Little Falls transcript., 1879-07-24
A Harvester Trial at De Graf.
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On Friday last an interesting trial o1
harvesters occurred at: De Graf, Swift
county, Minn., full account Of which
appeared in the st. Paul Pioneer Press
OF the 10th inst. A reporter of that pa
per was sentup from st. Paul to witness
the trial, and the following is taken from
his report:
At few minutes after o'clock the har.
vesters began their work, the Buckeye lead
ing OH, followed by the Marsh, the Adams 4
French, and the Mccormick, in the order in.
dicated.
IL soon became apparent that the Adams d
french machine was virtually out of the con-
test, as 1t refused 10 bind numerous bundles
ana even when bound would not let them
drop. The attendants of the Buckeye found
u expedlent upon numerous occasions to ''stop
the machine" and repair breaks in the wire
while the three horses attached (the othe,
harvesters needed but two) labored manfully
to keep up their end. A question as to the
quality of wire in use arising Just as one O,
TWO rounds had been made, it was deemed
necessary to examine q sample from each
machine. The examination showed that while
the wire in use on the Marsh, Mccormick and
Adams d French was of the quality usually
sold tor the purpose, that on the Buckeye was
wnat IS known as piano wire, an expensive
article, which under ordinary circumstances
will stand an enormous strain before breaking,
Some Of the farmers, and very Justly, it
seemed, claimed that the use of such wire
showed lack of confidence on the part of the
buckeye agent in the machine he represented.
The Mccormick, which was conceded to be
doing very good work, possessed the great
disadvantage of an extra heavy side draft,
and left visible evidence in the soft loan OF
the task which had been put upon the horses
attached to it. Its double twist set some of
the farmers to thinking, the waste Of wire
forming the principal topic of conversation.
It was easy to see from the gradually in
creasing crowd that thronged about the
Marsh that that machine, if not the favorite
from the first, was likely to be at the end Of
the trial. Every bundle as it fell from the
binder received careful inspection, while the
tightness with which the sheaves were bound
convinced the farmers that their stacks, il
composed of sheaves from the Marsh, would
not come to pieces. The hand-like twist,
which showed no appreciable loss of wire, was
admired by every one. The horses attached
to the gracefully shaped and perfect working
machine walked along as if scarcely conscious
OF its weight, and were not obliged to stop
except at the corner Of the field. The break
age of the wire on two occasions only served
to show the farmers how easily such trivial
matter, trivial in connection with the Marsh,
could be remedied, as when the needle arm
came over again it commenced its work again
and continued without interruption.
One point was we'll demonstrated here,
wherein the Marsh surpassed all other ma
chimes, and that was in the action of the
compressor, which gathered up the barley al
it was elevated, compressed it without the as.
sistance Of the wire, thus putting no strain
upon the latter, which simply performed the
work of encircling and tying the bundles after
they had been reduced to the proper size.
The ease and simplicity with which the
Marsh cut its way through the barley and de.
posted the well-bound bundles beside it, elic.
tied many commendatory remarks. While
there was still about two acres uncut, gen.
tleman owning farm near by, suggested that
"the farmers be allowed to run the machines
without any extraneous help" and that ''the
experts remain behind while the farmers {
the rounds" The proposal met with favor
from all the agents with the exception of those
controlling the Buckeye, who utterly refused
to enter into such an arrangement. lnasmuct
as the agent of the Backeye machine had pro-
voked the contest, it seemed like begging the
question to refuse to allow the farmers, fo1
whose use the machines were intended, the
privilege of testing them fully, and to assert
meanwhile that their machine (the Buckeye
was the best. While the Marsh and McCor.
mick were taken charge of by the farmers, the
respective agents of those ma chimes staid al
the upper end of the field, and the result
proved that such course, in answer to the
voice of the majority, was both politio and
calculated to inspire confidence. The contest
was brought to close after the machine had
undergone about an hours severe and arduous
trial, the moist barley testing every part O.
the machine.
When vote was taken it was discovered
that the marsh had received the votes Of fve-
sixths of the actual farmers, careful canvass
showing that out of thirty-seven present
thirty -one voted for the Marsh.