Chapter 9

As we have already much exceeded the intended limits of the narrative, we might, perhaps, with propriety, here rest the enquiry, having, as we think, satisfactorily shown, and by evidence that cannot be disproved: first, that for a period of nine or ten years after the alleged invention of the reaper by C. H. McCormick in 1831 he did not sell a single machine; nor could he establish by all the evidence adduced before the Board of Extensions, in 1848, that prior to 1840 or 1841 was his reaper in any degree an effective or practical machine; for as he himself states in the letter to Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P., it was not until very material alterations--all essential it may be said--were made, some six or eight years after the date of the patent, could the machine be made to work even tolerably well. Indeed, he states, "I may say they were not of much practical value, until the improvements of my second patent in 1845," being eleven years after the date of the patent, and fourteen years after the alleged invention in 1831.

On the other hand we have shown by as good and respectable testimony as can be had in any cause, that from 1833 to 1854, a period of twenty-one years, Hussey's invention was most efficient and satisfactory, _every year_; not by cutting a patch of the fraction of an acre, but by reaping hundreds, nay thousands of acres annually, by the few machines placed in the hands of the farmers from 1833 to 1840.

As, however, we have given no direct evidence from Delaware, or Virginia, none from North Carolina, and but one from New York, we annex a few short testimonials from each, that embrace the period from 1838 to 1845; and with a few more of the same respectable character up to 1853, both in this country and in England, we will leave the decision of the question to the intelligent reader. We will, however, call the reader's attention to the concluding paragraph of Maj. J. Jones' letter, from Delaware--one of the smallest States, but containing as large a proportion of noble minded, talented men, and as good practical farmers, as any in the Union.[5]

[5] It is reported of one of her sons, that during the struggle for Independence, when a Delegate to the Convention from one of the largest and most powerful Colonies was ready to quail and almost despair of success in the unequal contest, he was encouraged and cheered on by a member from little Delaware; and told that when he found his Colony likely to be overrun by the enemy, to call on Delaware for aid--she would lend a helping hand.

It will be perceived that a reaper sold in 1838 to the St. George's and Appoquinomick Agricultural Society had, after subsequently coming into the possession of Col. Vandergrift, and prior to 1845, "cut about _seven hundred acres_ of his grain," and "was then in good repair"! We wish it was in our power to state how many times seven hundred acres this single machine had reaped since 1838.

[Sidenote: An Important Testimonial from Delaware]

"Wheatland, Del., "July 21, 1845.

"_Mr. Hussey:_

"Dear Sir:--I have just finished cutting my oats; I finished cutting my wheat on the 28th of June, having cut over 160 acres, excepting what was cut by a cradle in opening tracks for the horses and rounding the corners so that the machine might sweep round without loss of time in turning, which it did with ease and certainty, cutting more than twenty acres a day on an average. A part of the wheat was so heavy as to require three active shockers to keep up with the cutting; the whole cost of all necessary repairs 31-1/4 cents for the harvest.

"Of the two machines which I purchased of you I used the large one, having sold the small one to Richard Millwood, who rents the farm of Dr. Noble. Strange as it may appear, I could find no _landholder_ in the vicinity who had enterprise enough to risk the purchase of that machine until they could see it work; but after the performance was once witnessed, the impression it made was such as to justify me in ordering you to have ten ready by next harvest for New Castle County, Del. Mr. Millwood's wheat was very heavy, one measured acre having sixty dozen sheaves upon it, and the whole cutting time on the forty acre field was but two days, making for the small machine a full average of twenty acres per day, without any repairing or accident. None of the hands who worked it had ever seen such a machine before those you sent to me. My crop has not all passed through the half bushel yet, but it will fall but little short of 3,000 bushels--expect it will all be in market to-morrow.

"In conversation with Col. Vandergrift, the present owner of the Reaper you sold to the St. George and Appoquinomick Agricultural Society, in 1838, he told me that he had cut about 700 acres of wheat and oats with it since he owned it, and up to that time the cost of repairs had been $1.25 for every hundred acres cut. It was then in good repair.

"Yours,

"JOHN JONES."

"Jefferson County, Va., "August 9th, 1845.

"_To Mr. Obed Hussey:_

"Dear Sir:--We, the undersigned, having used your reaping machine during the recent harvest in cutting our respective crops, take great pleasure in tendering to you this voluntary testimonial of the very high estimation in which we hold your invention. We have now tried your machines fully and fairly, and we are unanimous in the conclusion that in every case they have borne the test in a manner which has excited our highest admiration of their merits. We were particularly pleased with their work in lodged grain; they cut and gather every straw with the utmost ease, and the only fault at all that we have had to find with them was that they did not cut wet grain with facility; this single defect, however, we are pleased to perceive you have completely remedied with the late improvement (with open guards to the knives, etc.) which the most of us saw at work in Mr. Wm. Butler's field cut wet grain and green oats as well as could possibly be desired--it will also cut timothy and clover--so that now we have no hesitation in recommending your reaper, as we hereby most cordially do, to our brother farmers, as the most complete and efficient in agricultural operations, and as one which, whilst from its simple and substantial construction, is not liable to be broken or to get out of order, will at the same time save its owner the first year more than its original cost.

"WM. BUTLER, J. H. TAYLOR, W. SHORTT, JOSEPH M'MURRAN, DANIEL G. HENKLE, DAVID L. HENSELL, W. G. BUTLER, JAS. S. MARKELL, V. M. BUTLER, ANDREW M'INTIRE, ADAM SMELL, GEORGE TABB, JOHN MARSHALL."

"Washington County, "Aug. 7th, 1845.

"I hereby certify that I have used Mr. Obed Hussey's wheat cutter through the late harvest, and that it answered my fullest expectations, in every respect, except that it will not cut when the wheat is _damp from rain or the dews of the morning_. I cut 140 acres of wheat with it in nine days; and on one occasion, cut off thirty acres in eighteen hours, from daylight in the morning until 11 o'clock the next day, and with the same four horses, never having changed them during that time.

"JOHN R. DALL."

"Oaklands (near Geneva), N. Y. "26th August, 1845.

"_Mr. Obed Hussey, Baltimore:_

"Dear Sir:--Having housed all the grain crops of this farm, it is due to you that I should now frankly admit the removal of all my doubts in regard to the effectiveness and excellence of your 'Reaping Machine.' The doubts expressed in my early correspondence with you arose from the many abortive attempts in this country and in England to produce a reaping machine, possessing power and simplicity and durability; most of them were complicated, and proved too fragile.

"Soon after the arrival of your machine, I tried its power and became readily familiar with the manner of using it; the result of my experience will appear from the following facts:

"The wheat crop of this farm covered 104 acres, producing 2,540 shocks, 30,480 sheaves, as counted on the ground, and again when housed in the grain barn and sheds.

"The whole crop was cut by your reaping machine in eight days, using one team, a boy to drive and a man to manage the machine.

"The average quantity cut per day was thirteen acres.

"The largest quantity cut on any one day was seventeen acres.

"The longest period for working the machine on any one day was nine hours.

"Seven men were stationed on the field to bind the sheaves.

"The cost of _cutting_ the wheat with your machine is _twenty-five cents_ per acre.

"The total cost for cutting, raking, binding and shocking is _seventy-eight cents and a fraction_ per acre.

"The cost may be stated as follows, viz:

A man and team for eight days at $1.50 per day $12.00

A boy to drive for eight days at fifty cents per day 4.00

Interest on cost of machine and for wear and tear, say at 10 per cent 10.00 ______ $26.00

"Which is equal to 25 cents per acre on 104 acres. The seven men employed to rake and bind received, each, $1 per day for eight days, say $56, which sum added to the cost for cutting or reaping, gives a total cost of $82, or 78-88/100 cents per acre.

"I have compared this cost with the cost paid by my neighboring farmers this season, and find it vastly in favor of your machine. The individual in this town who harvested with the most economy paid $1 13/100 per acre--other farmers have paid from $1 25/100 to $2 per acre.

"Since the wheat harvest the machine has cut with signal advantage about twenty acres of oats.

"The wheat and oats were cut with such neatness and precision that the gleanings were not sufficient to pay the labor of raking.

"The machine remains in perfect order, and did not fail to perform all you promised.

"I deem it one of the best labor-saving machines ever offered for the advantage of the farmer; its effectiveness, simple and durable construction, have been witnessed with satisfaction by a large number of my neighbor farmers.

"Respectfully yours,

"J. DELAFIELD."

The machine alluded to in the above letter is the low priced one at $100.

For 1846, 1847 and 1848 we copy from the _Richmond Planter_ and _American Farmer_--and all from North Carolina, though the evidence from other sections is much more extended, and equally as conclusive:

"Somerset Place, Washington Co., "North Carolina 25th Aug. 1847.

"_To the Editor of the American Farmer:_

"Dear Sir:--Yours of the 6th ult. arrived at my residence during my absence in consequence of which I was unable to return you an answer in time for your August number of the _American Farmer_. I trust, however, the delay will not materially affect the value of my communication. In consequence of the recommendation of a gentleman who had used "Hussey's Reaper" in the harvest of 1846 with much satisfaction, I was induced to make a trial of one the present season. It was put in operation under the direction and supervision of Mr. Hussey himself, upon a field of reclaimed low ground, originally Cypress Swamp, which of course could only be cultivated in beds--these beds were six feet wide, including the water-furrow between, and were intersected at intervals of about fifty yards by drains, known to us as _tap-ditches_, which cross the water furrows at right angles, and are cut from two to four inches deeper than the furrows themselves. I am particular in describing the land, as I had always supposed that an insuperable obstacle in the way of the regular action of any machine would be found in the irregularity of surface into which our land is necessarily thrown by our system of culture. The machine surmounted every anticipated difficulty, and was eminently successful, both in cutting lengthwise with the beds and across them. The wheat was cut in a most thorough manner; nothing escaped the cutting surfaces, nor did weeds or any other obstruction of the kind hinder the machine from doing its work perfectly. During the running of the machine one day in the harvest, seventeen acres of wheat were cut by it.[6] This was done by using relays of horses, four at each time, the same hands being employed, however, and the working time was twelve hours. After a heavy rain we were obliged to abandon the use of the machine, owing to the fact that the ground became so soft that the "road wheel" as it is termed, buried in the soil, and would become clogged with mud. This difficulty can, I have no doubt, be easily overcome by increasing the "tread" of this wheel, and making some slight alteration in the cog-wheel which gears into it.

[6] When Mr. Hussey was with me I informed him that the piece of wheat cut by the machine on this occasion equalled twenty acres, but I have since discovered that I had been mistaken in my calculation of the acre.

[Sidenote: A McCormick Failure]

"Some two years since I saw an experiment made upon an adjoining estate with McCormick's machine; it cut occasionally well where the wheat was free from weeds, but any obstruction from that source would immediately choke it, when of course the wheat would be overrun without being cut. The experiment proved a failure, and the machine was laid aside. The blade in this machine appears to me to be too delicate in its cutting surface to succeed, except under the most favorable circumstances. Quite a number of McCormick's have been in use in this part of the country during the last two years, and to my inquiries concerning them I have received but one answer and that an unfavorable one. The few of Hussey's machines, on the contrary, that have been employed within my ken, have in each instance given entire satisfaction. I do not hesitate to say that when well managed, with a skilful hand at the rake, in dry wheat (I do not recommend it when the straw is wet), it will, as compared with _ordinary_ cutting, save per acre the _entire expense of reaping_, from the thorough manner in which every stalk is cut, thus preventing loss or waste.

"Believing, as I do, that a great desideratum to those who grow wheat upon a large scale, is to be found in Mr. Hussey's reaper, I cannot but wish that both he and they may _reap_ the benefit of its general adoption.

"I am, sir,

"Very respectfully your ob't serv't,

"JOSIAH COLLINS."

"Edenton, N. C., "January 25th, 1848.

"_To the Editor of the American Farmer:_

"Dear Sir:--Some months ago I received a letter from you, making enquiries of me relative to Hussey's Reaping Machine. When your letter reached me I was on the eve of leaving home for the summer, and since my return home, my engagements have been of such a character as to cause me until the present to neglect replying to it.

"I have used one of Hussey's machines one season, and though under circumstances not very favorable for the machine, I take pleasure in stating that its operation was satisfactory. During my harvest, which was about three weeks' duration, this machine was kept constantly at work, with the exception of a day and a half, yet I did not ascertain how many acres it would reap. Mr. Collins, of Lake Scuppernong also used one last season, and from him I learned that he cut upwards of twenty acres a day.

"There is certainly much less wheat left in the field by one of these machines than is by the ordinary method of reaping by the scythe or reap hook; it cuts close, lays the straw smoothly, thus rendering tying of it in sheaves much easier.

"I have witnessed McCormick's, which I consider _a poor affair_, and _meriting no consideration_ except a dissent from me. Many of this last kind of reaper found their way here a few years ago; they now, or rather their remains, may be seen lying in the field whence they will never be removed.

"THOS. D. WARREN."

From the Richmond Planter.

HUSSEY'S AND M'CORMICK'S REAPERS

"It is very painful to be compelled to inflict a private injury in the discharge of a public duty; upon a particular system of cultivation we can talk and write without restraint; but when we are called on to discuss the merits of an invention, upon which the fortunes of the originator may absolutely depend, it is a much more responsible and delicate office. We are aware, too, that in introducing a subject of the kind, we are opening the floodgates of a controversy that is often hard to close; we have had the strongest evidence of that fact in the controversy that once occurred in this paper between Messrs. McCormick and Hussey, and yet it is to the relative merits of the reaping machines of these two gentlemen that we are compelled again to draw the public attention. Probably not less than fifteen thousand dollars has been spent in Virginia this summer for reaping machines, and it becomes a subject of great importance to the wheat growing community at least, to ascertain how such a sum is annually to be dispensed to the greatest advantage. We shall express no _opinion_ ourself in the discussion which must necessarily follow the introduction of this subject, and we would greatly prefer that neither of the gentlemen more particularly interested in the subject would appear in our columns. We will publish statements of facts for either, provided they are made over responsible names, and are short and permanent. As one of these facts we feel bound to state that we acted this year as the agent for McCormick's machine, and we have heard great complaint of the manner in which it was gotten up; but it is but fair also to state, that we believe Mr. McCormick himself has been superintending the manufacture of his machine in the State of New York, and that probably his work has not been as well done as it would have been could he have seen to it in person. The following communication is altogether in favor of Hussey's machine:

[Sidenote: Hussey's Machine "Vastly Superior"]

"I have had in operation on my plantation this year both Hussey's and McCormick's reapers. Now, as you have asked me to furnish the _Planter_ with the result of my own experience and opinion as to the comparative merit of the two machines, it is now at your service. I have had them both in operation (as the weather would permit) for the last fortnight, and have cut with the two rather upwards of two hundred acres of wheat. Both machines have been, I think, very fairly tested in all qualities of grain, from wheat five feet and more in height, both standing up, and lodged and tangled, and averaging, as is supposed, from thirty and forty bushels, down to light, thin wheat, not averaging more than four bushels (being some galled hills) and I am _candidly_ and _decidedly_ of opinion that Hussey's machine is _vastly superior_. I deem it superior, not only in the execution of its work, but in the durability of the machine. So well pleased am I with its performance that I have ordered another machine of Hussey's for my next harvest, and also one, and probably two, for my father's plantation. I consider this machine invaluable to the grower of wheat, and would recommend every farmer who grows even fifty acres of wheat, to purchase one. He may rest assured that he will be pleased with his purchase. I shall probably be in Richmond shortly.

"Yours very respectfully,

"T. POLLOCK BURGUYN.

"Occonichee Wigwam, near Halifax, N. C., "June 20, 1846.

"For 1849 and 1850 we will return and see how the invention progresses on the broad prairies and fertile lands of the West, where it first operated--in 1833 and 1834--and where, too, although the most luxuriant crops are _grown_ with comparatively but little labor, it would in many cases be next to impossible to save _them_ without the aid of this invaluable invention.

"These certificates embrace the mowing of large crops of grass as well as grain, and in addition, the cutting of more than three hundred acres of _hemp_ in the harvest of 1849 and 1850, by 'the same single machine.'

"Hussey's complete success in cutting grass and hemp was no new thing ten years ago; but we suppose, like the grain cutting, in the view of Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P., 'Its _perfection_ depended on its being _new_ only in England,' full eighteen years after it was effected in America.

[Sidenote: A General Opinion]

"Blackberry, Kane County, Ill., "August 28, 1849.

"This may certify that I have had one of Mr. Hussey's mowing and reaping machines on my farm this year cutting wheat, oats, and grass for a short time. I think nothing can beat it cutting timothy grass, and I intend to purchase one for that purpose. While the machine was cutting prairie grass in my field, I cut off a dry poplar stake, one inch in diameter, which had been sticking in the ground after it had been laid off for a ditch. I am of the opinion that it will cut wheat well, where it is so much lodged, or so foul with stiff weeds or corn stalks that it cannot be cut with any other machine I have seen in this country. Some of my neighbors say that they intend to have Mr. Hussey's reaper in preference to any other; and from what I can learn this opinion is pretty general in my neighborhood amongst those who have seen this machine work, and are acquainted with other machines. My brother farmers have had great trouble with McCormick's machine, by the breaking of sickles, and the great difficulty or rather the impossibility of getting them repaired, or getting new ones made when broken, whereas the blades of Mr. Hussey's machine can be made by any common blacksmith. I have no doubt but Mr. Hussey's machine will come into general use.

"D. W. ANNIS."

"Franklin Precinct, DeKalb Co., "August 13, 1849.

"This may certify that we have seen Mr. O. Hussey's machine cut about an acre of wheat, so badly lodged that McCormick's reaper could do nothing with it, nor could it be cradled. Said Hussey's machine cut it handsomely, and laid it in very good bundles for binding.

"JOHN SCHOOMAKER, ALBERT FIELD, JOHN M. SCHOOMAKER, DANIEL MILLER, ALBERT FIELD, JR., ISAAC CRILL, JOHN MILLER."

"Berkshire, Kane County, Ill., "August 6, 1849.

"We, the undersigned, having seen Mr. Hussey's reaper work at cutting grass and grain, think it preferable to McCormick's or any other machine that we have seen. It cut wheat that could not be cut with McCormick's reaper or a cradle. We are well acquainted with McCormick's machine.

"P. A. HIXBY, JOHN GRIGGS, JR., JOHN GRIGGS, HARRY POTTER, JOHN SHIRWOOD, SETH SHIRWOOD, DAVID SHANKS, ABRAHAM SHIRWOOD, JAMES HESS, ALSON BANKER, D. C. WRIGHT, ELISHA WRIGHT."

"Oswego, Ill., "August 2, 1849.