1851. TUB CULTIVATOR. • 369 
Mechanics’ Hall, State Fair Grounds, Rochester. 
Implements at the New-York State Fair. 
The show of agricultural implements at the late Fair 
at Rochester, in respect to the variety of articles, and 
the extent of competition for the different kinds, was 
superior to any display we have ever witnessed. We 
have more than once remarked that improvements in 
agriculture in this country, have taken their rise more 
from the improvements which have been made in imple¬ 
ments, than from any other cause. The advance which 
has taken place from the cause here alluded to, is valua¬ 
ble in two important aspects: first, from the more tho¬ 
rough husbandry which has been induced, and the bet¬ 
ter and more certain crops which have been obtained; and 
second, from the economy of labor, which the introduc¬ 
tion of superior implements has brought about. On both 
these points the advantage gained has been very great, 
and the labor-saving principle—or at least the saving of 
manual labor—has been of incalculable benefit to the 
farmers of many sections of the country. 
Prominent among implements of this character, which 
are of modern invention or introduction, are Reaping 
Machines. It is true, however, that machines designed 
for reaping grain by horse-power were tried in England 
fifty years ago, and also at several subsequent periods; 
but their practical use is of comparatively late origin, 
the credit, whieh we are proud to say, belongs to Ameri¬ 
can mechanics. This assertion will not, it is presumed, 
be denied; but at the same time, it is no more than fair 
to admit that the previous attempts at the construction 
of such an implement, although falling short of the ob¬ 
ject, were doubtless highly useful in the development of 
principles, and in showing, to some extent, what was, 
and what was not practicable. 
It is now several years since various reaping machines 
have been used to a large extent in this country. They 
have been used to more or less advantage in most dis¬ 
tricts where wheat is largely cultivated, though the most 
striking and manifest advantage from their use, has been 
found in the newly-settled western states, where, from 
the scarcity of manual labor, it would have been abso¬ 
lutely impossible to have secured the harvests in the or¬ 
dinary way of reaping or cradling. 
The expediency of using these machines, depends, of 
course, upon the circumstances of the farmer—some¬ 
what on the character of the surface of the land, that 
which is comparatively smooth and level being desirable 
—the number of acres of grain grown, and the readiness 
with which hand-labor may be obtained, and the price 
it will command. In the older and most populous sec¬ 
tions of the country, where various crops are cultivated 
on the same farm, it is often the case that the farmer has 
no more wheat or other small grain, than can readily be 
cut in the proper stage by the hands ordinarily employed 
on the farm. If he has not more wheat, barley, or oats, 
than a machine can cut in a day or two, he will naturally 
conclude that it is inexpedient for him to purchase a 
machine at the cost of more than a hundred dollars for this 
purpose. It is still, however, a question whether this 
objection to the-use of machines might not be advantage¬ 
ously overcome by the implement being owned by a man 
who might make cutting grain, by the acre, a regular 
business during.the proper season. 
It is known to our readers that two noted American 
reaping machines, have been introduced into England 
during the present season, and that to one of these, Mr. 
McCormick’s, the great medal has been awarded at the 
Industrial Exhibition of all Nations. This machine, as 
well as that of Mr. Hussey’s, has been subjected to va¬ 
rious trials in England, with results highly satisfactory 
as to their operation, results which seem to have inspired 
a conviction that they can be extensively adopted in that 
country, notwithstanding the comparative cheapness of 
labor, with profit to the farmer—or at least with profit 
