68 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



are the upper doors represented open, ready again for the reception of the hay. J K are the 

 levers, which, being drawn down by the system of ropes and pulleys N R R, press the follower 

 forward on the hay, with a power which is alike simple and tremendous. It is so constructed 

 that, for transportation to any great distance, it is taken apart, (the levers, lever-connections, 

 ropes, and pulleys being packed securely in a box,) making in all but seven conveniently 

 handled pieces; and, by the printed directions for putting up and operating which accompany 

 each press, it can be put together again in two or three hours by any two farmers, without 

 the aid of a mechanic. It is so conveniently portable, that it can be moved "from one field 

 or farm to another by a pair of horses or oxto, drawing it, as they would a sleigh, upon its 

 own shoes attached underneath. It is operated by a horse and capstan ; the horse going 

 round eight times to make a bale, and twice without changing his direction to draw back the 

 follower. With two men and a boy it will bale, without any extra exertion, from six to eight 

 * tons of hay per day, according to the number or size of the press. 



Another form of this improved press is designated the upright or vertical press, (fig. 2, p. 67,) 

 and diifers but slightly from the horizontal already described. When the door C, which, as 

 in the cut of the other machine, is represented open, is closed, the head U is moved over to 

 either side at pleasure ; the hay is then thrown in, and when the box is full, the head is 

 moved back again to the centre of the press ; the power being then applied to the parallel 

 levers J K, operated by the system of ropes and pulleys N R R, press the follower B up 

 against the hay with the same simple power exercised in the horizontal. The door C, and 

 also a similar door on the other side, is then opened, the bale is bound, and the ends of it 

 being relieved by releasing the end of the bar or handle D, it is taken out from either side 

 at pleasure. While this is an excellent stationary press, it is also a conveniently portable 

 one, as (weighing little more than the other press,) it can be readily shoved up a couple 

 of planks on a wagon, or, by spiking on a pair of runners, it can be laid down and moved 

 like the horizontal on the ground. The horizontal press is, of course, the more convenient, 

 but requires some care in tramping in the hay in order to make a bale as nice in appearance as 

 that under ordinary care coming from the vertical. As a cloth-press, one of these presses is in 

 use at the Harmony Mills, Cohoes, New York, and it is easy to perceive that they can be 

 made available for many purposes. One that can press 500 pounds of hay costs about $175, 

 and one that can press a bale of 200 pounds, about $100. 



A great advantage attending this improvement has been the reduction of the size and 

 weight of the hay-press. Presses of the old form required a separate and entire building for 

 their accommodation, the posts supporting the framework being ten and twelve inches square. 

 The size of the same posts in the improved press does not exceed five inches, all the other 

 parts also being propbrtionate. Instead of being obliged to build as formerly, the farmer 

 may now order a hay-press with as much facility as a mowing machine or horse-power. 



Manny's Hay-press. In an improved hay-press, recently patented by Pells Manny, of Wad- 

 dam's Grove, Illinois, the bales are pressed into a square form, and the levers act so as to 

 press them when moving both forwards and backwards ; that is, no time is lost, when one 

 bale is pressed, in returning the followers to the point where they commenced, to press in 

 the box a second bale from the point where they commenced to return. 



On the Manufacture of Cider. 



THE following article on the manufacture of cider is communicated to the Journal of the 

 London Society of Arts, by Mr. T. W. Booker, M.P. : 



Mr. Booker states, in commencement, that in a recent conversation with a German baron, 

 the proprietor of celebrated hock vineyards on the Rhine, an opinion was expressed, that 

 many varieties of the common apple were capable of producing as valuable and desirable a 

 beverage as the hock grapes, if a different process of making the liquor were adopted. The 

 process recommended by the baron for the manufacture of hock, and which he considers 

 applicable to the manufacture of cider, is as follows : The liquors, after the fruit is pressed, 

 are strained, so as to separate the coarse muss from the liquor, which is then put into large 

 vessels, when shortly afterwards fermentation commences. This fermentation is watched 



