operation on wheat gave entire satisfaction. The work throughout
the harvest was equally well done; the only objection being the
delay caused by repairing the machinery, a difficulty common to
all new machines of much power at that period.

"Since then I have used one or more reapers every year, and have
watched with much interest the progress of their improvement. I
have examined most of those which have the best reputation, and do
not believe there is a single one in which the cutting principle
has not been copied from yours.

"In attempting to avoid an infringement of your patent, variations
have been made either in the cutting apparatus, or the driving
machinery, by which they have been made more complicated and less
efficient. Burrall's, which approaches nearest to yours in
simplicity and efficiency, is so close a copy that I do not see
how the courts could refuse an injunction to prohibit the use of
it. The only material difference is the attempt at a side delivery
which was tried by you on your first machine, and proved an entire
failure.

[Sidenote: The Farmers' Debt to Mr. Hussey]

"Believing sincerely that the farmers of the U.S. owe you a debt
of gratitude, which a regard for themselves should prompt them to
pay, and understanding that attempts have been made to question
even the priority of your invention, I send you a volume of the
_Genesee Farmer_ published in 1834, which will show the
opinion entertained at that time by the farmers of that celebrated
wheat growing region, both as to the efficiency and priority of
your reaper.

"Your ob't serv't,

"TENCH TILGHMAN."

[Sidenote: Conclusive Evidence]

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, som