Trials of Self-binding Reapers at Aif/burth. 
121 
heavy wheat in a green state, much less to sheaf it and bind it, 
I defer any remarks on the special features of each machine in 
work, except in regard to the question of draught, in which 
McCormick is so palpably deficient, until I come to treat sepa- 
rately of the individual trials. 
During the foregoing runs, the weather continued fine, and the 
trial plots had become in a fair condition for cutting when 
the first machine commenced operations on the allotted half- 
acre. No. 1, McCormick, began in plot No. 2. 
This plot was, if anything, the lightest crop, being not more 
than 25 bushels per acre, and was in every respect, except a 
slight dampness, favourable for cutting. The machine started at 
20 minutes before 12, and finished the plot at 12.30 P.M. There 
were two or three breakages of wire, and many stoppages. 
These stoppages absorbed 28^ minutes of the whole time, and 
were caused chiefly by the entanglement of the sheaf and the 
imperfect manner in which the cut corn was carried on to the 
platform. More than half the time, it thus appears, was con- 
sumed by these stoppages. The horse-power consumed seemed 
excessive, and the stubble was left longer than necessary, being 
about 8 inches in length. The average cut of the machine was 
4 feet 10 inches. This trial was most satisfactory, as showing 
where the practical difficulty laid, and the necessity for further 
improvement in the mechanical construction of the machine in 
particular parts. Had there been no stoppages the half-acre 
would have been cut, sheaved, and tied in a little over 20 minutes 
— a pace quite satisfactory and capable of effecting a fair day's 
work. It must be noted, however, that, as in the preliminary 
trial, it was found necessary to allow an extra hand to remove 
the sheaves off the delivery-board as soon as they were tied. 
This, however, did not prevent the clogging at the knife, owing 
to the want of a proper dividing- rod and appliances to lift the 
straw on to the platform, from which it has to be raised by the 
canvas elevator to the tying apparatus. Owing to this circum- 
stance the sheaves were not by any means even in size, or as 
straight in the straw as they might have been. The sheaf- 
delivery of this machine was evidently imperfect, even had the 
straw been quite free from damp it would not have quitted the 
sheaves. In this case, however, though the machine had the 
advantage of doing its work upon a light crop of standing corn 
at a period of the day as favourable as possible for the work,, 
still it had a difficulty to contend with in the immature state of 
the crop, a large proportion of the straw of which was full of 
sap and contained many " greens." 
No. 2, VV. A. Wood's machine, commenced work on plot 3, 
at 12.30. This plot was an average standing crop of 26 bushels 
per acre, and had become by this time in good condition for 
