the lower dressing fan, from which it is carried, either directly or through the hummeller, by an elevator to the third or upper fan, and passes off fit for market.

The machine is well got up and well finished, and did its work admirably, and the Committee have every confidence in recommending it to the special notice of the Directors.

The Committee suggest that a drawing of the mill, with a short description, should be published in the Society's "Transactions."

We are, Sir,

Your obedient servants,

(Signed)

DAVID HENDERSON. ·
JOHN GORRIE.

JAMES DRUMMOND.

John Hall Maxwell, Esq., C.B.

ALEXR. SLIGHT.

A premium of £10 was awarded by the Directors, and under their instructions Mr. Slight has since prepared the following explanatory statements and relative illustrations:

IMPROVEMENTS ON THE THRASHING MACHINE BY MR. PETER M'LELLAN, ABERNETHY, PERTHSHIRE.

The improvements introduced by Mr. Peter M'Lellan on the fixed thrashing machine consist in the application of both a rubbing and a beating drum, either of which may be used as required; a new construction of shaker; and an improved arrangement of fanners and hummeller.

The general arrangement of the machine is shown in section in fig. 1, in which (a) represents the beating drum, fitted with feeding rollers, table, and cover in the usual way. It is of the ordinary construction-32 inches diameter, and 4 feet 6 inches wide, fitted with four serrated beaters and fluted cover. Like the common beating drum it strikes upward, and delivers the straw and grain to a revolving shaker. When it is in action the other drum is stationary, the belt which drives it being removed. The rubbing drum (b) is similar to the ordinary drum of the English thrashing machines. It is 22 inches in diameter, and 4 feet 6 inches wide, fitted with eight beaters or rubbers; its motion is contrary to that of the other drum, so as to deliver the straw to the revolving shaker at the same point as the other. It is fitted with a concave (c) formed of iron rods and bars, as used in the English machine, and is fed from above by means of a hopper and feeding table (d). When this drum is used the other is thrown out of gear, and a loose board (e) is temporarily inserted between the two drums to conduct the straw to the shaker and prevent any grain being lodged about the beating drum. The revolving shaker () is of the ordinary construction-6 feet diameter, consisting of six rakes with iron teeth, and having underneath a concave of iron rods. The improved shaker is placed immediately at the end of this concave. It consists of five

vibrating bars or shakers (g h) 9 feet long, rising towards the end of the mill where the straw is delivered. They are each supported at the extreme end by a bent spring (i) formed of stout hoop iron, and at the lower end, when at rest, by a cross bar, with guides to steady them. A shaft () underneath these shakers carries five double cams of wood so placed that in their revolution they successively lift the shakers through a height of three inches, and their motion is sufficiently rapid to give a quick vibratory motion to the shakers, which, when communicated to the straw, effectually separates any grain which may be hanging among it. To facilitate this separation each shaker is made with three raised ribs running the whole length, and forming channels for the downward passage of the grain, as shown in the enlarged cross section, fig. 2; the bottoms of these passages are pierced with holes to allow the grain to fall through as soon as it leaves the straw, to the fixed bottom (k), which conducts it to the fanner. To give a forward motion to the straw, a series of rake heads, six in number, are made to move along underneath the shakers, with teeth projecting upwards through the spaces between them; these teeth catch hold of the straw and move it along while it is being subjected to the vibratory motion of the shakers. The rakes are attached to pitched chains at each side of the machine, passing over wheels on the cam shaft) and the shaft (), and supported by the intermediate shaft and wheels (m). The bottom (k) of the shaker is composed of a series of ridges aud hollows to cause the grain to pass down the hollows, and it is prevented lodging in them by the return motion of the rakes, the teeth of which rest in the hollows, and carry everything before them to the lower end. To prevent wear, these hollows are lined with iron in the bottom. The grain, when it leaves the shakers, is received by a vibrating shoe (n), about 7 feet in length, above the fanner, embracing the concave of the revolving shaker, and the lower end of the fixed shaker. This shoe has a solid bottom to carry forward the grain, with the exception of about three feet in length over the first or mill fanner (0), where it is formed into a coarse riddle to separate the grain and chaff from any broken. straw which may have passed through the shakers. The mill fanner, as usual, separates the chaff from the grain, which then passes to the second fanner (p), where it is more effectually cleaned, and where it passes to a hummeller (9), from which it is delivered to an elevator, or, if not requiring hummelling, it passes direct from the fanner to the elevator, which lifts it to the upper or finishing fanner (r), fitted with riddles, where the light is separated from the heavy grain, and the latter delivered into a sack ready for the market. This arrangement of the fanners is exceedingly compact, and appears to answer its purpose perfectly. In the construction of the fanners, the principal novelty

is in the fans of the two finishing fanners, which are each made with only two blades, fixed to a single arm of wood in the middle; this, while it gives a sufficient and perfectly steady blast, materially simplifies the construction of the case, which is made in one piece-the openings in the body of the fanner and at the centre being sufficient for putting in or taking out the fan blades and their axle.

ON TRANSPLANTING TREES.

[By ROBERT HUTCHISON, of Carlowrie, Kirkliston.

[Premium-Medium Gold Medal.]

THERE is probably no department of estate management less attended to than the transplanting of large trees and shrubs. When occasion requires the removal of any large specimen for immediate effect, the operation is unfortunately too frequently performed with little regard to the general principles of phytology, far less with any special care for the individual requirements of the species. Hence it is that many failures result; and the hopes of the planter are so disappointed that in future, when similar operations are necessary, recourse is had to trees and shrubs of much smaller size. Indeed, the comparative cost and risk of removing large plants is generally considered to be so much out of proportion to the expense of lifting younger specimens, that, now-a-days, it is the exception to find proprietors removing or transplanting very large-sized trees or shrubs. Preference is given to plants of small dimensions; and seeing the ignorance so often displayed by those to whom the superintendence of this operation is intrusted, and their heedlessness of all laws of nature, this is not to be wondered at. Yet true it is that the operation may be performed with almost equal certainty, in the case of large trees, as in that of small ones, provided care be taken, and due attention be given to the habits and peculiarities of the subject to the proper season and circumstances at the time, as well as to the nature of the soil and situation.

In considering the question of transplanting, and for the purpose of this paper, applying or rather restricting that term to large-sized plants only-probably not under three feet, and ranging up to forty feet in height we shall first notice the season and circumstances best suited for the various species.

The habits of the different varieties of trees and shrubs are so various, that the same season or the same age will hardly suit any two of them for transplantation. As a general rule, however, we may state that the process may be carried on with safety and success, at the time which will least interfere with the functions of nature in the individual species. Probably, about a month or six weeks before the sap begins to descend (provided the weather be favourable), in the case of coniferæ and evergreen shrubs; and as regards deciduous trees, as soon as the leaves have performed their functions, and have completely withered up, or been shed by the branches. So far as our perşonal experience of the newer coniferæ goes, we have found that

they should never be transplanted till the month of April has gone, and that about the middle of May is the best season for transplanting most of the species. Small plants, if it is intended to grow specimen trees, should be preferred-and they will do best if from three to four feet, or not over six feet high-unless, when taller, they have been previously several times removed. We have repeatedly observed that evergreens will thrive best if transplanted during cloudy weather, at Midsummer; or all the above-inentioned classes may with much certainty be transplanted about the end of September, or early part of October. In lifting deciduous forest trees, it is well to observe the different orders in which the varieties come into leaf in spring in the locality where the operation is to be conducted, and to follow that order with the various varieties when the proper season for transplanting them arrives.

One law of nature too frequently overlooked should regulate, to a great extent, in each locality or situation, the season for transplanting, viz., the alternations of temperature in the soil, in relation to the temperature of the atmosphere. The discrepancy between these gives decided preference to the Autumn months over those of Spring for general transplanting operations. In this climate, for example, when hard frost has prevailed for a time, which is often the case in the months of January and February, we usually receive a considerable and continuous fall of rain, which chills and soaks the soil, and upon stiff land renders all attempts at trenching and digging (which should invariably precede transplantation) worse than useless. Therefore, March and April are, in our opinion, the worst months in the year for conducting the operation, for not only are the cutting frosty winds at that time very injurious to newly moved specimens especially to coniferae and evergreens-but, if planted at that season, they are placed in soil quite unprepared for them; and the dry season succeeding, draws off all moisture necessary to induce the growth of young rootlets, or cakes the already saturated clay soil around the tender spongeoles, drying up their cells, and withering the very mainstays of the plant's existence. Whereas, if advantage be taken of fine weather, during March and April, to dig and pulverize the soil intended to receive the transplanted specimen, the stirred earth, open and free, absorbs the heat of the sun's rays, which, by the end of April, have begun to possess power; and by proceeding with the operations in May, a much milder temperature exists in the root-bed of the plant, and thus a more rapid propulsion of young rootlets is induced. At this period of the year, the various species of Abies, Pinus, Cedrus, Cupressus, Juniperus, and evergreen shrubs generally, may most advantageously and successfully be moved; and, with ordinary precautions, success must follow attempts to lift plants of most of these