96 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



appearance. In its mechanical arrangement it is similar 

 to their well-known chaff-cutter, and is characterised 

 by careful workmanship. 



(10.) Mr,W. Snowden, of Longford, Gloucester, exhi- 

 bited a chafF-cutting machine, which possesses considera- 

 ble novelty of detail, and is worthy of attention from the 

 case with which a single attendant can work a large 

 machine. The principal peculiarity is the absence of 

 feed-rollers, and toothed gear. The hay and straw are 

 only passed outwards when the knife is out of contact 

 with them, so that no power is lost in the mate- 

 rial pressing on the knife. The whole length of 

 the box (seven feet) acts as the bottom feeder, and by 

 a simple adjustment of a thumb-screw, different lengths 

 can be cut, varying from ^ of an inch to l^ inches 

 long. The bottom feeder consists of an endless cloth, 

 revolving on back and front rollers. To the front roller 

 a ratchet wheel is attached, to which motion is com- 

 municated by a lever and catch, that being moved by 

 a pin placed in the front frame of the machine. This 

 frame has a reciprocatory movement given to it through 

 the medium of a crank, worked through the agency of 



the fly-wheel which carries the cutting knives. The 

 front frame is provided with a cross bar, to the centre of 

 which a stud is fixed ; to this stud the end of a cross 

 lever is jointed ; this lever is carried backwards a short 

 distance, and is jointed at its other extremity to a stud 

 fixed in the centre of an iron block, which acts as the 

 top feeder, and which moves up and down in grooves 

 made in the sides of the framing of the machine. 

 This iron block carries a revolving roller midway be- 

 tween the lever. Jointed at either end to the front frame 

 with the iron block, another lever placed at right 

 angles to it is fixed. This lever is nearer the front 

 frame than to the block. Pivots are provided at each 

 end of this cross lever, to which a board, called by the 

 inventor the pressing-board, is attached ; as this pressing 

 board is not under the control of the crank, it presses 

 on all thicknesses of material, from three to seven inches, 

 passing out to the action of the cutting knife, and the 

 iron block sliding in a groove accommodates itself also 

 to all the thicknesses. When the iron block goes down 

 the pressing-board rises up, so that the iron block acts 

 alternately as feeder and presser. R. S. B. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF LEASES. 



On the 30lh of December last this question was brought 

 Under discussioa at the monthly meeting of the Winfrith 

 Partners' Club. The aubject stood as "The Advantages of 

 Leases; Security to the Tenant an Inducement for the Outlay 

 of Capital." 



Mr. Reader, after a few introductory remarks, said the 

 subject for that evening's discussion was a most important one, 

 as it affected the whole farming interest of England, who, he 

 was informed, had, some years since, over £6,000,000 invested 

 in lands, which amount was increasing year by year, as im- 

 provements took place. The question for their general con- 

 sideration would be: "Were any advantages to be derived 

 from leases? Were they inducements for the ou'lay of capi- 

 tal ? Who would be benefited by leases ? And would any 

 parties be injured by them?" He trusted that they should 

 prove by their discussion that they were not actuated by any 

 selfish motives or hostility towards any party, but that their 

 arguments were intended to improve the state of agriculture 

 in general, which must necessarily improve the position of 

 the landlord, the tenant, and labourer. He thought no one 

 would deny that the most practical landholders of this king- 

 dom long since saw the necessity of giving to the tenant a 

 security for his outlay, as an inducement to invest hia money 

 with cheerfulness in every acknowledged improvement. For 

 instance, the late Lord Leicester, the Earl of Yarborough, and 

 the Duke of Bedford, he believed, adopted the system of 

 leases, coupled with a tenant-right at the end of it ; and he 

 (the speaker) was also credibly informed that neither of the 

 two first noble personages alluded to, ever had to pay one 

 shilling for those very great improvements which had been 

 acknowledged by all to have been made upon their estates ; 

 for they had always found their tenaHta ready and willing to 

 pay^for them themselves. Now, he would ask, where was the 

 gentleman to be found who had improved his property to the 

 same extent, at so'small a cost, under the tenant -at-will system ? 

 The late Mr. Pusey likewise saw the necessity of a change, 

 and brought his famous tenant-right bill before the House of 

 Commons on various occasions ; and although it was rejected 

 on its first appearance by a large majority, it gradually gained 

 favour, and was twice carried through the Commons, only to 

 be rejected by the Lords. He believed, however, if that wor- 

 thy man who introduced it had only lived a few years longer 

 he would have seen it become the law of the land. Again, 

 let them consider also what that eminent man. Judge Gale, 

 caid on this subject at the Botley Club two years since : " I 

 sieed not enlarge," said he, " on the absolute necessity there 

 is that the tenant should be protected by securing to him a 

 lengthened time in the possession of that land which, on all 

 «ides, he is urged to improve by an investment of capital in 



it." Another paragraph said, " The objects to be sought for 

 in a lease are security to 'the landlord and a freedom of action 

 to the tenant. The landlord desires to have security that the 

 land shall not be improperly cultivated, and the tenant that 

 he shall not be restricted in making the improvements which 

 his soi-disant friends are so liberally urging him to make." 

 Then he had the authority also of a practical man (Mr. Stares, 

 of Droxford) for saying that numerous existing leases pre- 

 scribed a course of cultivation which was simply absurd. By 

 a tacit consent these were commonly disregarded ; and the 

 consequence was that the tenant would be better off without 

 a lease at all, as such a lease puts him, at all times, at the 

 mercy of the landlord, and, indeed, was of no use but to put 

 a fee into an attorney's pocket, for copying a senseless docu- 

 ment, origiually prepared in the dark ages of agriculture. He 

 (Mr. Reader) had brought forward these remarks in order to 

 prove that the practical landholders had been prepared for a 

 change in the tenure of land for a long time past, having no 

 doubt themselves seen the difference in the improved culture 

 of the land which had been secured to the tenant for a length- 

 ened period over that held from year to year — except occasion- 

 ally, where a fair and equitable tenant-right had existed. If 

 such gentlemen as the noble lords he had before alluded to 

 could see the necessity of giving security to the tenant for his 

 outlay of capital as an inducement to invest more capital, and 

 to improve their land in every respect, when the general 

 system of farming, more especially in the west, was — 



To plough and to sow. 



To dress in and mow ; 



Then harvest and thrash. 



And market for cash, 

 was not that necessity increased five hundred times over, 

 when thousands of pounds were annually expended in this 

 county alone upon artificial manures, and thousands more in 

 feeding stuffs, a large portion of which could not be returned 

 for years ? He believed there were farmers in this country who 

 paid more every year for those manures and feeding stuff than 

 ever their rents amounted to— to say nothing of the extra 

 amount of labour this must necessarily entail. They had had 

 bones in use as a manure only a few years, comparatively 

 speaking, and, if he remembered rightly, guano was first im- 

 ported into this country about the year 1836, by Gibbs and 

 Co., which sold at about £6 per ton. Since that time, how- 

 ever, a better quality had been found, and now, he believed, 

 the importation amounted to upwards of 240,000 tons. Then 

 there was superphosphate, the general mani'.re for the root 

 crop, the quantity used being beyond description. He was 

 credibly informed that over £25,000 a year was spent in the 

 county of Dorset slone upon artificial manures. He found 



