Figure 51. — Mode of making charcoal Invented by Michael Carroll. Patent 720, April 28, li 



'PS^- 





4 



Figure 52. — An improved bark mill patented by Thomas VV. Pryor on May 21, 1805 (restored patent 62 iX). 



Three or four days after the stack is settled, one hand on 

 the top of the stack, and one below with a cloth to save 

 the grain should beat off the loose heads with a hoop pole 

 which they can do in a very little time. The stack will 

 save as well as if the grain were bound into sheaves. After 

 the wheat is taken out of the field the rake is run over 

 where the bunches lay. 



The grain when cut is left to dry in the swathes one day 

 in fair weather. If too ripe, rake in the mornings and 

 evenings. The grain is handled altogether with forks and 

 not with hands, after it is raked. One acre can be raked 

 in this way in less than 15 minutes (if the swathes are 40 

 rods or longer) clean and nice. 



As to the other rake, fig. 1. Take hold of the handle 

 D and after the horse is hitched to the ropes ZZ, drive 



between two swathes. When the rake is full, a slight lift 

 of the hand will turn it over on the bow D, and it will slide 

 over the grain. 



When the points are past the bunches, the rake is drawn 

 back with the hand, filled again and so on. 



By following the above plan, one half of the expense of 

 harvesting is saved, and if the grain is thrashed with horses, 

 one hand can lay it on the floor as fast as three could, if it 

 were bound in sheaves. It is also easier turned with forks, 

 and is thrashed full as fast. 



Here, the character of early 19th-century farming 

 becomes e.xceedingly clear with little explanation 

 needed. Equally clear and suggestive is Benjamin 

 Hale"s illustration (fig. 57) of "taking Mackerel and 



148 



BULLETIN 24 1 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



