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JethroTull, by the inveution of tlie three-shared drill in 1733, first brought 

 drill-culture into prominent notice, and after him James Cooke, a min- 

 ister of Heaton-Norris, in Lancashire, made, in 1783, a six-toothed drill 

 with cups for distributing the seed, which must be considered as the 

 parent of thope now in use. Another Englishman, Ducket, advocated 

 the cylinder-sower already used by Tull, and introduced" into Germany 

 by Von Thaer, chiefly however for broadcast-sowers. The first broad- 

 casting machine was made by Slight, of Edinburgh, in 1817, but was 

 soon supplanted by the drill. Tlie first box-drill for small round seeds, 

 as rape, mustard, &c., was made by an English captain, T. Williamson, 

 1809. 



The oldest mowing-machines, though very rude, were used by the 

 Gauls. A cart, having blades arranged in front, was pushed forward 

 into the grain by oxen hitched behind, and thus cut off the heads. 



A system of sis rotating scythes was made by Joseph Boyce in 1799, 

 and an attempt to use the same principle was made by Gompertz and 

 Mason, in 1852. In 1811-1815, Smith, of Deanstone, brought out a ma- 

 chine in which a short vertical revolving cylinder carried a knife on its 

 lower end, but all these rotating machines have proved impracticable. 

 Eobert Meares, in Frome in Somersetshire, established in 1800 the 

 shear principle as the only practical one. Salmon, in Woburn in 1807, 

 built a machine with a row of blades and fingers moving over them, 

 and also applied the reel. The Scotch parson, Patrick Bell, of Torfar- 

 shire, in 1826, and William Manning, of Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1832, 

 were the founders of the present style of machines. Manning was the 

 first to attach the draught at the side of the machine, all others previously 

 having been pushed from behind. Obed Hussey, of Cincinnati, at- 

 tached the side platform and slit finger. McCormick, then of Eock- 

 bridge, Va., now of Chicago, in 1834 improved the Manning and Hus- 

 sey machine, and the appearance of these at the London Exposition, in 

 1851, was the signal for their introduction into general use. 



The oldest thrashing machine (except the antiques) was made by 

 Michael Menzies, in 1732, or perhaps at the same time by Tull, consist- 

 ing of a rotating cylinder with flails. Several others followed shortly, 

 some like a flour-mill, and in 1792, Willoughby, of Bedford, made one 

 like that of Menzies, which Von Thaer brought to Germany, and which 

 served as a model for the Mecklenburg thrasher. The machine of 

 James Wardropp, of Anipthell, in Virginia, is on a similar principle, 

 only the beaters are sticks moving up and down. Finally in 1785, An- 

 drew Meikle, of Tyningham, East Lothian, laid the foundation of the 

 present form, by using a drum with four beaters parallel to its axis, 

 that carried the grain between itself and a concave, furnished with 

 similar rods. An American, named Moffitt, in 1854, substituted spikes 

 for the rods, though the Meikle machine adheres to the old system. 



Next is flax machinery from various countries. There is also a work- 

 ing model of the different kinds of apparatus used to distribute the 

 grain from hoppers of seed-drills, viz: a small roller with cavities sunk 

 in it; the bucket-wheel system, where a wheel with little buckets is 

 used; the cup system, in which cups are substituted for buckets; the 

 brush system in several forms, and. others. On the wall hangs a small 

 Italian drill, and Cahoon's centrifugal broadcast sower from North 

 America. 



In the adjoining hall are several mowing-machines and lawn-mowers. 

 These last are made on the plan of cloth-shearing machines. Also ma- 

 chines for grinding the knives; and in a niche are models of two of the 

 French wagons used for transporting trees with frozen balls of earth. 



