308 Report on ike ExMbifion and Trial of Implements 



the gear for getting up this speed inevitably produces heavy 

 draught. Where the crop is light, or where a good crop is ripe 

 and dry, the Hussey cutter goes cleverly through the crisp straw 

 and makes beautiful work ; but when the straw is tough and 

 moist, the knives, when a little dulled, cannot clear themselves. 

 Mr. Pusey has found that the Hussey machine does not work 

 well in a wind, which is to be explained on the same principle 

 as the other causes of stoppage already named, viz. that the 

 cutters, constructed on this principle, must be kept clear. In 

 some cases this is prevented by damp, which causes short 

 straws, grass, &c., to hang about the knives ; in others by 

 wind, which blows loose straws back on the cutters, or it may 

 arise simply from the weight of the crop, which makes the raker 

 unable to draw away the corn as fast as it is cut ; but what- 

 ever be the cause the effect is the same, viz., that the machine 

 clogs, and requires clearing. It must also be backed before it 

 can recommence cutting. From the natural dislike, however^ 

 of both master and men to frequent stoppages, the horses are 

 often pushed on to increase still further the speed of the knives, 

 until they either force their way through all obstacles, or a 

 breakage takes place. The M'Cormick cutting principle is free 

 from this material objection, and is decidedly improved since last 

 year. In the report of the implements shown in the Great 

 Exhibition, published in the Royal Agricultural Society's 

 Journal for 1851, it was pointed out that M'Cormick's machine 

 had a straight-edged cutter which had a tendency to press down 

 and pass over the corn instead of cutting it, unless it stood per- 

 fectly upright or leaned towards the machine. This was consider- 

 ably aggravated by its not cutting near enough to the ground. 

 In the M'Cormick reapers which have come under the reporter's 

 notice this year, the straight cutter has been replaced by one with 

 a scolloped edge, and the machines are also set lower; hence 

 a material improvement is observable in their action : indeed the 

 cutting principle leaves little to be desired. The straight cutter, 

 originally used by M'Cormick, was entirely dependent on its 

 sickle edge, which enabled it to saw through the straw, but the 

 scolloped-edged cutter now introduced consists in fact of a series 

 of knives, differing from Hussey's in the very different angle at 

 which they work, as well as in having a sickle-edge. It has been 

 before shown that the Hussey cutters meet the fixed edges of the 

 guards against which they cut at so very acute an angle that they 

 are liable to choke. The M'Cormick knives work at a much 

 greater angle of inclination,* so much so, that they would push 



* The difference in the acuteness of this angle in the two reapers will be at once 

 perceived on comparing the dimensions of the knives, which, though varying 

 somewhat in the machines made^by different firms, will be found to average about 

 3 in. X 3 in Hussey's, and | in. X 5 in M'Cormick's. 



