"On the whole, the conclusion come to was that the reaping was done as well by machine as by hand. No one doubted for a moment that it would cut corn well where it was standing; but some farmers thought it would not equal the scythe where the corn was laid. The result, however, showed the contrary, and every person acknowledged that it had succeeded admirably. After cutting a large quantity of wheat, the machine was taken into another field, and after a slight alteration, set to work to cut clover. We understand that on the day before previous to coming to Hull, it had been tried on clover and cut it extremely well. [Sidenote: Winning Its Own Way] "As the machine cut along it was followed closely by groups of farmers striving hard to find flaws in its performance. But they could not. On the contrary, in those places where the corn was most 'laid,' and where, consequently, the greatest difficulty must occur in the cutting, the manner in which the reaper did its work elicited their loudest approbation. 'Why,' said one burly old gentleman by our side, 'a man with a scythe could never cut it like that.' 'It is wonderful,' said another. From the Morning Advertiser, September 12, 1851. "On Monday last, the public trial of Hussey's patent Reaping Machine took place with the permission of his Grace, the Duke of Marlborough, on his Grace's estate of Blenheim, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, and also, on the adjoining one of Mr. Southern, one of the most considerable landed proprietors of the country. A large assemblage of the Agriculturists of the highest class attracted by the celebrity which this ingenious and efficient contrivance has acquired for itself in a course of successful experiments performed last week in Yorkshire, were present to witness the trial, mostly from Oxfordshire and the adjoining counties, but many from a considerable distance, and all of them concurred in the most ready acknowledgments of its advantages. [Sidenote: The Duke of Marlborough's Test]