THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



387 



framing is carried by bearings ujion the axle of the main 

 carriage wheel; preceding which the pole is placed, 

 while the driver sits behind. By this arrangement the 

 whole is balanced, so that no more weight bears on the 

 neck of the draught-horses than is necessary to steady 

 the movement ; and by merely pressing with his foot on 

 the hind part of the framing, the driver, with amazingly 

 little exertion, is able to raise the cutter a height, if 

 necessary, equal to eight inches — thus overcoming all 

 obstacles, and clearing the furrows. The principal 

 features, however, are the driving and cutting apparatus. 

 This machine has virtually a double set of cutters, the 

 upper ones reciprocating at a much slower rate than is 

 usual in other machines, while the under ones are sta- 

 tionary, and, projecting an inch beyond the line of the 

 upper ones, act at once as guards and cutters. All the 

 blades, both of the upper and lower series, are indepen- 

 dent of each other, and each is connected with the bar by 

 a screw-bolt. This arrangement enables a broken or 

 disabled blade to be easily removed, and a perfect one 

 substituted. The upper blades are held down by a spring 

 pressure bar, so that the operation is similar to that of 

 shears, the grass being cut between two edges. The 

 cutting-blades are made of iron at the back, and the 

 front or cutting-edges of the best cast-steel. The iron 

 giving strength, the steel can be made as hard as desired. 

 The driving gear is amazingly simple, and contrasts 

 favourably with that of other machines, there being an 

 entire absence of all toothed gearing; a cam, fixed to 

 the end of the cutter-bar, and a series of curved slides in 

 the main wheel, in which the cam works, being substi- 

 tuted. It is difficult, without the aid of'drawings, to give 

 an idea of the movement. If the reader will imagine the 

 periphery or tire of the main wheel to have a series of 

 curved apertures cut in it, of equal size, and at equal 

 distances, these apertures being connected with each 

 other by narrow cuttings, thus forming a species of sinu- 

 ous path round the entire circumference of the wheel — 

 and farther, if he will suppose the cam of the cutter-bar 

 inserted in this path — he will form some idea as to how, 

 by the passage of the cam from the small cut to the 

 large curved aperture, and from the latter to the former 

 alternately, the cam will receive a series of jerks, alter- 

 nately from side to side, which will thus impart a 

 reciprocatory motion to the cutter-bar, to which it is 

 attached. From the nature of the movement, doubts are 

 apt to arise as to its ultimate economy. Certainly no- 

 thing but first-class workmanship will stand the severe 

 test of the mode of operation. As a grass-mowing 

 machine, all who have seen it in opei'ation think it of 

 first rate excellence, and that it supplies a desideratum 

 long felt in hay-making operations. It is right to state 

 that, in addition to the first prize at the Salisbury Show, 

 it obtained the 1,000 dollar prize in 1856, after a three 

 days' trial, at the Massachusetts Society for the Promo- 

 tion of Agriculture, U. S. 



Of the reaping machines competing this year at Salis- 

 bury, that of Messrs. Burgess and Key took the first ; 

 that of Mr. Crosskill the second ; and that of Lord 

 Kinnaird the third. To Messrs. Dray's, which took the 

 first prize, with high' commendation, last year at 



Chelmsford, no prize this year has been awarded. This 

 reversal of the decision of last year has, as may be con- 

 ceived, created no small surprise, and has fanned again 

 into fierce combustion the flame of rivalry. The battle 

 of the " reapers" resembles, to compare small things 

 with great, in warmth of debate, and we may add, lack 

 of courtesy, the celebrated battle of the railway gauges. 

 Into the merits of this controversy we have no desire to 

 enter, further than to say, that each of the rival 

 machines presents points of excellence which the other 

 lacks ; and we think that too much stress is laid upon 

 the question of the delivery of the cut corn. 



Messrs. Burgess and Key have introduced a decided 

 improvement in their reaping-machine. In the ma- 

 chine of last year, a wedge-shape dividing-board was 

 used to bring in the corn to the action of the knives ; 

 this, however, did not act properly, and a conical screw 

 has this year been substituted, with marked success 

 It is just the additional movement which has been re- 

 quired to make the Archimedean screw side-delivery 

 complete in its operation. In this machine, as our 

 readers are doubtless aware, the corn, after being cut, 

 falls upon three screws, which are placed across the 

 machine in a direction at right- angles to the path of the 

 machine. The combined action of the reel and these 

 screws finally deliver the corn at the side of the machine 

 in a continual swathe. In Dray's machine, the corn, on 

 being cut, falls on a tipping platform, which, on re- 

 ceiving a quantity of corn necessary to form a sheaf, is 

 tipped up by the attendant, when the corn is delivered 

 to the ground. The attendant uses a rake to bring the 

 corn up to the cutters. Mr. Crosskill's machine, which 

 took the second prize, is a modification of Bell's, with a 

 side delivery and M'Cormick's cutting-apparatus. Of 

 this machine, the judges report that its " work was well 

 done, but the swathe was not so well laid, nor so good 

 and even a stubble left, as by Messrs. Burgess's ; and 

 this, we believe, was caused by its not being well 

 adapted to cut across furrows, and to make perfect 

 work ; and the scattered straws left in the swathe, we 

 think, were owing to a fault in the construction of the 

 endless-band for the side-delivery. The machine has 

 two men to work it, but cuts fast, though the power re- 

 quired is more than that which is consumed by Messrs. 

 Burgess and Key's machine. Of Lord Kinnaird's 

 machine, which took the third prize, and which is a 

 modified M'Cormick's, the judges report that " it 

 worked well, but we thought the horses were driven too 

 fast for farm-horses ; and the machine, although 

 cheaper than those spoken of above, was not to be com- 

 pared with them for workmanship. The driver was the 

 only attendant necessarily required." 



In drills and manure distributors little novelty was 

 displayed. The most recent inventions we described in 

 the March number of this Journal, so that we are now 

 spared the necessity of going fully into the consideration 

 of this department. We noticed a very ingenious eight- 

 row seed-planting machine, possessed of some notice- 

 able features. It is the invention of John Freer, of 

 Rothely, near Loughborough, Leicestershire. The 

 planters are made in the wheel form— sixteen planters 



