The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-07-14

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by an array of at least 600
solid, substantial, tillers of the soil,
who took the warmest interest in the
contest. The field selected for the
trial was adjacent TO a beautiful grove
on the farm of ID. G. Hagar. The
ground was comparatively in good
condition, except at one low corner,
where several of the heavy machines
were placed at a serious disadvantage,
noticeable that Of the Walter A.
Wood, which stuck on the first round,
owing to its narrow wheel. The
following machines entered the con-
hict: Mccormick, Buckeye, Osborne,
Excelsior, Deering, Walter A. Wood,
Minneapolis, Esterly.
The Osborne, which had offered
the challenge, was the first to enter
the field. 1t led off bravely under
the management of an expert driver,
but before the circuit of the field was
made it had missed binding eight
sheaves, and was obliged to send for
its tool-box. The remaining seven
machines followed in the wake of
the Osborne, and the only machine
which made the circuit of the large
field without missing a single sheaf,
was the Mccormick. From the very
first round it was evident that the
Mccormick had the lead, and that
it was destined to carry off the
honors of the occasion. In the soft
part of the field, where the Wood,
Osborne, and several others stuck in
the mud, the Met ormick, with its
broad wheels, passed over in perfect
ease. The heavy side-draft of the
Deering and Minneapolis was very
injurious to the teams, and went far
toward producing the minds of the
crowd against them.
All machines used three horses,
but the Mccormick, after running
awhile, removed one horse, and did
its work with two, with perfect ease.
This new feature brought forth cheers
from the crowd, and the only cheer
ing that was done during the day.
In addition to the cutter, the new
shifting device for adjusting the
machine instantly to binding short
or long grain was shown to be an,
other strong point in favor of the
Nice ormick.
The Champion and Marsh Whit
ney platform binders failed to put in
appearance, although having on
sented to be on hand.
Back and forth, up and down and
across the field flashed the keen
blades of the contesting machines,
the crowd swaying hither and thither
like an army of soldiers, watching
and commenting upon the minute
details of all the work performed.
Never did opposing armies more
closely struggle for the victory than
did the managers of the different
machines in endeavoring to win the
good opinion of the crowd. After
two hours of struggling, Mr.. Hagar,
owner of the field, at the request of
friends of the Mccormick, stepped
upon this popular machine and pro.
posed a ballot, to secure an express
sion from the crowd upon the merits
of the respective machines, which
was acquiesced in. But a personal
canvass of the crowd by the repre-
sentatives of the respective machines
disclosed the fact that the McCor-
mick would have a large majority
possibly as many, If not more, votes
than all other machines combined.
Upon this discovery, an attempt was
made to prevent a ballot, and the
matter was discouraged and finally
dropped. To crafty his own Curl
oslty, then a reporter took a paper
and passed through the crowd, taking
a vote with the following result:
For the Mccormick, r6S.
For the Esterly, II.
For the Walter A. Wood, 40.
For the Osborne, 90.
For the Deering, a..
For the Buckeye, s.
To- AZ E.-xt