Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-06-04
I iii9o,o,aarr,us rs j5s J jH9f
The Excelsior StiIl Triumphant.

Il AnO hACCAbsSE OeAAA ARANAs'
MEssRs. EDITORS: with very' considera-
BILE surprise, we read card which..appeared in
yesterdays Press and Herald and CHRONICLE,
'puvporting to be" q statement of what trans,
pired at the recent trial of the Excelsior and
Sprague Mowers, on Mr.. G. PowelPs farm.
As to the statement that sthere was mo set
trial, ~ we only have to say that it was an
derstood trial, and that Messrs. Hough &
Church knew the day before the moving took
place, that our machine was on the ground for
that purpose. They did not really have one of
the FIR m present. but what answered their pur-
pose great deal better, an agent of theirs, and
q practicsi mechanic, Mr.. Edwards, who has
for some time been engaged in selling the
Sprague Mower, and who Of course understands
it far better thar they do. ANY. candid man
can see who had the advantage here.
Our Mr.. McCorkle did go for the purpose of
engineering "kis trial If no one was found
who would work it for him, but as it turned
out, his presence was not ~ all necessary, for
Mr.. For, aprsctical former, kindly took charge
of it and needed no instructions AZ to how to
use it, the Excelsior being 80 simple of construc-
ton and 50 easy to operate that any man of good
However, Mr.. MeCorkls did not write his
piece as was charged, bat simply called for an
expression of opinion from the gentlemen pres
emit, which resulted in Mr.. G. Powell writing
the "piece," and the parties present authorizing
that 'in the vain endeavor to cut through
small clumpof thick clover his machine squiv
cred, .foundered and broke its knife SCI
Now the thick clover referred to was nothing
more nor less than post-Oak stump, which we
now have at our Office but which the gentle
lieve they sawed smooth of, going at a slow
Right hero We will scknowlsdg &c the kindncs,
of Nj. Edwards, the gentleman in. charge Of
the Sprague machine, who came promptly pf-
ward when we broke one of the sections OF our
knife, and with o hammer smoothed it off SO
that it would, pass through. This-was all he
did, and all that wasinecessarys toSbe done x
The gentlemen go on further and say that
several large stones were thrown in front of the
Sprague Mower, and that it passed over them
without trouble or damage. So it did. So could
any machine that cuts as high rs the Sprague.
After the clover had been raked of the ground
cut over by the two machines, it was found that
the Excelsior. We are almost tempted to ex-
claim, How is that for high ~
As to two men pulling the Spraguo with a
man weighing two hundred and twenty pounds
setting upon it, we would rise to explain The
ground over which it was drawn had no grass
upon it. was Arm and smooth, and had down
ward inclination OF about thirty degrees If the
Excelsior had been turned loose on the same
ground, it would hayerequired very little en-
gs,eering other than to keep it from running of
with the two hundred and twenty pounds. sgo
Now for business. The gentlemen of the
Sprague Mower challenge US TO fair and ini-
partial contest, 'That the best machine may,
have its just reward" We accept, and nanno
next Tuesday, the 9th inst, as the day, and Mr..
A. Caldwelrs farm at Strawberry Plains, as che
place.. .u7tas. 'eHiis
In conclusion we would call attention to the
certificate of tho s.teidc drake farmer Mr..
Wood who you ara Uniformed had bought a
Sprague Mower 1t speaks fer ITSELF
= SF9S Asf$N MCCoRKLE & Co.