l8o4« Anfiuer to Arator^s Letters on T/jfnpjing Machines. 303 



friends in this country. He had ^c^n machines ufed by the 

 peafantry there for thralhing their grain, which he dcfcrll)ed as 

 fomething betwixt that made by Mr Cotterel, and the one 

 claimed by Mr Meikle as his invention. And, when I firft at- 

 tempted to m.ake a mill for my own ufe, T endeavoured to follow 

 his defcription as nearly as pofnble. Thefe Swedifli machines 

 were driven by water, and fed by two rollers ; and the grain 

 was knocked out by an open fcutch inftead of a drum j they 

 were of various fizes, though more generally fm-all ; but the 

 gentleman's removal to another country, where he died, pre- 

 vented my receiving the particulars, as to the fize and velo- 

 city. 



With regard to Arator's attack on me for not mentioning 

 thofe machines he takes notice of, 1 have only to obferve, that I 

 never heard of them ; but if Arator will perufe the various Eng- 

 iifli publications in agriculture, he will find that the fize of your 

 Magazine is quite inadequate to contain the numberlefs contra- 

 did^ory accounts of the itivention and etteci: of the various thrafh- 

 ing machines that have been, and iliil are in ufe in the different 

 counties in England. The obje^i of publiiliing my obfervations 

 on thrafhing machines has been accompliilied ; and nothing that 

 Arator can fay will either fatisfy me or the public, that liraw, 

 which we fee is thrafhed clean by a fmail machine, is not pro- 

 perly done, becaufe it has not pafled through Mr Meikle's mill; 

 and that a mill, which, with the alfillance of a man, a woman, 

 and a boy, will feparate three bolls, Aberdeen (liire meafure, ot 

 grain from the ilraw in an hour, is an ufelefs machine, and 

 that the people are only working to a lofs ; — if a horfe machine, 

 an additional boy is required. Many of thefe firil; are in ufe ; 

 and any perfon can in two days learn to feed them. In this 

 country, a farm which raifes 300 bolls, cannot' be called a fmall 

 one. 



In Arator's fecond letter in your Supplement, though he 

 quotes fome expreflions in mine, yet he has taken the trouble of 

 inventing a machine for me, as I am perfe6lly unacquainted 

 with the one he finds fo much fault with there. My mill was 

 defcrlbed to take up a fpace in the barn of about four feet by^ 

 four, or four by five ; and it, and thofe in general ufe in this 

 country, merely feparate the corn from the ftraw. 



The public and I had certainly reafon to expedl a complete 

 hiftory of thrafliing machines ; but Arator's two letters contain 

 little elfe than an eulogium on his friend Mr Meikle's mill, and 

 an attempt to perfuade the public, that mine, or any others, 

 are ufelefs ones. And with regard to his calculations on the 

 power and velocity of water wheels, was he the practical mecha- 



U 3 nic 



