A/i Improvement in Cattle-Tying 



107 



the ring, according to the size of the animal. 

 This is very easy to shew, but it will require 

 a diagram to describe it. First open a strand 

 and put an end of the rope through, drawing 

 it up until the eye of the loop is but little 

 bigger than the rope itself {b, iig. 3). Then 

 (with your marline-spike, a tapering bit of 

 hard wood 10 inches long), open a strand of 

 the part of the rope that you have just put 

 through, as close to the loop as possible {c 



Fig- 3- 



Fig. 4- 



fig. 3), and pass the other end {d) through. 

 By pulling a and b tight we get a loop (fig. 4) 

 which is always open, and will not slip out of 

 place. This is the loop shewn as d, fig. 2, 

 Through this loop put the end of the rope in- 

 tended to hold the ring, and you have a slip- 

 knot {e, fig. 2). Splice the ring in its place, 



not forgetting the thimble, to prevent chafing. 

 The outer end of the rope might be knotted 

 with a man-rope knot by an old sailor ; but a 

 button lYz inch across (_/j fig. 2) cut from 

 a I -inch board of some tough timber, with a 

 hole in it for the rope, is quite as good. A 

 symmetrical knot for holding this in place 

 can be made by straining 6 inches of the end 

 of the rope, and turning the strands, one at a 

 time, down, under, and up, within itself, after 

 the method of a half-knot. The second 

 strand will include the first within its loop 

 as it is turned under and up, and the 

 third strand must include both of the others. 

 If this be done rightly, and the strands drawn 

 snugly in their j^laces, the ends will come to- 

 gether in the centre of the knot, where they 

 may be clipped short. It is but the work 

 of a second to pass the rope around the 

 animal's horns, and slip the button /, fig. 2, 

 into the slip-knot e, which is always ready." 

 This would make a capital plan for tying 

 animals round the neck, and if the button 

 were made of lead, or pewter, or of iron, so 

 as to balance the weight of the ring, as it 

 slides upon the iron rod in the different posi- 

 tions of the animal, we believe it would be 

 still better. The correspondent states that 

 all the farmers who have seen the working of 

 his system speak highly of it — the ropes are 

 so handy to fasten and unfasten, and so un- 

 likely to get loose by accident. 



TRIAL OF GREEN'S MOWING MACHINES. 



THE J' if/d gives an account of a trial of 

 Mr Green's new mowing machine 

 which took place at Wimbledon. It says : — 

 The first thing which Mr Green proposed 

 to do was to shew that his machine would 

 cut moderately long and wet grass, and these 

 important points he certainly carried out with 

 the old machine of the A.E.C.C., which he 

 had put in good order for that purpose, but 

 which, as we have before stated, it and others 

 we have tried when in ordinary working order, 



have always failed in effecting. The grass 

 was quite dry in consequence of a hot sun, 

 but it was thoroughly saturated with Avater 

 from the hose used for the purpose before 

 trying the machine. Still the trial was not 

 so satisfactory on this point as it would be 

 if the grass were wetted by rain. He also 

 produced an improved 14-inch machine, 

 about whose power there can be no doubt, 

 inasmuch as, while it will do exactly the same 

 work as the ordinary machines, it is capable 



