at the Lewes Meeting^ 1852. 



305 



going ahead of tliem. Mr. Slight, in his article alluded to above, 

 attributes the tardy adoption of reaping-machines in Great 

 Britain to the want of furrow-draining, and the consequent 

 prevalence of high ridges, with their intervening deep furrows. 

 Such a state of the land would undoubtedly increase the difhculty 

 of working them, but they have spread rapidly in America, where 

 obstacles arising from irregularities of surface are much more 

 formidable than with us, and there are large tracts of dry level 

 land in England where no physical impediment of this kind 

 exists. Some other causes must, therefore, be found, and the 

 writer is disposed to think that the principal ones are — the 

 costliness of the British machines previous to 1851 ; — the igno- 

 rance of farm-servants of the proper management of even the 

 simplest machinery ; — and the cheapness of labour in England 

 when compared with the United States. 



So long as ploughs and harrows constituted the staple of 

 farm implements, the price of Bell's reaper (35/. to 45Z.) would 

 appear a startling outlay for the purchase of a machine that was 

 not strictly indispensable, especially when it would have been 

 necessary to engage a mechanic to take charge of it. The 

 general introduction, however, of drills, threshing-machines, and 

 even steam-engines, must have materially altered farmers' views 

 both of the cost and the difficulties of management of a reaping- 

 machine, particularly when the price demanded for it was re- 

 duced to 1 8/. or 20/. ; and now that the increasing value of 

 labour in Great Britain has given an additional inducement to 

 agriculturists to seek mechanical assistance, it may be safely 

 said that the day of reaping by machinery is fully come. A strong 

 corroborative proof of this assertion is to be found in the fact, 

 that, though the American reapers exhibited last year were con- 

 fessedly imperfect, and required considerable modification to 

 satisfy the requirements of British agriculture, yet, within the 

 short space of 12 months from their first trial in this country, 

 more than 1400 had been ordered of four of the leading makers, 

 involving an outlay exceeding 30,000/. 



It is true that many of those who purchased a reaping-machine 

 for use last harvest found it rather a hindrance than an advantage, 

 and threw it aside in disgust ; but it must not be forgotten that, 

 in addition to the ordinary difficulties attendant on the introduc- 

 tion of a machine with which the master is not familiar, and 

 which the men devoutly wish may prove a failure, there were 

 in the harvest of 1852 difficulties peculiar to the season — diffi- 

 culties arising from the state of the crops, the state of the land, 

 and the state of the weather, such as have not been encountered 

 for many a year, and which may reasonably be expected not 

 soon to happen again. In America reaping-machines are fast 



