MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93 



RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



Stenton's Improved Land-side Cutter, patented 18-58, consists of a horizontal 

 knife or cutter, which is attached near the end of the land-side to an ordinary 

 plough. The width of the cutter is one-third that of the plough, and it cuts its 

 own breadth under the land, so that the plough on its succeeding rounds will 

 turn the breadth of the cutter in addition to its usual work. It is affirmed 

 that the saving of power usually lost in friction on the land-side is trans- 

 ferred to the edge of the cutter, and that thus one-third more work is per- 

 formed by the same team when the cutter is used. Another important 

 advantage is, that the plough thus provided is much more steady, and much 

 more easily kept in the ground. When it is desired to pulverize the ground, 

 two cutters are used, at different heights, the second in advance of the first. 



A new form of steam-plough recently patented in England operates as fol- 

 lows : A series of spades is made to enter the land in succession, and cut it 

 into the arc of a circle, when the cut slices are suddenly thrown up against 

 a shield plate, at once reversing and breaking them almost into powder. 



A new form of cart-body has also been patented for the purpose of deliver- 

 ing manure over a field without requiring it to be thrown out by hand. The 

 bottom of the cart-body is supplied with longitudinal openings, in which 

 revolve drags or blades attached to an axis under the body. As the cart 

 moves, these drags pull down the manure in a condition of complete pul- 

 verization. 



PROTECTIVE MATTING FOR HORTICULTURAL AND AGRICULTURAL 



PRODUCE. 



Doctor Guyot, of Paris, the proprietor of extensive vineyards, in Sillery, 

 Champagne, has introduced in France, and is now introducing in England, a 

 simple, but improved, description of straw matting for the protection of hor- 

 ticultural and agricultural produce, together with a loom or apparatus for 

 manufacturing the same. 



The fabric is composed of a weft of straw, cane, bass, rush, reed, or other 

 similar material, woven into or combined with a warp, consisting of two sets 

 of warp threads, each set composed of two wires, or stout cords, twisted to- 

 gether; and it is manufactured as follows: The straw, bass, or other mate- 

 rial, is cut into even lengths, and spread on a table with a central slot or 

 channel from end to end, where, by means of a comb or reed with conical 

 teeth, the mass is divided into clusters (the thickness of each cluster being 

 according to tho space between every two adjoining teeth). The comb is 

 driven into the straw just over the channel. The table is then brought to 

 tho weaver, who takes a cluster at a time, and feeds it in a loom or frame, in 

 which the warp, cords or wires, are delivered off in twos from four reels set 

 in the same spindle mounted in the standards of the frame, and are passed 

 through eyes and grooves in plates which act as heddles, being connected by 

 a double escapement or otherwise to treadles, by which they are depressed and 

 brought up again by springs at the top, whereby tho warp threads ai'e crossed, 

 two by two, alternately, each set being opened to form a shed, through which 

 the weft is introduced. The fabric, as it is woven, is wound off on a beam 

 made to revolve by a weighted lever; the weight also effects the draft 

 and tension of the warp threads, being brought back from the end of its 



