"Believing sincerely that the farmers of the U.S. owe you a debt of gratitude, which a regard for themselves should prompt them to pay, and understanding that attempts have been made to question even the priority of your invention, I send you a volume of the Genesee Farmer published in 1834, which will show the opinion entertained at that time by the farmers of that celebrated wheat growing region, both as to the efficiency and priority of your reaper.
"Your ob't serv't,
"TENCH TILGHMAN."
Conclusive Evidence
As we have already much exceeded the intended limits of the narrative, we might, perhaps, with propriety, here rest the enquiry, having, as we think, satisfactorily shown, and by evidence that cannot be disproved: first, that for a period of nine or ten years after the alleged invention of the reaper by C. H. McCormick in 1831 he did not sell a single machine; nor could he establish by all the evidence adduced before the Board of Extensions, in 1848, that prior to 1840 or 1841 was his reaper in any degree an effective or practical machine; for as he himself states in the letter to Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P., it was not until very material alterations—all essential it may be said—were made, some six or eight years after the date of the patent, could the machine be made to work even tolerably well. Indeed, he states, "I may say they were not of much practical value, until the improvements of my second patent in 1845," being eleven years after the date of the patent, and fourteen years after the alleged invention in 1831.
On the other hand we have shown by as good and respectable testimony as can be had in any cause, that from 1833 to 1854, a period of twenty-one years, Hussey's invention was most efficient and satisfactory, every year; not by cutting a patch of the fraction of an acre, but by reaping hundreds, nay thousands of acres annually, by the few machines placed in the hands of the farmers from 1833 to 1840.
As, however, we have given no direct evidence from Delaware, or Virginia, none from North Carolina, and but one from New York, we annex a few short testimonials from each, that embrace the period from 1838 to 1845; and with a few more of the same respectable character up to 1853, both in this country and in England, we will leave the decision of the question to the intelligent reader. We will, however, call the reader's attention to the concluding paragraph of Maj. J. Jones' letter, from Delaware—one of the smallest States, but containing as large a proportion of noble minded, talented men, and as good practical farmers, as any in the Union.[5]
[5] It is reported of one of her sons, that during the struggle for Independence, when a Delegate to the Convention from one of the largest and most powerful Colonies was ready to quail and almost despair of success in the unequal contest, he was encouraged and cheered on by a member from little Delaware; and told that when he found his Colony likely to be overrun by the enemy, to call on Delaware for aid—she would lend a helping hand.
It will be perceived that a reaper sold in 1838 to the St. George's and Appoquinomick Agricultural Society had, after subsequently coming into the possession of Col. Vandergrift, and prior to 1845, "cut about seven hundred acres of his grain," and "was then in good repair"! We wish it was in our power to state how many times seven hundred acres this single machine had reaped since 1838.
An Important Testimonial from Delaware