As he went about the country and saw field after field of ripe grain that could not possibly be cut and gathered in time to save it, he began to see that men with hand tools alone could not keep up with the huge crops the rich farmlands were producing. Some kind of harvesting machine was needed. So he began to study and plan and work. When his machine was finally finished, he and his son Cyrus Hall McCormick tried it out in one of their fields. Something went wrong; it trampled down the grain instead of cutting it.

Then Cyrus Hall McCormick began experimenting with his father’s machine. After many trials he sent out word one day to the farmers that he had made a reaping machine. He invited them to come and see it work. More than a hundred neighbors gathered at Farmer Ruff’s field, where the machine was to be tried out. The reaping machine rattled and clattered as Cyrus Hall McCormick drove it out of the barn and into the field. Dogs barked and boys yelled and whistled through their fingers as the machine rattled clumsily along. The negro slaves chuckled and laughed; farmers grinned and shook their heads in disbelief. They did not believe that such an awkward-looking machine could ever cut grain, and they did not hesitate to say what they thought.