102 
Report on the Trials of Sheaf-Binders 
but the driver can vary the distance according to the crop, and 
can, of course, hold the corn whilst turning corners, &c. Again, 
the tidiness of the work was most noticeable. There was less 
for the gleaners than after hand-shearing with the sickle, and 
no raking was necessary. This is a matter of importance, not 
only because labour is saved, but rakings are always less valu- 
able, owing to dirt and stones. 
Wood's machine was started two or three minutes after 
McCormick's. Deducting 6^ minutes' delay from an accident, 
the knife coming in contact with a stake, the whole time 
occupied in cutting the plot was b2>^ minutes, of which 6'45 
were consumed repairing the wire, which broke seven times, 
Aluch attention was required at times to relieve the binder-arm 
from the sheaf. The actual time in work was, it will be seen, 
46 min. 45 sec, being just two minutes less than McCormick's. 
The horses were driven rather fast, and the sheaf was discharged 
with a considerable kick. The sheaves were made well, but 
the scatter was again considerable, notwithstanding the exertions 
of the driver, whose rod was seldom idle. Two attendants were 
again required in addition to the driver. Fifty sheaves from 
each plot were selected, and the strength of the wire tested by a 
spring link. 
An adjournment was then made to a barley-field, where the 
crop was light and short. Here McCormick. who was certainly 
fortunate throughout, drew a plot more oblong than Wood. 
The half-acre was cut down without stoppage of any sort in 
21^ minutes. Wood's machine did not complete its piece, an 
accident occurring which rendered it necessary to stop, and the 
trial was adjourned to the following morning. 
During the night there was heavy rain, and, though an earlier 
start was made, the ground was soft and unfavourable. Wood's 
breakage, which was a small casting which affected the raising of 
the platform, having been repaired, a fresh plot of barley was 
allotted, and a start made at 9.55. Very wisely, as I think, the 
tactics were altered ; the machine was driven much slower, the 
sheaf was delivered with less force, and the result was much 
more satisfactory. The wire broke twice only, consuming 
2f minutes, and the half-acre was finished at 10.30, making a 
total time of 35 minutes. A smart shower came on in the 
middle of the trial, which, hoM ever, was continued right through 
it. The straw being short and uneven, considerable litter was 
made. This appears inevitable from the form and action of the 
binder-arm, and the wav in which the grain is delivered by the 
elevator. Whilst this trial was going on, McCormick's machine 
was being prepared for the Dynamometer trials, which con- 
sumed the whole of the morning, and were ably and successfully 
