sarily requires to be adjusted, so as to leave but little space between the drum and concave.

When this machine is required to thresh beans or peas, two wooden beaters, projecting about an inch from the surface of the drum, are added, and the concave is set at a proportionate dis

tance.

The operation of this machine, as compared with the one previously described, is slow, but its performance is very perfect; the corn is disengaged from the ear without damage, and the straw is left as straight and unbroken, and as ready to be made up into bolts, as from the flail.

I am not aware to whom the original invention of this machine belongs, but it has been much improved and brought to its present state of perfection by R. Garrett and Son, Leiston.

At the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting at Cambridge, in 1841, the quantity of wheat threshed in an hour by two fourhorse portable machines manufactured by J. R. and A. Ransome, of Ipswich, and R. Garrett and Son, Leiston, was respectively sixty-one bushels and three-quarters of a peck, and sixty-one bushels and a quarter of a peck; and the corn was clean-threshed and uninjured.

This must not be taken as a criterion on which to found an average, as it was doubtless the result of stimulated exertion; but it is not unusual with machines of this construction, with reaped wheat in fair condition, to thresh 50 quarters, or 400 bushels, in a day of ten hours, and the same quantity of mown barley.

It should, however, be observed that these, having neither rakes nor fans, the work of which is done by hand, would require eight men and five boys, and a change of horses in the day,

Ransome's four-horse portable Threshing-machine, fixed for work. -The peculiarities of this machine are, that the large wheel is cast with the ring separate from the arms, by which the probability of breaking, and the expense of repair in case of accident, are much decreased. It is turned in a lathe, to afford a true bearing for the friction-wheel.

In order to facilitate repairs at a distance, all the wheels, except the large one, are bored, and the shafts turned to gauges, so that any one may be replaced by a common mechanic; and the brasses may in a similar manner be replaced by new ones.

In the judges' report on the implements at the Oxford Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1839, they especially "commend this machine for the generally good workmanship displayed in it, and the proper proportion of its parts, both as to durability and getting up the required speed." They stated " it was also particularly deserving of attention, from the application of the correctly-shaped toothed-wheels."-Journal, vol. i. p. 68.

At the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting at Bristol, in 1842, the threshing part of this machine was exhibited, in connection with a

portable steam-engine, and obtained the Society's highest prize of 30%. -Journal, vol. iii. p. 351.

HARE

Ransome's Four-horse Portable Threshing-Machine, fixed for Work.

Garrett's portable Open-Drum Threshing-machine.-The peculiarities in this machine are that the drum or threshing cylinder is made entirely of iron, with five beaters peculiarly formed of wroughtiron, extremely light and strong, occupying less than the space of four wood beaters, and thus giving one-fifth more threshing power without increased speed or friction. The concave that surrounds the drum is likewise formed of wrought-iron ribbed plates, rendering the whole of the threshing part less liable to breakage, and very easy to repair. The machines of five and six horse-power are well suited for long, stiff straw, as that grown in fen districts. Every part of the machine is so numbered and lettered that they may easily be described in writing, so that all parts subject to wear or breakage may easily be replaced by persons living at a distance. The brasses for the various spindles are replaced in the same way.

An additional concave to surround the drum is provided: that, being substituted for the one used for general purposes, will effectually draw clover, suckling, and other small seeds.

Garrett's patent Bolting Threshing-machines.—This machine, which has received many prizes at various agricultural meetings, is adapted for threshing every kind of corn without so much as bending or ruffling the straw, and will effectually thresh out all the grain without the least injury to the kernels. It delivers the straw upon the lattice platform, shown in the following engraving, ready to be tied up in bolts more straight and regular than it can be threshed with the handflail, and possesses all the advantages of construction of Garrett's other machine, only doing about one-fifth less work. The drum is constructed principally of stiff spring-wire, and is incapable of being broken or injured with common care and usage. It performs its work with such extreme nicety as to render it of essential importance to agriculturists residing near large towns, where they require the straw to be tied up for sale, or perfectly straight and regular for very particular purposes. The process being more like rubbing than beating the corn, it cleans the barley off the straw without in the least injuring the kernels, an effectual remedy for the fault so frequently complained of by maltsters in other machines. There are four beaters sent to fasten upon the drum, which render it the same in effect, and nearly as expeditious, as the open-drum machine. It is worked by three, four, five, or six horses.

Ransome's Hand Threshing-machine.-This machine is constructed to work by four men at a time as the moving power, and one to feed, with the needful helpers to take away the straw. The mode of applying the power is sometimes by two men at a crank, and two pulling at a lever, in the manner of rowing in a boat; and it is considered that changing over from one motion to the other affords a degree of relief. A more recent construction of Messrs. Ransome's is to have a crank and a lever on each side of the machine, so that each man has a separate crank or lever, as the case may be. Another form is to have four cranks and no levers. The advantage of a hand threshing-machine consists in its being set to work without much preparation, and that only one skilled labourer is required in the number employed; and thus, in weather that

interferes with farming operations out of doors, employment may be found in the barn for those who are not used to threshing by the flail. The machine threshes all kinds of grain and pulse quite clean, and at a rate of from one-third to one-half more than the same number of competent threshers employed with flails.

Garrett's hand-machines are for two and four men. The latter size better worked by one horse.

Garrett's registered Straw-Shaker.-The engraving below represents a shaker, for the purpose of thoroughly separating from the straw all corn, leaf, and rubbish that may be amongst it, and for carrying off the straw after it has passed out of the threshing-machine, fig. 1 being the elevation, and fig. 2 a plan of the same.

The straw is delivered from the machine on to a series of vibrating levers (D), which form a kind of platform for its reception. These levers are each supported at one end on iron arms (A), which rock to and fro on a spindle (B), and at the other end are connected by a prolongated tine (C), which forms a rocking arm to a rotating serpentine rod, which acts like a series of cranks, and by its rotation alternately raises and depresses one-half the number of levers forming the platform. By this means (assisted by the tines shown at the end of the levers) the straw is carried off the machine, and the loose kernels, chaff, leaf, and rubbish are separated from it.

With this addition to the threshing-machine the straw is much more