hine, and trampling the grain under foot," etc., etc.--Much more
and similar evidence is at hand; but _better_ need not be produced to
prove the entire failure of reaping machines in Great Britain, as late as
1851. We would also refer the curious to Rees' Cyclopedia, for a very
brief account of what had been effected;--a few paragraphs only are
written on reaping machines, but several pages are compiled as to the use
of the scythe, sickle or reap hook, and reaping _fork_. The Doctor refers
to Plunknett's Machine by name, as being "somewhat on a new principle,
the horse drawing the machine instead of pushing it forward as was the
old mode of applying the power." The machine is fully represented in the
Farmers' Dictionary; and he winds up the account as follows: "But the
success with which they have been attended has hitherto been far from
complete;" again, "Other machines of this kind have still more lately
been invented by other persons [meaning of course his own countrymen] but
without answering the purpose in that full and complete manner which is
necessary in this sort of work."

The Doctor undertakes to tell us _what is wanted_, but fails entirely to
inform his readers _how to do it_. That John Bull had not done it is
clearly established; but Brother Jonathan, the "Live Yankee," as John
calls his cousin, has solved the problem; and the solution is so simple,
when you know how to do it! that it is marvelously strange no one for
centuries had before struck upon the right key.

Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P. and F. R. S.--the chief manager of the London
Exhibition--admits the failure, though apparently reluctantly; but the
source of his information, in writing about the American machines, was
interested and defective; and when he again writes on this subject he
will be better informed. He says: "At the opening of this century it was
thought that a successful reaping machine had been invented, and a
reward had been voted by Parliament to its author. The machine was
employed here and abroad, but from its intricacy, fell into disuse.
Another has been lately devised in one of our Colonies, which cuts off
the heads of the corn, but leaves the straw standing, a fatal defect in
an old settled country, where the growth of corn is forced by the
application of dung. Our farmers may well, therefore, have been
astonished by an American implement which not only reaped the wheat, but
performed the work with the neatness and certainty of