"Most respectfully, yours, etc., "W. H. ROANE. "Mr. Obed Hussey, Baltimore." "We are not advised at what precise period subsequent to 1843 and previous to 1847 (when C. H. McCormick patented the raker's seat), that he changed the arrangement of his wheels, etc., so as to admit a seat for his raker without 'tipping up the machine' as was unavoidable previously. From evidence deemed fully reliable, _he_ was not the first even on his own machine, to provide a seat for the raker, "and all take a ride.' It is laborious enough to test fully the endurance of the most powerful and muscular man, to _ride_ and _rake_; but to _walk_ and _rake_ is even more barbarous than the old time ball and chain to the leg of the felon. The considerate and feeling farmer would certainly 'wait for the wagon' to be better fixed before thus undertaking to reap his grain fields if himself or his hands had to _ride_ in this sort of style. "We have a letter from Isaac Irvine Hite, Esq., now of Clarke County, Va., which throws some light on the subject; he says (italicised by the writer): "In 1842 my father, by my request, purchased for me of _C. H. McCormick_ and _Father_, a reaper at $110, which was _drawn_ by two horses, and it was raked off to the right hand side by a _man on foot_. The father of C. H. McCormick stated to me at the commencement of that harvest, that it had been _nine years since they_ had first operated with it, in pretty much the form it was then constructed. On a recent visit to Messrs. McCormick, who then resided on the line between Augusta and Rockbridge Counties in this State, the old gentleman stated to me that _he_ had been at _odd_ times at work on the reaper for many years; and either he or his son stated to me that C. H. McCormick had been _improving_, _changing_ or _inventing_ various parts until they had (as they thought) perfected the machine. * * * I disliked the labor _imposed on the hand who had to walk and remove_ the wheat from a platform seven feet in width, and urged Messrs. McCormick to attach another contrivance so as to enable the raker to ride and perform his arduous task; the old gentleman contended that that could never be accomplished, but that a self-operating appendage could be constructed to remove the grain, but that would be uncertain, and entirely unreliable. During my visit, he pointed out to me _one_ or _more_ fixtures they had tried for the raker to ride on. I think one was on one wheel, and the other on two. [Sidenote: Mr. Hite Suggests a Seat]