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required distance apart. This does not dispense with the after use of the hand-hoe or fingers to effect a perfect singling of the plants; but as a large space can be gone over in a day at small cost, it enables the farmer to save his crop from getting overgrown and choked until he can overtake the more perfect thinning of it. The next class that claims attention is

Section 12.-Harvesting Implements.

These, till little more than twenty years ago, comprised only the reaping-hook and scythe. An implement by means of which horse-power could be made available for this important operation has long been eagerly desired by farmers. Repeatedly during the first half of the present century their hopes had been excited, only to be disappointed, by the announcement of successful inventions of this kind. These hopes were revived, and raised to a higher pitch than ever, by the appearance, in the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, of two reaping-machines, known as M'Cormick's and Hussey's, from the United States of America, where for several years they had been used extensively and successfully. These implements were subjected to repeated trials in different parts of England, on crop 1851, but never in circumstances which admitted of their capabilities being tested in a thoroughly satisfactory manner.

At the first of these trials, made under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society, the preference was given to M'Cormick's, to which the Exhibition Medal was in consequence awarded. It turned out, however, that at this trial Hussey's machine had not a fair chance, being attended by a person who had never before seen it at work, for, when a further trial took place before the Cleveland Agricultural Society, with Mr Hussey himself superintending his own machine, an all but unanimous decision was given in his favour. Hussey's machine was in consequence adopted by the leading implement makers, such as Messrs Garrett, Crosskill, &c.

Early in 1852, a very important communication from the pen of the late Mr James Slight, curator of the museum of the Highland and Agricultural Society, appeared in the Transactions of the Society, by which the attention of the public was recalled to a reaping-machine of home production, viz., that invented by the Rev. Patrick Bell, minister of the parish of Carmylie in Forfarshire, and for which a premium of £50 had been awarded to him by the Highland Society. This machine attracted much attention at that time. Considerable numbers were made and partially used, but from various causes the invention was lost sight of, until, by the arrival of these American machines, and the notoriety given to them by the Great Exhibition, with concurring causes about to be noticed, an intense interest was again excited regarding reaping by machinery. From Mr Slight's report, the public learned that the identical Bell's machine, to which the prize was awarded, had for the previous fourteen years been statedly employed on the farm of Inch-Michael in the Carse of Gowrie, occupied by Mr George Bell, a brother of the inventor, who, during all that period, had succeeded in reaping, on the average, four-fifths of his crop by means of it every year. Mr Slight further stated, that at least four specimens of it had been carried to America, and that from the identity in principle between them and those now brought thence, with other corroborating circumstances, there is little doubt that the so-called American inventions are after all but imitations of this Scottish machine. When it became known that Bell's machine was to be exhibited, and, if possible, subjected to public trial, at the meeting of the Highland and Agricultural Society at Perth, in August 1852, the event was looked forward to by Scottish farmers

with eager interest. On that occasion it was accordingly again brought forward, with several important improve ments made upon it, by Mr George Bell, already referred to, and was fully tested in competition with Hussey's, as made by Crosskill. To the disappointment of many, Mr M'Cormick did not think fit to enter the lists at this or at some subsequent opportunities.

The success of Bell's machine on this occasion, and at some subsequent public trials, gave it a high place in public estimation, and accordingly many of the implements manufactured by Mr Crosskill of Beverley, were sold to farmers in all parts of Great Britain, and especially in Scotland. After a hopeful start the success of this machine has not been so decided as was at first anticipated. In common with other reaping-machines, it had of course to contend with the disadvantages of unprepared fields and unskilful guides; but in addition to this, it was found to be too heavy in draught, too liable to derangement, and (in the first issues of it) too easily broken in some of its parts to be fitted for general use. These drawbacks were, to a greater or less extent, obviated by subsequent improvements, and the machine continued for a few years to receive a fair measure of public patronage. By-and-by it was in a great measure superseded by other self-delivery machines, such as Burgess & Key's M'Cormick, with its Archimedean screw, which, like Bell's, lays off the reaped grain in a continuous swathe, and by others which, by means of revolving rakes, lay it off in quantities suitable to form a sheaf. In crops of moderate bulk and standing erect, these self-delivery machines make rapid and satisfactory work, but when the crop is lodged and twisted they are nearly useless. The consequence is that for several years, and especially in those districts where reaping by machinery is most practised, the preference is given to manual-delivery machines, on the ground that they are lighter of draught, less liable to derange ment, less costly, more easily managed, and thus more to be depended upon for the regular performance of a fair amount of daily work, than their heavier rivals. And, accordingly, light machines on Hussey's principle, but with endless variations, are at present most in demand.

Before leaving this subject, a remark is due in connection with the strange neglect of Bell's machine for twenty-five years, and the enthusiasm with which it was hailed on its reappearance. The first is so far accounted for by the fact noticed by Mr George Bell, that such specimens of his brother's machine as formerly got into the hands of farmers were so imperfectly constructed that they did not work satisfactorily, and thus brought discredit on his invention. The true explanation seems to be, that at that date the country was not ready for such a machine. Not only was manual labour then abundant and cheap, from the number of Irish labourers, who annually, as harvest drew near, flocked into the arable districts of Great Britain, but thorough draining had made little progress, and the land was everywhere laid into high ridges, presenting a surface peculiarly unfavourable for the successful working of a reaping-machine. Now, however, the conditions are reversed. Emigration to the colonies, and the ever-growing demand for labourers in connection with factories, mines, docks, and railways, have to a very great extent withdrawn the class of people that used to be available for harvest work, and have so largely raised the rate of wages to those who still remain as to render reaping-machines indispensable to the farmer. The progress of thorough draining has at the same time enabled him to dispense with the old-fashioned ridges and furrows, and to lay his corn lands in the level state so favourable for reaping and other operations of husbandry. In these altered conditions lies the true explanation of the former apathy and subsequent enthusiasm manifested by our farmers to wards this invention.

Section 13.-Mowing-Machines.

Another class of labour-saving machines, closely allied to those we have just described, for which we are indebted to our American cousins, is mowing-machines. Several different forms of these were introduced and brought into somewhat general use during the years 1858 and 1859. Having used such machines for the past fourteen years we can testify to their thorough efficiency, and to the very great saving of labour, and still more of time, which can be secured by means of them. In one instance 30 acres of clover-a very full crop, and partially lodged-were mown in 32 hours, and this under all the disadvantages of a first start. This machine being of very light draught, a pair of horses can work it at a smart pace without difficulty. By employing two pairs of horses, and working them by relay, it can, in the long days of June and July, be kept going sixteen hours a day, and will easily mow from 16 to 18 acres of seeds or meadow in that time, making, moreover, better work than can ordinarily be obtained by using the scythe. These mowing-machines, which cost from £16 to £25 each, have proved a most seasonable and truly important addition to our list of agricultural implements. That they may be used to advantage, it is absolutely necessary to have the land well rolled and carefully freed from stones.

Section 14.-Haymakers.

Haymakers are valuable implements, and well deserving of more general use. They do their work thoroughly, and | enable the farmer to get through a great amount of it in snatches of favourable weather. Where manual labour is scarce, or when, as in Scotland, haymaking and turnipthinning usually come on hand together, the mower and haymaker render the horse-power of the farm available for an important process which cannot be done well unless it is done rapidly and in season

Section 15.-Horse-Rakes.

Horse-rakes are in frequent use for gathering together the stalks of corn which are scattered during the process of reaping, for facilitating the process of haymaking, and also for collecting weeds from fallows. By an ingenious contrivance in the most improved form of this implement, the teeth are disengaged from the material which they have gathered without interrupting the progress of the horse.

We seem to be verging on the time when, by means of machines worked by horse-power, farmers will be enabled to cut and carry their grass and grain with little more than the ordinary forces of their farms.

Section 16.-Wheel-Carriages.

The cartage of crops, manure, &c., upon an arable farm, is such an important part of the whole labour performed upon it (equal, as shown by a recent estimate, to one-half),1 that it is a matter of the utmost consequence to have the work performed by carriages of the most suitable kind. It was for a long time keenly debated by agriculturists, whether waggons or carts are most economical. This question is now undoubtedly settled. Mr Pusey says, "It is proved beyond question that the Scotch and Northumbrian farmers, by using one-horse carts, save one-half of the horses which south country farmers still string on to their three-horse waggons and three-horse dung-carts, or dung-pots, as they are called. The said three-horse waggons and dung-pots would also cost nearly three times as much original outlay. Few, I suppose, if any, farmers buy these expensive luxuries now, though it is wonderful they should keep them; for last year at Grantham, in a public trial, five horses with five carts were matched against five waggons with ten horses, and the five 1 See Morton's Cyclopædia of Agriculture. Article "Carriages."

horses beat the ten by two loads."? The one-horse carts here referred to are usually so constructed as to be easily adapted to the different purposes for which wheel-carriages are needed upon a farm. For each pair of wheels and axle there is provided a close-bodied cart, and another with sparred sides and broad shelvings, called a long-cart, or harvest-cart, either of which can easily be attached to the wheels, according to the nature of the commodities to be carried. Sometimes a simple movable frame is attached to the close-body to fit it for carrying hay or straw; but although one or two such frames are useful for casual purposes throughout the year, they are inferior for harvest work to the regular sparred cart with its own shafts. In some districts the whole of the close-bodied carts used on the farm are made to tip. For many purposes this is a great convenience; but for the conveyance of grain to market, and generally for all road work, a firm frame is much easier for the horse, and less liable to decay and de rangement. The Berwickshire practice is to have one pair of tip-carts on each farm, and all the rest firm or dormant. bodied, as they are sometimes called.

Many farms are now provided with a water or tank cart, for conveying and distributing liquid manure.

Section 17.-Road-Engines.

Although many attempts have been made to adapt the locomotive steam-engine for the conveyance both of passengers and goods on common roads, the results hitherto have not been altogether satisfactory. Progress is, however, undoubtedly being made in this effort; and in not a few instances such engines are actually in use for the carriage of heavy goods. If beet-sugar factories should increase in Great Britain, the carriage of the roots from the farms to the factories will probably be performed by traction engines; for the inexpediency of withdrawing the horse-power of the farm from its other urgent work at the season most suitable for deliver ing these roots to the sugar-maker presents at present a serious hindrance to the cultivation of this crop.

MACHINES FOR PREPARING CROPS FOR MARKET.
(Sections 18, 19, 20.)

Section 18.-Steam-Engines.

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when it can be had in sufficient and regular supply. As it is only in exceptional cases that farms are thus favoured, the steam-engine is the power that must generally be reckoned upon, and accordingly its use is now so common that a tall chimney has become, over extended districts, the prominent feature of nearly every homestead. It has been satisfactorily shown that grain can be thrashed and dressed by well-constructed, steam-propelled machinery, at onefourth the cost of thrashing by horse-power and dressing by hand-fanners. So great, indeed, is the improvement in steam-engines, and so readily can the amount of power be accommodated to the work to be done, that we find them everywhere superseding the one-horse gin, and even manual labour, for pumping, churning, coffee-grinding, &c. Wherever, then, a thrashing-mill is used at all, it may be safely asserted that, next to water, steam is the cheapest power by which it can be propelled. The portable engine is the form which has hitherto found most favour in the southern parts of the kingdom. Mr Pusey thus states the reason for which he regards them as preferable to fixed engines:-"If a farm be a large one, and especially if, as is often the case, it be of an irregular shape, there is great waste of labour for horses and men in bringing home all the corn in the straw to one point, and in again carrying out the dung to a distance of perhaps two or three miles. It is therefore common, and should be general, to have a second outlying yard. This accommodation cannot be reconciled with a fixed engine.

Portable Thrashing-Machine. (Clayton, Shuttleworth, & Co.) "If the farm be of a moderate size, it will hardly-and if small will certainly not-bear the expense of a fixed engine: there would be waste of capital in multiplying fixed engines to be worked but a few days in the year. It is now common, therefore, in some counties for a man to invest a small capital in a movable engine, and earn his livelihood by letting it out to the farmer.

"But there is a further advantage in these movable engines, little, I believe, if at all known. Hitherto corn has been thrashed under cover in barns; but with these engines and the improved thrashing-machines we can thrash the rick in the open air at once as it stands. It will be said, How can you thrash out of doors on a wet day? The answer is simple. Neither can you move your rick into your barn on a wet day; and so rapid is the work of the new thrashing-machines, that it takes no more time to thrash the corn than to move it. Open-air thrashing is also far pleasanter and healthier for the labourers, their lungs not being choked with dust, as under cover they are; and there is, of course, a saving of labour to the tenant not inconsiderable. But when these movable steam-engines have spread generally, there will arise an equally important saving to the landlord in buildings. Instead of three or more barns

clustering round the homestead, one or other in constant want of repair, a single building will suffice for dressing corn and for chaff-cutting. The very barn-floors saved will be no insignificant item. Now that buildings are required for new purposes, we must, if we can, retrench those buildings whose objects are obsolete. Open-air thrashing may appear visionary, but it is quite common with the new machinery; nor would any one perform the tedious manoeuvre of setting horses and men to pull down a rick, place it on carts, and build it up again in the barn, who had once tried the simple plan of pitching the sheaves at once into the thrashingmachine."

"1

To us these reasons are inconclusive.. A fixed engine can be erected and kept in repair at greatly less cost than a portable one of the same power. It is much easier to keep the steam at working pressure in the common boiler than in the tubular one, which, from its compactness, is generally adopted in portable engines. It is, no doubt, very convenient to draw up engine and machinery alongside a rick and pitch the sheaves at once upon the feeding-board, and very pleasant to do this in the sunshine and "caller air;" but we should think it neither convenient nor pleasant to have engine and thrashing-gear to transport and refix every time of thrashing, to have grain and chaff to cart to the barn, the thrashed straw to convey to the respective places of consumption, and all this in circumstances unfavourable to accurate and cleanly disposal of the products, and excessive exposure to risk of weather. Sudden rain will no doubt interrupt the carrying in of a rick in the one case as the thrashing of it in the other; but there is this vast difference in favour of the former, that the partially carried rick is easily re-covered; machinery, products of thrashing, and work-people, are safely under cover; and the engine is ready by a slight change of gearing for other work, such as bruising, grinding, or chaff-cutting.

It is urged on behalf of the portable engine, that in districts where the farms are generally small, one may serve a good many neighbours. Now, not to dwell on the expense and inconvenience to small occupiers of frequently transporting such heavy carriages, and of having as much of their crop thrashed in a day (there being manifest economy in having at least a day's work when it is employed) as will meet their demands for fodder and litter for weeks to come, we are persuaded that on farms of even 80 or 100 acres, a compact fixed engine of two or three horse-power will thrash, bruise grain, cut chaff, work a churn, and cook cattle food, &c., more economically than such work can be done in any other way. It is very usual to find on such farms, especially in dairy districts, an apparatus for cooking cattle food by steam, or by boiling in a large copper, where as much fuel is used every day, and as much steam generated, as would work such an engine as we have referred to, and do the cooking over and above. Even a small dairy implies a daily demand for boiling water to scrub vessels and cook food for cows. How manifestly economical, then, when the steam is up at any rate, to employ this untiring, obedient agent, so willing to turn the hand of anything, in performing the heavy work of the homestead with a power equal, perhaps, to that of all the men and horses employed upon the farm.

Whenever tillage by steam-power is fairly available, there will undoubtedly be an inducement to use the portable engine as a thrashing-power that has not hitherto existed, as there will be a manifest economy in having both operations performed by the same engine. Even then, however, there is a high probability of its being found impracticablo to withdraw the engine even once a week for the needful thrashing during the six or eight weeks immediately after

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1 Mr Pusey's Report on Implements.-Journal of the Royal Agri cultural Society of England, vol. xii. p. 621.

harvest, when it will be of such consequence to make | diligent use of every available hour for pushing on the tillage.

The kind of fixed engine most approved for farm-work in the north of England and south of Scotland is the overhead crank engine, attached by direct action to the spurwheel, and sometimes even to the drum shaft of the thrashing-machine. Their cheapness, simplicity of construction, easy management, and non-liability to derangement, fit these engines in au eminent degree for farm-work.1

Section 19.-Thrashing-Machines.

It is now sixty-five years since an ingenious Scotch mechanist, Andrew Meikle, produced a thrashing-machine so perfect that its essential features are retained unaltered to the present day. Indeed, it is frequently asserted that, after all the modifications and supposed improvements of the thrashing-machine which have been introduced by various parties, the mills made by Meikle himself have not yet been surpassed, so far as thorough and rapid separation of the grain from the straw is concerned. The unthrashed corn is fed evenly into a pair of slowly revolving fluted rollers of cast-iron, by which it is presented to the action of a rapidly revolving cylinder or drum armed with four beaters, which are square spars of wood faced with iron, fixed parallel to its axis, and projecting about four inches from its circumference. The drum is provided with a dome or cover, and the corn being partly held by the fluted rollers as it passes betwixt the drum and its cover, the rapid strokes of the beaters detach the grain from the ears, and throw the straw forward upon slowly revolving rakes, in passing over which the loose grain is shaken out of the straw, and falls through a grating into the hopper of a winnowing and riddling machine, which rids it of dust and chaff, and separates the grain from the unthrashed ears and broken straw, called roughs or shorts. The grain and roughs are discharged by separate spouts into the apartment below the thrashing-loft, whence the corn is fed into the rollers, and the thrashed straw falls from the rakes into the straw barn beyond. Since Meikle's time further additions have been made to the machinery. In the most improved machines driven by steam or a sufficient water power, the grain is raised by a series of buckets fixed on an endless web into the hopper of a double winnowing-machine, by which it is separated into clean corn, light, whites or capes, and small seeds and sand. The discharging spouts are sufficiently elevated to admit of sacks being hooked on to receive the different products as they fall. When barley is thrashed, it is first carried by a separate set of elevators, which can be detached at pleasure, into a "hummeller," in which it is freed from the awns, and then raised into the second fanners in the same manner as other grain. The hummeller is a hollow cylinder, in which a spindle fitted with transverse blunt knives revolves rapidly. The rough grain is poured in at the top, and, after being acted upon by the knives, is emitted at the bottom through an opening which is enlarged or diminished by a sliding shutter, according to the degree of trimming that is required. A large set of elevators is asually employed to carry up the roughs to the feeding-board, that they may again be subjected to the action of the drum. The roughs are emptied, not directly on the feeding-board, but into a riddle, from which the loose grain passes by a canvas funnel direct to the winnower in the apartment below, and only the unthrashed ears and short straw are allowed to fall upon the board.

The alterations that have been made upon the thrashing

1 See article on 64 Comparative Advantages of Fixed and Portable Steam Power for the Purposes of a Farm," by Robert Ritchie, Esq., C.E. Edinburgh, in Transactions of Highland Society for March 1852, p. 281.

machine since Meikle's time chiefly affect the drum. Meikle himself tried to improve upon his beaters by fixing a projecting ledge of iron on their outer edges, so as to give them a scutching action similar to that of flax-mills. This strips off the grain from oats or barley very well when thinly fed in; but its tendency is to rub off the entire ears, especially of wheat, and also to miss a portion of the ears, whenever there is rapid feeding in. More recent trials of drums on the scutching principle show them to be on the whole inferior to the plain beater.

We have already referred to the general use of portable thrashing-machines in the eastern counties of England. These, for the most part, have drums with six beaters upon a skeleton frame, which revolve with great rapidity (about 800 times per minute, hence often called high-speed drum), within a concave or screen, which encloses the drum for about one-third its circumference. This screen consists alternately of iron ribs and open wire-work, and is so placed that its inner surface can be brought into near contact with the edges of the revolving beaters, and admits of this space being increased or diminished by means of screws. No feeding-rollers are used with this drum, the unthrashed corn being introduced directly to it.

Another form of drum, acting on the same principle as that just referred to, but cased with plate-iron, and having for beaters eight strips of iron projecting about one-fourth of an inch from its surface, and which works within a concave which embraces it for three-fifths of its circumference, is in use when it is desired to preserve the straw as straight and unbroken as possible. These are made of sufficient width to admit of the corn being fed in sideways, and are called bolting machines, from the straw being delivered in a fit state for being at once made up into bolts or bundles for market. Although the term beaters is retained in describing these drums, it is evident that the process by which the grain is separated from the ears is rubbing rather than beating. This necessarily requires that only a narrow space intervene between drum and concave, and that the corn be fed in somewhat thinly. Such machines thrash clean, whether the ears are all at one end of the sheaf or not, and deliver the straw straight and uninjured; but it is objected to these by some that they are slower in their operation than those with the beating drum, are liable to choke if the straw is at all damp, that the grain is sometimes broken by them, and that they require greater power to drive them.

But

A further and more recent modification is the peg-drum. In this case the drum is fitted with parallel rows of iron pegs, projecting about 2 inches from its surface, which in its revolutions pass within one-fourth of an inch of similar pegs fixed in the concave in rows running at right angles to the drum. Great things were at first anticipated from this invention, which, however, it has failed to realise. iron pegs have more recently been added to the common beater-drum with apparent success. The beaters in this case are made one-half narrower than usual, and have stout iron pegs, formed of square rods, driven into their faces, angle foremost, and slightly reflected at the points. These act by a combination of beating and rippling, and are said to thrash clean and to be easily driven.

There is thus a great variety of thrashing-machines to be found in different parts of the country, the comparative merits of which are frequently and keenly discussed by agriculturists. The extraordinary discrepancies in the amount and quality of the work performed by different machines, and in the power required to effect it, are due quite as much to the varying degrees of skill with which their parts are proportioned and put together, as to varying merit in the respective plans of construction.

In the best examples of 6-horse power stationary steamengines and thrashing-machinery, as found in the Lothians,

fifty quarters of grain, taking the average of wheat, barley, and oats, are thrashed, dressed, and sacked up ready for market, in a day of ten hours, with a consumption of 7 cwt. of good coals, and a gross expenditure for wages, value of horse labour, fuel, and wear and tear of machinery, of 9d. per quarter.

The exigencies of the labour market are giving a powerful stimulus to the use of labour-saving contrivances of all kinds; and hence the recent introduction of straw elevators, to be worked either by horse-power or by the same steamengine that is driving the thrashing-machinery. The latter plan finds most favour in England, where it has already been adopted to a considerable extent.

The Royal Agricultural Society of England has done much towards ascertaining the real merits of the various thrashing-machines now in use, by the carefully conducted comparative trials to which it has subjected those which have been presented in competition for its liberal prizes. The accuracy of these trials, and the value of the recorded results, have been much enhanced by the use of an ingenious apparatus invented by Mr C. E. Amos, consulting engineer to the Society, which is figured and described at p. 479 of vol. xi. of the Society's Journal. A pencil connected with this apparatus traces a diagram upon a sheet of paper, recording every variation of the power employed during the experiment to work the machine under trial. For reasons already stated, we regard it as unfortunate that the patronage of this great Society has hitherto been so exclusively bestowed upon portable machines.

Section 20.-Winnowing-Machines.

In

We have already referred to the fanners, which, except in portable machines, are almost invariably found in combination with thrashing-machinery, so s to deliver the grain into the corn-chamber in a comparatively clean state; and we have also noticed the further contrivances by which, when there is a sufficient motive power at command, the complete dressing of the grain goes on simultaneously with the thrashing. The winnowers used in such cases do not differ in construction from those worked by hand. deed, it is usual to have one at least that can be used in either way at pleasure. In these machines the separation of the clean from the light grain, and of both from dust, sand, and seeds of weeds, or other rubbish, is effected by directing an artificial blast of wind upon a stream of grain as it falls upon a riddle. There is thus a combination of fanning and sifting, which is used in different degrees according to the views of the mechanist. In some forms of this machine the benefit of the artificial blast is in a great measure lost through an injudicious application of it.

Section 21.-Corn-Bruiser and Grinding-Mill. The now frequent use of various kinds of grain in the fattening of live stock creates a necessity for machines to prepare it for this purpose, either by breaking, bruising, or grinding. A profusion of these, to be worked by hand, is everywhere to be met with. Such machines are always most economically worked by steam or water power. When that can be had, a set of rollers for bruising oats or linseed, and millstones to grind the inferior grain of the farm, form a most valuable addition to barn machinery.

Section 22.-Cake-Crushers.

Machines for breaking linseed-cake into large pieces for cattle, or smaller ones for sheep, are now in general use. The breaking is performed by passing the cakes between serrated rollers, by which it is nipt into morsels. These are usually driven by hand; but it is always expedient to have a pulley attached to them, and to take advantage of mechanical power when available.

Section 23.-Chaff-Cutters.

The use of this class of machines has increased very much of late years. Fodder when cut into lengths of from half-an-inch to an inch is somewhat more easily masticated than when given to animals in its natural state; but the chief advantages of this practice are, that it prevents waste, and admits of different qualities-as of hay and straw, straw and green forage, or chaff and pulped roots-being so mixed that animals cannot pick out the one from amongst the other, but must eat the mixture as it 13 presented to them. Such cut fodder also forms an excellent vehicle in which to give meal or bruised grain, either cooked or raw, to live stock. This applies particularly to sheep feeding on turnips, as they then require a portion of dry food, but waste it grievously when it is not thus prepared. Chaff-cutters are constructed on a variety of plans; but the principle most frequently adopted is that of radial knives bolted to the arm of a fly-wheel, which work across the end of a feeding-box fitted with rollers, which draw forward the straw or hay and present it in a compressed state to the action of the knives. A machine on this principle, made by Cornes of Barbridge, has gained the first premium in its class at recent meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Gillets' guillotine chaff-cutter is an exceedingly ingenious and efficient machine, performing its work with great accuracy, and without frequent sharpening of its one double-edged knife. These machines are most economically worked by the power used for thrashing. The most convenient site for them is in the upper loft of the straw-barn, where the straw can be supplied with little labour, and the chaff either shoved aside, or allowed to fall as it is cut through an opening in the floor into the apartment below, and at once conveyed to other parts of the homestead. The practice on some farms where there is a fixed steam-engine, is to thrash a stack of oats in the forenoon, and to cut up the straw, and bruise or grind the grain simultaneously, in the afternoon.

Section 24.-Turnip-Cutters.

Cattle and sheep which have arrived at maturity are able to scoop turnips rapidly with their sharp, gouge-like front teeth, and so can be fattened on this kind of food without an absolute necessity of slicing it for them. Even for adult animals there is, however, an advantage in reducing turnips to pieces which they can easily take into their mouths, and at once get between their grinders without any preliminary scooping; but for young stock, during the period of dentition, it is indispensable to their bare subsistence. It is largely through the use of slicingmachines that certain breeds of sheep are fattened' on turnips, and got ready for the butcher at fourteen months old. It seems to be admitted on all hands that Gardener's patent turnip-cutter is the best that has yet been produced for slicing roots for sheep. It is now made entirely of iron, and is an exceedingly useful machine.

In cattle feeding it is not usually thought necessary to divide the roots given to them so minutely as for sheep. A simple machine, fashioned much on the principle of nut-crackers, by which, at each depression of the lever handle, one turnip is forced through a set of knives which divide it into slices each an inch thick, is very generally used in Berwickshire for this purpose. Many persons, however, prefer to have the turnips put into the cattle-troughs whole, and then to have them cut by a simple cross-bladed hand-chopper, which at each blow quarters the piece struck by it. The mode of housing fattening cattle largely determines whether roots can be most conveniently sliced before or after being put into the feeding-troughs,

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