210 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



thought my experiments might be a benefit to some who wished 

 to raise a few vines for their ftimily use." 



FiTHIAN AND YoUNG'S RoTAEY CuTTING PlOW OR EaRTH 



Pulverizer. 



Prof, Tilhnan, from the special committee to examine this 

 machine, read the following report: 



The undersigned, members of the committee appointed by the 

 Club to witness the practical operation of the above named pul- 

 verizer, respectfully report: 



On Friday, September 7th, they proceeded to the farm of Aaron 

 Smith, near Bath, Long Island, and there found the machine 

 ready for the trial on land from which potatoes had just been 

 dug. That portion of the machine distinguished as the pulveri- 

 ser, consists of a series of steel knives set spirally around a com- 

 mon axis, the back end of each knife being a little nearer the 

 axis than the front. These knives are set on the cylinder in three 

 moveable sections, each twelve inches broad, thus enabling the 

 operator to cut 12, 24, 36 or 48 inches in width. The number of 

 the sections used will depend on the weight and character of the 

 soil and the number of horses to be employed. The pulverizer 

 is connected by gearing with the driving wheel, which is of much 

 larger diameter, and consists of a series of radial arms, on the 

 extremities of which are two sets of iron-shod slats, forming the 

 periphery; they are placed at an incline so as to form an obtuse 

 angle at their points of contact in the middle of the face of the 

 wheel, the o])ject of the inventors being to strike the ground with 

 these connected slats in such a way as to compress the soil against 

 T/hich they are acting, thus to a certain extent imitating the move- 

 ment of a horse's foot, and obviating the evil of throwing up the 

 soil always arising when these slats are placed directly across the 

 wheel, (i. e.) at right angles to the radial arms. The machine is 

 mounted on four wheels, which are used in going to and from the 

 field; the one in operation weighed about 1,800 lbs., and was 

 driven by four horses. Three sections of cutters or knives were 

 used, the width of work done at once being three feet. When 

 proceeding at the rate of two and a half miles per hour, the 

 driving wheel niakes nearly eighty-five revolutions per minute, 

 the number of kuive cuts into the soil during that number of revo- 

 lutions of the large wheel, being 3,050. 



The horses used at the trial had not been vrorked together 



