124 
Report on Implements at Liverpool, and on 
all. The straw was long, too long certainly for the comfortable 
working of the machines. The size of the plot, in shape of a 
parallelogram, was about 6 acres, and all the machines were sent 
round it as a " preliminary canter," in order that the exhibitors 
might have their respective machines in suitable trim for the 
test work. After this, McCormick was the first summoned to 
action, and the dynamometer was attached to it. It made three 
circuits, during which time Mr. W. E. Rich, standing on that 
marvellous piece of mechanism which so infallibly records the 
draught-power absorbed by any machine in completing a piece 
of work, made the observations furnishing the data from which 
the valuable table subjoined (p. 125) is collated. The stoppages 
of McCormick were few and no breakages of wire occurred. It 
cut well, though the stubble was left rather long, and I think 
gained credit with observers for its work in comparison with its 
performance in the morning. 
W . A. Wood's was treated in a precisely similar manner, and 
it pleased the spectators by the ease with which it cut and placed 
the straw in the sheaf. Its delivery was of course assisted as in 
the previous case, though it required that assistance less than 
either McCormick's or Osborne s machine. The stubble it left 
was much admired, being perfectly level, and considerably shorter 
than that left by McCormick. The straw was too long for his 
platform, a point in which McCormick was somewhat superior. 
Third and last Osborne came smilingly to the front after his 
ill-fortune in the previous trial ; but if unlucky in his time-test, 
now he had every reason to congratulate himself on the cir- 
cumstances under which he came to the dynamometer-test. 
Under the influence of the breeze the straw had now become 
in a better condition than it had been during any other period 
of the day, while the bright sunshine gave it a crispness that 
made it pass over the gathering-board and through the sheafing 
apparatus with a degree of lightness not previously stown in 
the other trials. In this case the stoppages and the breakages 
were nil, which was the more remarkable, as the straw was 
evidently longer than the machine was calculated to deal with, 
and there was a tendency of the cut grain to hang over the 
reception-board, and on the delivery platform to entangle the 
ears in the wheels on the left side of the machine which 
regulated the movement of the crane-neck reaper. Special care 
prevented any mischief taking place from this cause, thbugh 
the extreme length of the wheat was a disadvantage to the 
machine, which its able conductor had to guard against. The 
stubble was left beautifully level, if not quite as short as Walter 
A. Wood's. The sheaves were well-made and uniform, thougli 
considerably smaller than those made either by Wood or 
