THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



off again so that the whole may be more compactly packed for ship- 

 ping, and for storing away out of the wet. Exclusive of the canvas, 

 the whole can be made ready for shipment for from $16,00 to $18,00, 

 and the machine will no doubt be advertised the coming season. 



It is gratifying to know also that the inventive genius of some of 

 our Western men is being applied to the improvement of this imple- 

 ment. Thus Messrs. Claxton & Stevens of the Insane Asylum, St. 

 Louis county, have just applied for a patent on a one-wheel machine, 

 the principle feature of which is a bumper which works with a spring. 

 [Fig. 5.] I have seen the model, but am not favorably impressed 

 with the machine as one having any great practical 

 value. The spring bumper is an expensive and unneces- 

 sary addition, and in other respects the machine is in- 

 ferior in utility to that I have just described. One good 

 feature, however, is an arrangement for closing up the 

 tree-way where the bumper touches the tree. It con- 

 sists simply of two long strips of sheeting fastened to a 

 light frame, each one of which is so attached to the 

 sides of the tree-way that when dropped they form a 

 roof as at Figure 5. The tree easily separates these two 

 pieces when the machine is worked. The frame of this 

 machine is quite flat with an upturned rim, but each 

 half-circle is so arranged that it can be raised on 

 hinges. 



Dr. M. M. Hooten, of Centralia, Illinois, patented last 

 summer a machine made very much alter Dr. Hull's plan, but he 

 has since made several improvements and changes and has made appli- 

 cation for another patent for the improved machine which I herewith 

 illustrate from a model with which he has kindly furnished me. 



He first constructs a long narrow wheel-barrow with a level and 

 smooth platform (Fig. 6, a,) made of ± inch pine or other light mate- 

 rial, firmly nailed down to two arms (b, b,) and covering them from 

 the front end to within twenty inches of the rear end. These rear ends 

 serve for handles (c, c). The anterior ends, at a point one foot from 

 the extremity, rest upon the axles of the wheel, which is two feet in 

 diameter. He then attaches a half circle (d, d) to each outer side of 

 the forward ends of the arms of the platform. These half circles 

 are ten inches in diameter, and are so placed as to be about two- 

 thirds of their width in advance of the platform, which at the for- 

 ward end is from ten to twelve inches wide. Thus enough room is 

 left for the tree to be admitted between the flat sides of the half 

 circles. 



There are now to be five or six movable arms (e, e) placed on 

 each side of these iron half circles, and a single half-inch bolt (f) 

 passed through a hole in the inner ends of them, and through the 

 straight bar next to the tree- way. The arms are now permitted to 

 rest on the half circles, and are held down to the circle by a hook 



