22 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



of civilisation this division of labor is recognised. The anatomist points out. from hi- know- 

 ledge of i i » * - hoof, the best mode of shoeing horses, but no one would think of employing him 

 to put his own principles in practice. The chemist informs the tanner of those substances 

 that contain the largest amount of tannin, and explains the rationale of all hi* processes, yet 

 the chemist is rarely expected to be able to produce leather from the raw hide, nor is the 

 utility of his knowledge called in question on this account. Now, let this but be properly under- 

 stood among as, and there will be an end to the sneers at 'book-farming,' nor shall there lit- 

 any longer cause to complain of the proverbial tardiness with which practical agricultun 

 avail themselves of the discoveries of chemical science." 



Machine for Cutting Cotton-Stalks. 



In the States where cotton is grown, the removal of the stalks, prior to the preparation of 

 the laud for new planting, is a slow and laborious operation, for it is usually done by hand. 

 The negro seizes hold of the stalk and bends it with one hand, while with the other he cuts it 

 off at the rout by means of a heavy cleaver. An invention designed to effect this operation 

 mechanically has been recently patented by Mr. Bowerman, of Detroit, Michigan. It con- 

 of a cart which is driven through the stalks in order to bend them down close to the ground. 

 At the rear part of the vehicle a large horizontal knife is arranged to move vertically between 

 suitable slides. Motion is given to the knife by means of gearing on the wheels of the vehicle. 

 As the cart advances, the stalks bend, the knife is elevated, and then suddenly discharged, to 

 fall upon the base of the bent stalks and clip them in a twinkling. Springs are employed to 

 give additional force to the knife as it descends. 



Improvement in Cotton Saw-Gins. 



A VALUABLE improvement in the construction of the saws of cotton gins has been recently 

 patented by Mr. A. D. Brown, of Columbus, Georgia. This invention consists in arranging 

 the teeth of the saw in a series of curves eccentric to their axis, or, what is equivalent, in a 

 series of tangential lines. By this means, with a proper arrangement of the saws relatively 

 to each otlnr, it is rendered impossible for any two saws to catch the same fibre across a rib, 

 and thereby cut or break it, while a peculiar degree of facility is provided for the clearing of 

 the saw- by the brash. The expense of gins made according to this patent is no greater than 

 those in ordinary ose, while the cotton comes out equally as well cleansed, and otherwise in 

 a far superior State. The amount of work done is also the same as in other gins of like 

 capacity. 



Cleaning of Sea-Island Cotton. 



i-i .•■■" ooi roil i nearly all ginned by hand, upon pins of the must primitive- construc- 

 tion possible to conceive. A writer in the New York Tribune fiirni-hes the following descrip- 

 tion of the process and machine in nse, as witnessed on Edisto island, South Carolina .- — 



•• i.et the reader fancy ■ very roughly-made frame of two-inch Bquare timber; the length 

 of the frame is '_' feel 1 inches; width, 2 feet 2 inches; height, .1 feel l inches. Upon the 



1 I of the frame then- is a little boi 8 by 12 inches, about 8 niches deep, which h< 

 the see.) cotton. Upon each side of the bos there is si iron fly-wheel, two feel across, of fif- 

 teen pounds ireight Upon the outside of the fly-wheel- there are short bearings and little 

 aks. The Inside bearing is formed by s wooden roller, about a foot long, driven into a 



socket ill the wheel. These roller- lie one upon the other over the hack part of the bOX. 



I' mm tie- oranki rods extend, like tie.-,, of a -mall spinning-wheel or turning-lathe, to a treadle 

 on the tioor. Now, a man plaoes a handful of cotton in the box, puts hi- foot on the treadle 

 and -tut- the wheels, which make the two little rollei i toward each other; then he 



- a look of cotton up to the roller-, and the lint passes through ami - is fall back, if tho 



ii is in g 1 order and the weather dry; if not. it cannot be separated without mashing 



now aiel then | Ned, which injures the quality of a *ck. n i-. ■ day's work for a 



strong negro man or woman to gin twenty live pounds. Prom the pin it is taken to the moter's 



