But we hope for the advent of better days; when, if the political sword is not literally beaten into a plough-share, and the partisan spear turned into a pruning hook, the inventive genius and talent of our countrymen shall be more aided and better rewarded by Government, in its praiseworthy efforts "for the diffusion of knowledge among men," in all that really ennobles the mind, and benefits the whole human family. Such, at least, is the earnest wish and desire of A FARMER AND MECHANIC. HUSSEY'S REAPING AND MOWING MACHINE IN ENGLAND [Sidenote: An Unfair Disadvantage] "In presenting the following pages for consideration of the farmers of the country, the subscriber has confined himself strictly to matters selected from English papers, which will speak for itself. As a short explanation from me will be looked for, I will merely state that at the trial in presence of the Exhibition Jury, Mr. McCormick's machine was operated by an experienced hand sent from the United States, while mine was managed by English laborers of the lower class, who were total strangers to it, and had never seen it in operation. The trial was made in unripe wheat on a rainy day. My machine was very improperly adjusted for the work and wrongly put together, in consequence of which the ignorant raker failed to deliver the sheaves, and it stopped as a matter of course, and was immediately laid aside, after cutting but a few feet. My machine was never tried in presence of that Jury by any other hands, or in any other condition, myself not being in England. "It was on such a trial that the Exhibition medal was disposed of, and with what justice the reader can judge by reading the following pages. On my arrival in England I took my machine into the field that it might work its way into public favor as it best could. After being exhibited in several places, its rising fame appeared to produce some effect, as it will appear by the following in the _Windsor and Eaton Express_ of November 8, 1851: "Alluding to the astonishing and unexpected performance of my Reaper, it says: '_By this unlooked for turn of events, the proprietors of McCormick's machine found that their supremacy was no longer undisputed, and that the necessity was laid upon them to look to their laurels; they therefore came boldly forward, and threw down the gauntlet!_' [Illustration: Hussey's Side-Delivery Reaper As Used in England. (From An Old Print)] [Sidenote: How McCormick Received a Medal]