Trials of Self-binding Reapers at Aighurth. 
123 
two slight stoppages, till 1.30, when the clouds, which had been 
gathering round lor some time, burst forth with a sudden down- 
pour of rain, which drove every one from the field under shelter. 
No further time-work could therefore be done in this case, as, 
when the clouds passed away and a brisk wind shook the straw 
so as to make it comparatively dry, the soil was so wet and the 
state of the straw so deteriorated for cutting, that the conditions 
of the trial be^came changed. It was therefore considered ad- 
visable to take as a test the portion cut during the short period 
of time that the machine had worked upon the crop in a similar 
condition to that in which the other machines had worked pre- 
viously, rather than complete the cutting of the plot after the 
rain, as such work would evidently afford no real measure of com- 
parison of the time that the machine would have finished its work 
in, had the weather remained fair and the crops equally favour- 
able for the process. The portion cut before the rain came on 
afforded ample space to show the excellent character of the work 
completed by the machine, the stubble being uniformly short, 
the sheaves even and straight in the straw, and the tying per- 
fect. There was one breakage of wire in the thirteen minutes that 
the machine was actually cutting. I have spoken previously of 
the ingenious and clever crane-neck, cheaper as an original 
mechanism, likely to become a most valuable motion in ma- 
chines of this character, although it was unable on this occasion 
to quit the newly tied sheaf before the succeeding one came. 
The usual manual assistance, as in the other two previous cases, 
was rendered. I must, however, notice, as a condition common 
to all, that the total absence of brittleness and buoyancy in the 
straw, arising from its imperfect ripeness and moist condition, 
rendered the movement of such a material through the machinery 
a matter of considerable difficulty, the machinery having to work 
against a dead weight — a thing certainly never contemplated by 
the inventor of any of the machines. 
On the stoppage of the test-trials by rain, the prospect of any 
further work being done in the field looked hopeless. In a 
short time, however, a breeze arose and the clouds were carried 
away with great rapidity, leaving us in the presence of the sun, 
none the less bright for the murky atmosphere in which he had 
been recently enveloped, and later on in the afternoon we had 
a few hours of real harvest weather. That the Judges had not 
left the field was a matter of congratulation, and it was deter- 
mined to commence the dynamometer test-trials, as soon as 
the wet was shaken out of the straw, and as soon as Mr. W. E. 
Rich, C.E., was ready to commence operations. The lowest 
portion of the allotted plot of wheat was reserved for these 
trials. The crop here was very fine and not broken down at 
