All manner of tests were devised to prove one machine stronger than its rival; a favorite idea was to chain two back to back, and have them pulled apart by frantic careering horses; the one that suffered the fewest breakdowns would be generally acclaimed from town to town.
Sometimes these field tests were the most exciting and spectacular events at country fairs.
Thus the harvesting machine "pushed the frontier westward at the rate of thirty miles a year," according to William H.Seward.It made American and Canadian agriculture the most efficient in the world.

The German brags that his agriculture is superior to American, quoting as proof the more bushels of wheat or potatoes he grows to an acre.

But the comparison is fallacious.

The real test of efficiency is, not the crops that are grown per acre, but the crops that are grown per man employed.

German efficiency gets its results by impressing women as cultivators--depressing bent figures that are in themselves a sufficient criticism upon any civilization.