, 1863-07-18
THE DE KALB COUNTY REAPER
TRIAL,
Operations ofthe Various Machines.
a Large Gathering Of the Farmers.
From Our Special Reporter.1

some time Elnce uotlCo appeared IN Inc
TRIBUNE, stating that q TRIAL Of reapers,
mowers, aud binders, would take place at
DeKalb to-day, under the auspices Of the De-
Ka1b county Agricultural Society. This no.
tice attracted the attention OF the manutac-
tprcrs and agents Of reapers, and the result is
that the trial to day has assumed magnitude
and Importance scarcely dreamed Of by the
executive officers Of the Society, rs the follow
ing List Of entries will show. But first Of the
premiums offered. Here they aro, together
with the entry fee exacted in each case. 1t
will be seen that the affair is rather more than
eelf.sustaining:
FOB TILE BEET COMBINED REAPER AND HOVER:
Prem. SIS; entry fec, e: second beat, $40.
Best SenRaker prem. Slb; fse, IS.
Best Mower, prem. $lo; iecs ~
Best Binder, prem IS; fec, 80.
Other premiums aro offered for the purpose Of
securing the trial Of other machines that hare az
rived hereof which, more hereafter.
ENTRIES.
The entries for the premium offered for the
best combined reaper and mower, are:
!. The Seymour and Morgan Machine.
e. The Ohio Chief.
s. Curtis Corn Machine.
4. John T. Mauny q Machine.
E. John r, Mann5's Little Combined" with
platform, 7,; and d binder BIZ ID combined.
s. j. Il. Manny-with platform and binder conf
.. fhc "Emplre"-an Ottawa machine.
The following named machines are entered
Us een-rakers:
Seymour and Morgan's; Waller Woods, and tho
No MoSwIas.M%oods, iaS; G. 8. curtls'. John r. Man
ny,a, Ball's Ohio" Kirby's, Mason's "Empire.''
f1YtkT nr.S&, D1un T..,
casters. and Burrows. There is one entry under
tho style Of " Self Raker uud hand binder,'' By G.
y. & u. ". Marsh. Of this county-a novelty.
Mayber1y's header and harvester Is also entered,
ia here, and will be tested.
GROUND AND GRAM SELECTED.
The ground selected Is located about a mile
from this place, on u high rolling prairie; In
the midst Of beautiful farming country. The
grain cut day is barley, short, stout, lodged,
in some places, Notwithstanding an excel
lent test.
THls MORNINGS WORK.
It was chill morning. Oyercoats were
comfortable. Everyone felt like "clrcula-
ting" And there was little impatience
manifest, tlat the committee were not on
hand earlier to commence the work Of the
day. But little was done beyond the prepara-
tory test and adjustment ofparts Of machines
to the work, in field Of badly rusted winter
wheat. I followed these machines around.
but defer any notice Of their wcrk until the
official test.
THIS AFTERNOON
The machines were put to work under the
eye OF the committee, whose names are:' J.
T. Gliddon. President Of the Society; Moses
Dean, Of Sycamore, and John Russel, Of
Kingston. ]. D. Butts acted as Supetinten-
dent.
TRIAL OF SELF nAEERs.
They were put in separately and In success
sion, according to the order their names
were drawn BY the Committee. Each ma
chine was instructed to cut twice around the
barley field before spoken OF. The first one
drawn WINS Walter a. Woods self raker.
Dixon, where it took the first prize as 4 reap.
er, it has been changed radically, and is In
some respects o much better machine.
Here It goes! Cuts i've and half feet
Ride-cuts we'll But notice that comparu-
lively little attention is paid to the cutting.
Good cutting machines are SO easily made
that an exception Is now matter Of aston~
iehment almost. But here the eager eyes Of
the crowd follow the movements Of that el-
bow of rake, which sweeps tho platform Of
its burthen, presses it in close compact
gaycl, and drops it ut one side Of tho mnclIne,
out OF tho wuy Of the team, and with the
tile tops Of bundles lie towards tic following
blrdcr. No grain scattere-none is dropped
or dragged along between the gayols. This
was not the case Last year It dragged slight
", but enough to be noticeable. The report
ers told thc publ: So. and 1'rss'o, the report
II % rIsh 10 g say i here Since II fs ,nnronr,,to
that late in the afternoon ! visited tho men
following the machines and biuding the grain.
asked (which machine 1eaTcs the grain In
the bet position and condition fer binding
"Atter that first eelfraker that went
around,''-.Was the prompt reply, and no dis
"Kifoy ne1t',<=built by Osborne & Co. t
is I, on hand. "CSme IN here Ut the corner,
tion. The Sickle cuts five feet. Cuts we'll
picks up the lodged grim clean. The draft.
like the Woods, Is not heavy. But all eyes
are upon the mixer. 1t is new onc-thc ro-
suit Of the trtal at Dixon last year. The
Kirby men saw they would be out Of the rias
with their really good machine, unless tho
machine did it5 own raking. As IN inventor
said to nc to-day, "to know want, Ia al
most cqulyalcnt to supplying H." So before
October Of Lust year the want Was supplied,
aud early IN tint month, saw it u work
without grain. To-day it is competing here
9Th other rakErs-its first public triaI
| Hence it Is watched closely. IT want to se !.
| 1t In short graln," said rival reaper man to
me- this morning, as VIC watched its work In
the rnsty. wheat: Here it is in yery short and
Tie control Of the driver, who, with his r1eht
ery of the bundles, Tie gaYels ara lid a.
right angles to those left By Woods machine,
moreerrcad; and IS the rake raises with q
sort of st'aslnodic jerk on its return after
more grain, 1t sometimes throws the butts
orer:"hcre the tops should be. But this is
| not frequent. Here 1t goes into very short,
| light barley. Let US SEQ nowI 0yergocs tho
rake. 1t don't deliver. Orcr it goes agaln
| No deposit Down goes the heel of the diver
upon the regulating lever, with an emphasis
issome1hing 10 rake OIL" Now the short
ben1ded stuff accumu1atcs about the finger
guards and orer the sickle. Down goes the
rake-oT comes fairly laid gayel, quite as
well laid as mar can do it vi mandrake.
Well, the eele rakcT Is SUCCESS. It does the
work quite as well as ever saw 1t done By
hand on Kirby.
Seymour & bfcrgan's machine is called for.
!" ALI ready." This is the veteran self rakcr
on the ground. It cuts five feet wide. There
Is good team attached to 1t, and 1t goes into
tue gznln pr9mrty On aets comes TIE laiddSwn Rt S
about the raEer, It delivers Its gavels in the
game relative position that the Kirby does.
Tie motion Of It's rake is very similar, but
the way the motion is Obtained is unlike.
But, what is the matter3 These gayels arc
not well laid. They are spread and drawn.
better. It did 1sst year at Dixon. Last year
tue gnvel was laid evenly. This year It does
| not; the work isfau1ty. look for the rca-
son and find it. The platform extends back
too fur. The gr1ln does not leave it the mo-
ment the rake risss to return. The fault is in
er, it seems to MI, can remedy it; any MANU-
facturer ought todo 40. It made bad In
preston to-day, which might hare been
avoided, 1t seems to me. It is gpod mn
chine, hut Its friends will have to look sharply
to is standing asa selfraker, Or the Kirby
symptoms arc p;fmonitory to'day.
Tn1kL OF CoaBnED MACHINES WITH BINDERS,
| Tho J. II. Maany machine, with Burson's
The machine in operation here has several
new features-an enlarged driving wheel, .
metallic cutting TAR, q self foiling pitman, &c.
There was mini year old machine on the
ground, doing gAod work, with which had
cas 5 g sS@p15Sg 5sgsa i Aie Tais T1 r.
other new features Is Bnrson's binder, which
attaches to 1t with greater ease and better aa-
Instability, Bursdn says. than to any other
See the farmers handle the bundles which
bnrson Kicks trep The machine, binding, with
cd to him BY man with a clutch fork, who
stands on tic Platform. Yes, see them han
do not bind tight enough" 'sNo, but there
are few binders \that you hire that bind
| closer" When those bundles dry they will
| 0f IA