igh. 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