TRIAL OF HARVESTERS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 927, 23 January 1880, Page 3

TRIAL OF HARVESTERS.

THE UEERINH TWINE HINDER

Messrs Mason. Struthers and Co., the New Z aland agents, exhibitel at work yesterday, a Marsh Halves er, wi hj Deering twine bin lor, an 1 noting could be more satisfactory than the work performed by it, which was in fact the very perfection of ha vesting. Th ■li TI elms m was one bebm ;ing to Mr J dm Oveiton. of I‘rebhleton. Tire crop of oa-s varie 1 from two and a bait to live and a half tent high; and c mtaino 1 a large pronoriion of broken down straws by wind and sparrows. Data very email even stubble was left. The sheaves were turned oil"exactly the sam -sut-, .m l with a w mderfuMy uniform tightness of tie. Each sheaf was so tight that it was impossible to shake anything out of it, and ditiicult even to draw a straw from it The knot was perfect, and would not yield to any strain upon it, and won d be v--ry lilHcnlt to un'ia. On nur-tingsufifi :i -nt strain on to break the string it never gave way at the kaot. The sheaves are compressed into a shape not round, but llitiened, b ing ab mt fifteen inches through in one direction and only seven in the other. They lo k"d very well when built in stooks, but were certainly not s\ nimetrical standing or lying abme, as bed les their (i iueued shape, tliey looke I very waspish, with their d awn iu highly e imuresse I waists, and their bulging out lints and tops Neither by bami or m chine, by straw nor by wire, lias there been seen here the whole of a crop so securely an • uniformly trie l before. The uniformity of siz •in the sheaves is obtaiue Iby a spring, which yid Is at a giving am unit of pressure, an I which instantly stops the gathering rakes and starts the binder, which completes its work in one revolution, when Hie binder stops and the gathering cl iws commence their wo k again. There is no confusion nr inioerfeet separation between the bound and unbound st aw, an I absolutely no waste. The whole is performed under conditions that would be unatfbote I by the strongest winds ; and indeed, after the grain Daves the cutti ig platform, no wind c ml 1 have any effect nn it until quietly pushed off in a lightly bound sheaf with about one font drop to the ground. The trial recently attracted a large gathering of farmers an I others interested in agricultural pursuits, Punctually at ton o’clock Mi Overton’s man, with a pair of horses belonging to that gentleman, were attached to ihe Deering. and after the oil can ho i been applied to the working (gear of the machine by Mr Kllithorpe, the maker’s representative. Hie word was given and the work began. Tile first sheaf was eagerly criticised. The knot was the subject of discussion, and the manner in which it stool the strain that was put upon it by one after another gave evident satisfaction. Then the m ichiite was stoppci, and Ihe manner in which idle knot is tie I was slowly and practically shown and exol ined by the maker’s reuresontative The knot, tier is in appearance like a bid's hi 1, which opens and receives the tw<> en Is of the s'riu ; at the in uncut it is ent by the knife, which are thus drawn through the bmp by the beak retaining its h>M on them till the knot is ma le and the sheaf is oeiiHy dropped on the groun 1.

The wi Ith of cut of th 1 machine is sft., ami the representative claims that in a .lav of ten hours ho can negotiate a fioM of liftocn icrcs with ease. About 201) persona were present .luring the .lay, ami the expressions of satisfaction at the work done wore both numerous and unanimous, attention beitiy called by many to the clean way in which the w irk »as don • V it .an car of corn was missed by the reaper and binder in its course, or allowed to fall oil the pruned Untied. At a late hour in the afternoon it wn« angyestcl by M- If J. Anderson, of Yaiihnrst. th it, all those present win woresalislv-il will tin miniier in which the Dccriny .H I its wn-k should civn them some tan Hide proof of the same. Accor Singly ;1 letter was .irafle I by one of the visitors as under : January sth, 133 ). To Messrs Mason. Strothers, an 1 t 'hri-tchoreh. Dear Sirs,— Wo, the u . Ur i mi farmers

in the province, N.Z , have this day witir ssed a trial of the Marsh Harvester with Deering’s Twine Binder in a heavy crop of oats belonging to John Overtoil, Jisq , Frebbleton. and are desirous of testifying to the excellence of the work done, and have no hesitation in saving that it is a most, perfect machine, and does the heat wmk of any we have seen in New Zealand, and consider it Will he a great acquisition to this colony, all I elsewhere. We also desire to thank Mr Ellithorpe, the makers representative, for his lucid explanations of the machine, and attention to all inquiries. Signed by over fifty farmers on the ground, including many of the principal s‘tilers in Canterbury. It was stated by the agents that after the trial they took several orders for the machines from persons who had he m present and witnessed the work they had accomplished. it Is worthy of notice that not a single hitch occurred to mar the working of the hinder, which is strictly automatic, not even a tie broken. The agents may ho fairlv congratulated on a trial resulting in in qualified satisfaction to those witnessing it.