22 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



of civilization this division of labor is recognised. The anatomist points out, from his know- 

 ledge of the hoof, the best mode of shoeing horses, but no one would think of employing him 

 to put his own principles in practice. The chemist informs the tanner of those substances 

 that contain the largest amount of tannin, and explains the rationale of all his processes, yet 

 the chemist is rarely expected to be able to produce leattier from the raw hide, nor is the 

 utility of his knowledge called in question on this account. Now, let this but be properly under- 

 stood among us, and there will be an end to the sneers at ' book-farming,' nor shall there be 

 any longer cause to complain of the proverbial tardiness with which practical agriculturists 

 avail themselves of the discoveries of chemical science." 



Machine for Cutting Cotton-Stalks. 



IN the States where cotton is grown, the removal of the stalks, prior to the preparation of 

 the land for new planting, is a slow and laborious operation, for it is usually done by hand. 

 The negro seizes hold of the stalk and bends it with one hand, while with the other he cuts it 

 off at the root by means of a heavy cleaver. An invention designed to effect this operation 

 mechanically has been recently patented by Mr. Bowerman, of Detroit, Michigan. It consists 

 of a cart which is driven through the stalks in order to bend them down close to the ground. 

 At the rear part of the vehicle a large horizontal knife is arranged to move vertically between 

 suitable slides. Motion is given to the knife by means of gearing on the wheels of the vehicle. 

 As the cart advances, the stalks bend, the knife is elevated, and then suddenly discharged, to 

 fall upon the base of the bent stalks and clip them in a twinkling. Springs are employed to 

 give additional force to the knife as it descends. 



Improvement in Cotton Saw-Gins, 



A VALUABLE improvement in the construction of the saws of cotton gins has been recently 

 patented by Mr. A. D. Brown, of Columbus, Georgia. This invention consists in arranging 

 the teeth of the saw in a series of curves eccentric to their axis, or, what is equivalent, in a 

 series of tangential lines. By this means, with a proper arrangement of the saws relatively 

 to each other, it is rendered impossible for any two saws to catch the same fibre across a rib, 

 and thereby cut or break it, while a peculiar degree of facility is provided for the clearing of 

 the saws by the brush. The expense of gins made according to this patent is no greater than 

 those in ordinary use, while the cotton comes out equally as well cleansed, and otherwise in 

 a far superior state. The amount of work done is also the same as in other gins of like 

 capacity. 



Cleaning of Sea-Island Cotton. 



SEA-ISLAND COTTON is nearly all ginned by hand, upon gins of the most primitive construc- 

 tion possible to conceive. A writer in the New York Tribune furnishes the following descrip- 

 tion of the process and machine in use, as witnessed on Edisto Island, South Carolina : 



" Let the reader fancy a very roughly -made frame of two-inch square timber ; the length 

 of the frame is 2 feet 4 inches ; width, 2 feet 2 inches ; height, 3 feet 4 inches. Upon the 

 front part of the frame there is a little box 8 by 12 inches, about 3 inches deep, which holds 

 the seed cotton. Upon each side of the box there is an iron fly-wheel, two feet across, of fif- 

 teen pounds weight. Upon the outside of the fly-wheels there are short bearings and little 

 cranks. The inside bearing is formed by a wooden roller, about a foot long, driven into a 

 socket in the wheel. These rollers lie one upon the other over the back part of the box. 

 From the cranks rods extend, like those of a small spinning-wheel or turning-lathe, to a treadle 

 on the floor. Now, a man places a handful of cotton in the box, puts his foot on the treadle 

 and starts the wheels, which make the two little rollers revolve toward each other ; then he 

 holds a lock of cotton up to the rollers, and the lint passes through and seeds fall back, if the 

 cotton is in good order and the weather dry ; if not, it cannot be separated without mashing 

 now and then a seed, which injures the quality of a large lock. It is a day's work for a 

 strong negro man or woman to gin twenty -five pounds. From the gin it is taken to the motor's 



