cut in a day ; but 

 from repeated trials that we made upon oats on the farm of Reedylees, near Auchtermuchty, Fife- 

 shire, we should suppose it capable of cutting one Scotch acre in the hour. The trials were made 

 before a number of practical agriculturalists, who all expressed themselves completely satisfied 

 that the machine was calculated to perform the work to their entire satisfaction. 



The cutting is neatly performed, and not an ear left along the path of the machine, nor yet the 

 least loss of grains by the shaking of the ears observable, although the oats were too ripe; being 

 kept for the express purpose of exhibiting the machine ; and the corn was laid in an even regular 

 line, quite easily taken up, and put into sheaves, and, by the smallest attention, so clean, that 

 no raking after it is required. It is our decided opinion that the machine will soon come into 

 general use. (Signed) George Butchabt, Lumbenny. 



Robt. Butchart, Broomblae. 



Oct. 6. 1829. James Robertson, Reedylees. 



No. 6. — The following is from an extensive farmer in Perthshire, who had a machine this 

 season for his own use : — 



Dear Sir, Mains of Fawlis Easter, Oct. 2. 1829. 



I have made a full trial of your reaping machine, by cutting wheat, barley, and oats with it this 

 season, and am happy to state that 1 am fully convinced the machine will answer the purpose, 

 and be a great saving to the corn farmer. The machine will cut from eight to ten acres a day, 

 when the corn is standing and the ground even ; and it is so laid down, that it can be taken up 

 and put into sheaves more evenly than it is generally done with the hand and sickle, and 1 think 

 at about half the expense. From the experience I have had, I am convinced that the reaping 

 machine will be found a very useful implement to corn farmers ; and I have no doubt it will soon 

 be as general and as useful as the threshing machine now is. It is my opinion that a pair of 

 horses would be able to work it upon level ground, although it were a foot or two broader. 



The Rev. P. Bell, S;c. (Signed) Thomas Smith. 



Mr. Smith was so good as to obtain the signatures of thirteen of his neighbours, who witnessed 

 his machine working, who all willingly subscribed his report. They are agriculturists of first- 

 rate standing in his neighbourhood, the greater part of them from the Carse of Gowrie. 



No. 7. — The following letter is from an intimate friend of mine, who is a very extensive farmer 

 in the neighbourhood of Dundee. He has no machine as yet of his own ; but my machine, on 

 its way to Greystone, the day before the exhibition, having to pass through his farm, he had it 

 taken from the cart, and put to work amongst a field of wheat. 



Dear Sir, Morroes, Nov. 2. 1829. 



As you had the goodness to allow your newly invented reaping machine to be tried on my 

 farm, on the 19th of September last, I have great pleasure in stating to you the result. The work 



