[Sidenote: An Unfair Disadvantage]
"In presenting the following pages for consideration of the farmers of
the country, the subscriber has confined himself strictly to matters
selected from English papers, which will speak for itself. As a short
explanation from me will be looked for, I will merely state that at the
trial in presence of the Exhibition Jury, Mr. McCormick's machine was
operated by an experienced hand sent from the United States, while mine
was managed by English laborers of the lower class, who were total
strangers to it, and had never seen it in operation. The trial was made
in unripe wheat on a rainy day. My machine was very improperly adjusted
for the work and wrongly put together, in consequence of which the
ignorant raker failed to deliver the sheaves, and it stopped as a matter
of course, and was immediately laid aside, after cutting but a few feet.
My machine was never tried in presence of that Jury by any other hands,
or in any other condition, myself not being in England.
"It was on such a trial that the Exhibition medal was disposed of, and
with what justice the reader can judge by reading the following pages. On
my arrival in England I took my machine into the field that it might work
its way into public favor as it best could. After being exhibited in
several places, its rising fame appeared to produce some effect, as it
will appear by the following in the _Windsor and Eaton Express_ of
November 8, 1851:
"Alluding to the astonishing and unexpected performance of my Reaper, it
says: '_By this unlooked for turn of events, the proprietors of
McCormick's machine found that their supremacy was no longer undisputed,
and that the necessity was laid upon them to look to their laurels; they
therefore came boldly forward, and threw down the gauntlet!_'
[Illustration: Hussey's Side-Delivery Reaper As Used in England. (From An
Old Print)]
[Sidenote: How McCormick Received a Medal]
"That farmers who are acquainted with my reaper may understand why it
failed to perform well in the hands of strangers at the Exhibition trial
where McCormick got the medal, it will be necessary for me to say that
when the machine was sent from Baltimore it was set to cut high. That
when the inexperienced hands undertook to make it cut low, they pitched
down the cutters by putting on the tongue, not knowing any other way to
lower it. In doing so the hind part of the platform was of course raised
high. In this condition the unpracticed raker failed to push the heavy
wet wheat off up an inclined plane; and as a matter of course the machine
choaked, and for the same reason that a mill will choak when the corn
goes in faster than the meal comes out. A skillful hand would have
lowered the cut at the axle of the machine, and brought the platform
horizontal or lowest at the rear, as it should be in cutting wet grain.
"The following pages will show the result, the authenticity of which, if
doubted, will be proved by the production of the originals in my
possession.
"OBED HUSSEY.
"Baltimore, Md., Jan. 1, 1852."
From the Hull [England] Advertiser, September 5, 1851.
"At the annual meeting on Mr. Mechi's Farm at Tiptree Heath, a few weeks
ago, a brief report of which appeared in the Hull Advertiser at the time,
several reaping machines were tested, the result then being that one
manufactured and invented by Mr. McCormick, of America, was the only one
which was considered to have done its work properly. Amongst those tried
was one invented and manufactured by Mr. O. Hussey, Baltimore, Md. (U.
S.) which, in the opinion of gentlemen then present, did not fully
accomplish the object in view. It should, however, be mentioned, that
while Mr. McCormick's machine had on that trial the advantage of the
superintendence of persons intimately acquainted with its mechanism, and
who had been accustomed to the working of the machine for some years, Mr.
Hussey's invention was (in the absence of the inventor) in the hands of
persons entirely unacquainted with the proper mode of working it. Since
then Mr. Hussey himself has come over to England in order to superintend
his machine, and the result has been that it is now brought out to
receive a thorough trial of its merits.
"The trial of Wednesday, however, was the best. It took place in a field
belonging to Mr. Coskill, Grovehill Lane, Beverly. There was assembled
during the day a great number of farmers and gentlemen interested in
agriculture, who witnessed the trial with great interest.
"The wheat in this case was very much 'laid;' indeed in many places it
was almost flat on the ground. It therefore afforded one of the best
opportunities for judging of the capabilities of the machine under
disadvantageous circumstances that could possibly occur.
"On the whole, the conclusion come to was that the reaping was done as
well by machine as by hand. No one doubted for a moment that it would cut
corn well where it was standing; but some farmers thought it would not
equal the scythe where the corn was laid. The result, however, showed the
contrary, and every person acknowledged that it had succeeded admirably.
After cutting a large quantity of wheat, the machine was taken into
another field, and after a slight alteration, set to work to cut clover.
We understand that on the day before previous to coming to Hull, it had
been tried on clover and cut it extremely well.
[Sidenote: Winning Its Own Way]
"As the machine cut along it was followed closely by groups of farmers
striving hard to find flaws in its performance. But they could not. On
the contrary, in those places where the corn was most 'laid,' and where,
consequently, the greatest difficulty must occur in the cutting, the
manner in which the reaper did its work elicited their loudest
approbation. 'Why,' said one burly old gentleman by our side, 'a man with
a scythe could never cut it like that.' 'It is wonderful,' said another.
From the Morning Advertiser, September 12, 1851.
"On Monday last, the public trial of Hussey's patent Reaping Machine took
place with the permission of his Grace, the Duke of Marlborough, on his
Grace's estate of Blenheim, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, and also, on the
adjoining one of Mr. Southern, one of the most considerable landed
proprietors of the country. A large assemblage of the Agriculturists of
the highest class attracted by the celebrity which this ingenious and
efficient contrivance has acquired for itself in a course of successful
experiments performed last week in Yorkshire, were present to witness the
trial, mostly from Oxfordshire and the adjoining counties, but many from
a considerable distance, and all of them concurred in the most ready
acknowledgments of its advantages.
[Sidenote: The Duke of Marlborough's Test]
"The reaping commenced at 11 o'clock in the barley field, the machine
being drawn by two fine chestnut horses, lent by his Grace for the
purpose of the experiment, in which he took the deepest interest,
following the reaper in a car, and watching with evident satisfaction,
the ease and rapidity with which the blades cut down the golden produce
of the field. The crop was by no means one calculated to favor the
experiment. On the contrary, some of it was down and much laid. It was
cut down, however, with great regularity and speed, and the general
evenness of the stubble was the subject of general remark. As the machine
passed on, hewing its way at a smart pace through the dense mass of
stalks, the crowd of eager observers rushed after it, and many were the
cheers with which it was welcomed. Occasionally, to satisfy the ideas of
the more fastidious, the level of the cutters was changed, so as to leave
a greater or less length of stubble, and it was evident to all that in
this respect the machine was susceptible of the nicest adjustment. Some
times at the end of a turn it was rested to give the farmers an
opportunity of inspecting it, which they seemed never tired of doing, and
then it was turned round at right angles to cut in the cross direction.
In the experiments upon barley, it showed itself capable of reaping the
enormous space of fifteen acres, which we believe is from eight to nine
times the power of the most vigorous and skillful reaper. Afterwards the
machine was taken into a large field of clover, which it cut to within
two inches of the ground, and with still greater rapidity.
"His Grace repeatedly expressed his admiration of the powers of the
apparatus, and congratulated some of the agricultural gentlemen present
with him on the prospects of greater economy and security in harvesting
which it afforded them. These opinions were generally entertained upon
the ground, and yesterday at Bishop's Startford, in Hartfordshire, the
farmers of that part of the country witnessed a similar experiment,
attended with results precisely similar, and which gave them the same
satisfaction."
[Illustration: McCormick's American Reaper]
The following testimonial was given by the Duke of Marlborough:
"Tuesday, September 9th, 1851.
"Having yesterday witnessed the working of the American Reaping Machine,
patented by Mr. Hussey, and being requested to give my opinion upon its
execution, I state that it performed its work admirably, laying the corn
when cut very neatly for tying up, and leaving the stubble very regular.
"MARLBOROUGH."
Following upon these various successes, an advertisement from the
proprietors of McCormick's Machine appeared in the public papers, as
follows: