h other's machines. They
photographed each other's breakdowns, and bragged to the limit of their
vocabularies. They raised prices in one town and cut them in the next; for
when their fighting blood was aroused--and that was often--they cared no
more for profits than a small boy cares for his clothes.

To give only one instance out of hundreds, here is a picture of a field
test that I found in the diary of B. B. Clarke, of Madison, who is now
the editor of the _American Thresherman_, but who was in the eighties a
harvester fighter in Indiana.

"We drove fourteen miles to the wheat-field, which was also the
battle-field," he wrote, "and found a heavy crop of rank grain, wild pea
vines, morning glories and other vegetation, which tested both machines to
the limit. The bundles were twisted together by the vines into almost a
continuous rope. After adjusting the machine, we had to 'open the field.'
This is considered the most severe test, as the machine, the horses and
all are in the grain.

"A---- drove the team, a magnificent pair of big grays. McK---- watched
the binder, while Y---- and I created sympathy for our cause among the
farmers who had come to see the fight. With a crack of his whip and a
shout to his team, A---- opened the ball. The machine was so crowded with
grain and weeds that the sickle could not be heard fifty feet away. He
cleared the first round without a stop. Then the other machine followed,
but the driver, failing to recognise the necessity of fast driving,
allowed his machine to clog, and lost the day. We received two hundred
dollars in gold on the spot for our victorious binder.

[Illustration: A SELF-BINDER IN SCOTLAND, WITH THE WALLACE MONUMENT IN THE
BACKGROUND]

"On returning to Fort Wayne we found the E---- people, whose headquarters
were separated by a partition wall from ours, had coaxed one of our
customers to cancel his order, and substitute their machine. For this act,
we retaliated and replaced three of their orders the following week, and
while loading these into the farmers' wagons a fight took place between
the opposing factions. I looked as though I had encountered a flax-hackle.
The next day hostilities opened early with three on our side to six of the
E---- host, requiring a riot alarm and a wagon-load of police to restore
order.

"We had swept the enemy before us, using neck-yokes, pitman rods and even
six shooters in the grand finale. Our expense account for that week
i