306 Report on the Exhibition and Trial of Implements 



coming into general use, in spite of impediments which might 

 well be considered insuperable, and of which some idea may be 

 formed from the following brief quotation from the Report of the 

 Committee appointed to superintend the Trial of Implements, at 

 the meeting of the New York State Agricultural Society in 

 July, 1852. One of the fields selected for the trial of reaping- 

 machines is described as follows : — " The barley-field, containing 

 about 30 acres, was more uneven as to its surface — deep irregular 

 water-courses traversed its length, the water standing in some 

 portions — many boulders and stumps were in the track of the 

 machines — the grain was much lodged and tangled — the straw 

 soft and tough." The Report subsequently states that such a 

 combination of difficulties can rarely occur, but the machines were 

 evidently expected to be capable of dealing with such impediments, 

 and, even under these circumstances, the work appears on the whole 

 to have been well done. At the same meeting a trial of grass- 

 mowing machines took place, at which the performance of the two 

 prize machines is thus described : — " The quality of the work ac- 

 complished by both machines could not fail to satisfy any farmers, 

 and was better done than could be performed by the most expert 

 mower with a scythe." Such facts as these appear fully to 

 justify the assumption that the reaping-machine has now esta- 

 blished its claim to be promoted from the militia or auxiliaries, 

 and to take rank among the regular forces of the great agricul- 

 tural array. 



A summary will now be given of the opinions entertained 

 of the M'Cormick and Hussey reapers by practical men who 

 have used them during the last harvest. Their principles of 

 construction will also be examined and compared with that of 

 Bell's machine ; but it should be premised that, in conse- 

 quence of the much larger number of the Hussey machines that 

 have been sold, than of any other form of reaper, they have been 

 worked under a greater variety of circumstances, and a propor- 

 tionately better opportunity afforded of discovering any defects or 

 drawbacks to their use in particular states of the soil, crop, or 

 weather. Hence it follows that the evidence in possession of 

 the reporter relating to the M'Cormick machines is much more 

 limited than that respecting the other, though even in this 

 instance he has, in addition to his own observation and in- 

 quiries, the written opinions of at least a dozen practical men to 

 refer to who have had more or less experience of the use of this 

 reaper on their own farms. His acquaintance with Bell's machine 

 is chiefly confined to the reports of the public trials that 

 have taken place, and to a few lines from Mr. Bell, brother 

 of the inventor, whose experience of its use for above twenty 

 years is, of course, exceedingly valuable. The testimonials are, 



