at the Gloucester Meeting^ 1853. 



369 



of the rye crop prevented the action of the Automaton Gatherer being exhibited 

 with advantage. The object of these is to effect a self-delivery, which is done 

 by imitating the closing of a pair of hands collecting the corn together on the 

 platform. The action is this : while the corn is falling before the knives, a long 

 steel arm raises itself from the right side of the platform, swings to the oppo- 

 site side, and with a capacious palm sweeps off the contents of the platform 

 into the grasp of an equally expansive short-armed hand at the point from 

 which it started ; the bundle thus held fast, is swung round on to the stubble, 

 out of the way of the returning horses, and dropped out, ready to be bound 

 into a sheaf. And the long arm again stretches itself forth for another sweep. 

 To obtain in any degree a neatly formed sheaf, it appears necessary that the 

 crop should stand erect and fall directly at right angles with the stroke of the 

 arm, otherwise a tumbled gathering is the result. 



The Trial at Pusey. — The reserved machines, with the exception of Mr. 

 •Garrett's, met for further trial at Mr. Pusey s farm on the 16th and 17th of 

 August. The weather proved singularly unfortunate ; the rain fell nearly the 

 "whole of the time the machines were at work. Though this was disappointing 

 as far as a display of the full effect of the inventions was concerned, and as to 

 the gratification derived from arrangements made on the farm for the trials, and 

 from the abundant hospitality provided at the mansion, yet enough was gone 

 through to satisfy not only the judges, but apparently every attentive looker-on, 

 on the question of the merits of the respective implements. They were tested 

 in wheat, both upright and moderately laid; in barley much laid, and in erect 

 barley full of young clover ; in a stout leaning crop of oats ; and in a thin crop 

 ■of ripe winter beans. In cutting the standing wheat all the machines per- 

 formed their work well, leaving an even stubble 4 inches to 6 inches high, and 

 their delivery was generally such as would second the operations of the binder 

 — fairly so in the case of the hind-delivery ; less so in that pulled off sideways ; 

 more complete in the swathe-formed self-delivery. ^eWs fronting principle 

 had a manifest superiority over all the rest, which are formed for cutting the 

 crop only on the near side of the implement. In a crop that can only be cut 

 on one side, Bell's can reap both backwards and forwards, while the others are 

 obliged to return empty. In the case also of a lodged patch lying to be cut on 

 the off-side, a near-side machine must miss this patch, and continue passing 

 empty by it, till the opposite side is exposed by the cutting of all the inter- 

 vening piece : while Bell's machine can at once strike into it at the suitable 

 point. 



The laid crop of barley was a severe trial, being made doubly flat by the 

 weight of the rain. All the exhibitors seemed to feel that few laurels were to 

 be reaped with a crop in this state. The M'Cormicks showed little anxiety 

 to undergo the trouble of putting their knives low enough. The Husseys 

 choked, and the old American whom nothing daunted alone stuck to it ; and 

 Bell's could only meet it one way — directly against the lean — returning empty. 

 However, those knives that were put well down, and when they did not choke 

 or foul, cut it better than could have been expected, making fair work, except 

 where the crop was in the extreme of flatness. When the upright barley was 

 cut the rain had ceased, but its thick growth of young clover was equally wet. 

 Bell's machine cut this crop well, both with a high and low stubble, but the 

 swathe was a little irregular. Burgess's M'Cormick was set low, and performed 

 its cutting extremely well, and showed its power of cutting grass. The 

 original M'Cormick for want of .speed in the knives cut very indifferently. 

 This was not a state of crop in which the Hussey knives would appear to ad- 

 vantage, but their performance, with some stoppages, was respectable. 



In the crop of oats, which was thick and leaning, all the machines performed 

 their work efficiently where they set upon it on the side suited to them. In 

 the ripe thin beans they exhibited the power of cutting such a crop when set 

 tolerably low, with the exception of Dray and Go's. The wheels of both the 



