"Besides difficulties common to all inventions, the machine could be tested but for two or three weeks in each year when a defect was discovered, before the remedy was applied to the instrument the harvest was over, and the new form had to wait a whole year for its trial, when some fresh failure required a fresh year's postponement of final success.

"As to the practical working of the reaper, two horses drew it at the trial very easily round the outside of the crop until they finished in the center, showing that they could easily cut 15 acres in 10 hours. One man drives sitting and another stands on the machine to rake. It is hard work for him, and the men ought sometimes to change places. The straw left behind at the trial was cut very regularly; lower than by reaping, but higher than by fagging. The inventor stated that he had a machine which would cut it two inches lower. This is the point, I should say, to attend to, especially for autumn cleaning. Though it seems superfluous to bring this machine to the test of economy, we may estimate the present cost of cutting 15 acres of wheat, at an average of 9s. per acre, to be £6,15s. Deduct for horses and men 10s. 3d, and for binding 2s. 6d per acre, the account will stand thus:

"The saving in wages, however, would of course be an imperfect test of the reaper's merits, since in bad seasons and late districts it may often enable the farmer to save the crop.

"Since this statement was written, fresh trials have been made of Mr. McCormick's reaper, as also of one of Mr. Hussey; and as the award under the Commission has been called in question, it is right that some statement should be made on the subject. In the first trial, at Tiptree Hall, Mr. McCormick's reaper worked well; G.-1852.

the other did not act at all. As the corn, however, was then green, it was thought right to make further trial, and special leave was obtained from the Council of Chairmen to give two Council Medals, one to each reaper, if on further trial their respective performances should be found to deserve one. The object in our second trial was not to decide which was the best implement, but whether either, or both, were sufficiently good to receive the Council Medal. Mr. McCormick's in this trial worked, as it has since worked at Cirencester College and elsewhere, to the admiration of practical farmers, and therefore received a Council Medal. Mr. Hussey's sometimes became clogged, as in the former trial at Tiptree, and therefore could not possibly obtain that distinction.

"Further trials, however, have since been made by other persons elsewhere, in which Mr. Hussey's machine worked well; and one of our colleagues, Mr. Thompson, informs me that it had been used for a week by a practical farmer, on his own farm, who was perfectly satisfied. Its inventor states that at the trials for the commission the failure arose from a mal-adjustment; and Mr. Thompson informs me that at one of the subsequent trials a similar mal-adjustment impeded its action, until Mr. Hussey arrived to set it right. I am bound, then, to express my own individual opinion that the merits of the machine are such as to entitle it to a Council Medal, and my regret that it should formally be disqualified to receive one.

"We have, then, two good American reaping machines. Their respective merits time will discover; but there is one caution which applies to the introduction of both into England. They both cut by a sidelong vibration, the frequency of which must be determined by the number of straws to be cut in passing over a given space. Now, as the acreable yield of England, is nearly double that of America, our straw, it is probable, stands much thicker than in the crops these reapers have been accustomed to deal with, so that both imple rents, when applied to heavy crops must be adapted to the superior farming they will have to encounter. At present we only know that McCormick's machine is best for Barley

and Oats, when not intended to be bound up in sheaf; Hussey's

for corn laid by the weather or standing upon steep ridges."

GENERAL REMARKS.

I have dwelt more at length on this class, on account of its importance, not only in the exhibition itself, but, for the reason that it was, so far as the exhibition from this country was concerned, the most important in its results. Until the trial of the American implements, and the most triumphant success of McCormick's Reaper, the United States department was comparatively overlooked. But our triumph here, gave a new direction to public attention, and that part of our exhibition which previously had been slightly passed over, now attracted the notice of every visitor, and the press of England was prompt in admitting the complete and triumphant success of the Americans. It was no longer deemed necessary to say of our implements, "they may do for a new country," for the trial had satisfied the most prejudiced, that they were designed to advance the interests of the best cultivated countries of the old world, and "taught them how to cut corn by machinery, of whose first principles it appeared they were ignorant."

The result of this trial was not unexpected to those Americans who were familiar with our implements, and to them was peculiarly gratifying, as placing our country in the position to which it was entitled and commanding that attention for our exhibition, which was justly due to it, from the character of many of our articles, particularly those in the machinery and agricultural departments.

In my account of the exhibition in this class, I have endeavored fairly to represent the merits of our implements, and am gratified, that their merits were publicly admitted and acknowledged by distinguished gentlemen from every quarter of the world, and the extensive demand for them in England and upon the Continent, shows, that practical, intelligent farmers, appreciate the contributions we have made to the world's progress.

ENGLISH IMPLEMENTS.

In the English Department, there were many very valuable machines and implements that would prove highly useful in this country. Their Scarifiers, Grubbers, Cultivators, and Clod Crushers, of various forms and sizes, which are greatly advantageous in bringing the land into proper tilth, and materially diminishing the expense, are very useful implements. The HORSE HOE, which is used for drilled crops, in removing the weeds and stirring up the land, is in use in many parts of England-and although at first sight it might appear doubtful whether it would answer in the young and tender crops-yet on trial, it has proved one of the most useful implements of the present day. It is adapted to all the prevailing modes of culture, either for cleaning crops drilled on a level surface, or on ridges-the axeltree of the wheels being movable at both ends, to suit the varied intervals between the rows of plants, and as each cutting hoe works on a separate and independent lever, the weeds are effectually destroyed, however uneven the surface, the hoes being kept at a uniform depth, by the means of regulating keys. The hoes penetrate to such a depth as to give fresh life and vigor to growing plants, by stirring the earth around them. It can be used for any kind of drilled crops. From ten to fifteen acres may be hoed in a day with a man, boy, and horse. Its steerage arrangement is such, as to be entirely under the control of the holder, and the hoes may be guided with the greatest precision, perfectly hoeing the intervals without injuring the plants.

As the practice of drilling the crops is increasing in this State, it cannot be long before our farmers will appreciate the importance of extirpating the weeds-for few of our farmers, I imagine, will, for any length of time, feel that they can afford to grow weeds. I give a cut of this implement which will convey some idea of its construction.