"Dear Sir:—Having housed all the grain crops of this farm, it is due to you that I should now frankly admit the removal of all my doubts in regard to the effectiveness and excellence of your 'Reaping Machine.' The doubts expressed in my early correspondence with you arose from the many abortive attempts in this country and in England to produce a reaping machine, possessing power and simplicity and durability; most of them were complicated, and proved too fragile.
"Soon after the arrival of your machine, I tried its power and became readily familiar with the manner of using it; the result of my experience will appear from the following facts:
"The wheat crop of this farm covered 104 acres, producing 2,540 shocks, 30,480 sheaves, as counted on the ground, and again when housed in the grain barn and sheds.
"The whole crop was cut by your reaping machine in eight days, using one team, a boy to drive and a man to manage the machine.
"The average quantity cut per day was thirteen acres.
"The largest quantity cut on any one day was seventeen acres.
"The longest period for working the machine on any one day was nine hours.
"Seven men were stationed on the field to bind the sheaves.
"The cost of cutting the wheat with your machine is twenty-five cents per acre.
"The total cost for cutting, raking, binding and shocking is seventy-eight cents and a fraction per acre.