li) 



II i:l. rLTfRAL IMPLEMENTS 



AGRICULTURAL IMI'l.l'V 



ut 



special oouHcn, and covering them with enrth, that their excessive 

 strength may not injure the aeed, which U deposited Uat of all. The 

 UM at the hone-hoe U alnxwt wholly dependent on the previous IIM of 

 the drill ; indeed, the two bear to each other much the mine relation 

 .!> the hand-hoe and the dibble. For the conxtniction and action of 

 -red-drilling machine*, see DBII i.. 



Tajt-dmtm; Miimirt ilittril,nlnrt. Whentcropl are usually provided 

 with their requisite uuuiurc liy farm-yard refuse or by sheep-folding. 

 It usually, however, requires a top-drawing ! manure during iU 

 growth. It was customary, a few yean ago, to apply this by hand ; 

 but machine* are now uxually employed. Tlimu will distribute three 

 or four bushels per acre of guano, rape-cake, superphosphate, nitrate oi 

 soda, or other fertilising agent. Holmes's top-dresser U a fav.mi.iblc 

 example of this kin>l ut" implement. A more complicated machine i- tint, 

 by which manure ix deposited either with the seed, or at leant with an 

 equal degree of regularity. Some among the many form* of drill are 

 applicable to thin purpose ; and our implement makers now bestow great 

 attention ii|n thin department of their art Thus, Reeves and Beaton's 

 liquid-manure distributor consists of a series of buckets or troughs. 

 attached to a nn-t.il chain or band ; the chain works round two rollers 

 as the vehicle progresses, the wheel giving the motive power to the 

 rollers. Chandler's water-drill is an ingenious contrivance for depositing 

 water as well as pulverised manure, at certain dry seasons. Some of 

 Homsby's drop-drills not only limit the seed and manure to pnrticuUir 

 lines, but to particular points in these lines, thereby increasing still 

 more the economical action of drills. At the Salisbury meeting in 

 1857, Reeves's manure-distributor received much commendation: it 

 comprises a box in which revolve a.row of archimedean screws ; these 

 turn the dry powdered manure out at holes in the bottom of the box, 

 a slide, by diminishing or increasing the openings, regulating the 

 quantity to be deposited. 



Hot ; Hvrte-lii*. Among the necessary implements for treating the 

 young plants during their development is the hoe worked by hand in 

 the old-fashioned method, and by horse-power in the improved modern 

 fanning. [HOE ; HOBSE-HOKIXC..] 



HARVfcsTIM.; iMI'I.KMKXTS. 



KtajiiHij Marhlnei. The operation of cutting the corn when it is 

 ri|>e, is one of so important a character, that inventors have made many 

 attempts, during the last century, to produce machines that shall effect 

 this by horse-power instead of by the sickle or reaping-hook. The 

 ingenious labours of H'Cormick, Hussey, Bell, Crosskill, and other 

 m.chini.-t.s, in thin department of their art, will be best not in-, I in 

 connection with the process of reaping generally, under RK.M-IN.:; 

 ItKAi'iNO MACUI.NKS. 



Jliirtf-ratn. Even the rakes which collect the scattered corn in a 

 Held are now to be numbered among horse-worked implements. The 

 modern horse-rake lined in many of our counties, is on implement about 

 8 feet wide, running on low wheels, and having about 30 prongs or 

 teeth ; it i drawn by one horse rapidly between the rows of cocked 

 barley, Ac., and is tipped up from time to time by a man who follows. 

 tme of then machines will do the work of about twelve women. At 

 tin' Newton Abbot meeting in 1857, three or four "self-acting" horse- 

 rake* were tried ; but the automatic action was not in general satisfactory. 

 At the Salisbury meeting the specimens were much more numerous, 

 exhibiting many ingenious modes of overcoming difficulties. 



l/iii/-w(tlii"/ M'l'-liniii. The simple use of the fork to turn and lose 

 the hay in the field, U now to some extent superseded by hay-making 

 machines. Those which were first introduced, flung up the hay hi^h 

 in the air ; but they are now so constructed as gently to stir it, without 

 raising it to any great height. The hay-making machine is soim tiling 

 like a paddle-wheel, with teeth or spikes in all the paddle-boards or 

 float*. It is set in rotation by the wheels of the carriage to which it is 

 attached. Its labour-saving effect is analogous to that of the horse-rake. 

 Rowsell's hay-collector is a favourable example of this kind of iniplc- 

 hit-lit. At the Salisbury meeting, the hay-making machines sent by 

 Nicholson. Barrett and Lxall, Smith and Ashby, Thompson, Nicholson, 

 and other makers, worked so excellently as to show that this kind of 

 process has been fairly brought within the range of machinery. 

 Several instruments of minor character might be comprised under 

 this particular section of our article : such as Allen's grass-mower, 

 exhibited at the SmithfieM Show in 1858 ; it will cut grass better and 

 lower than the scythe, and at the rate of an acre per hour. Kinnainl's. 

 Mazier's, Clayton's, and Catchome's, are all useful instrument* for 

 cutting clover or gran, each being suited for a |nrticular kind of work. 



PREPARATIONS FOR MARKET. 



L'arli and Waggoni. The conveyance of agricultural produce from 

 Ute Held to the ham, and from the barn to market, has not failed to 

 enlist the attention of implement-makers. Many improvements in 

 then vehicle* have been recently introduced. The old-fashioned cajw- 

 cioiu tumbril for carting earth anil dung, with broad wheels to pn . cut 

 them sinking in soft ground, is too well known to need description. 

 The best-constructed carU hare iron axles, with the ends or arms 

 turned smooth, and slightly conical. The light Scotch cart, drawn by 

 one hone, U justly regarded a* a useful vehicle for transporting earth 

 or manure, especially in hilly countries. It is low and short, so that 

 the hone draws Try near the centre of gravity; and the load may be o 



adjusted as to bear more or leu on the horse, according to the steep- 

 ness of the road. The Scotch cart is made to carry hay .. 

 means of a light frame, which is hud on it .m. I |.i,.j.-. t.- over the body 

 and wheels in every direction. To ease the weight resting on the back 



of the horse, carts have lieen invented with three wht <!-. ;!>, small 

 additional wheel being made to turn in front; but they have disad- 

 vantage.* whi. h counterbalance their advantages. 



The Agricultural Jury Itepoit mi the Great Kxhibition of 1-O1, 

 announced a very marked improvement in recent years in th. 

 strnction of .iirririiltural carts and waggons, especially in the 

 single-horse cart.- instead of (.air horse or three-horse waggons. It i- 

 proved beyond iiuextimi, that the Scotch and Northumbrian i" 

 by using one-horse carts, save one-half of the horses which 

 country fanners still string on to their three-hone waggons anil 

 carta. The said three-hone waggons and dung-carts would also cost 

 nearly three tunes as much original outlay. Th<- implement makers 

 have shown that single-hone carts can be made snitaMc for any farming 

 purpose. Mr. Busby's cart is one which lias conn? largely into i 

 much attention has recently been paid to this subject that, in a com 

 trial at Grantham, five hones with live new .art* wne tiled 

 against ten horses with five old waggons, and clearly beat them in the 

 amount of work performed. Some makers now attend most to the 

 form of the han-es^cart, that the com may be carried more steadily ; 

 some endeavour to make the cart low, for ease of loading and of 

 draught; some try to give lioriz.mtality to the shaft*; some make 

 their wheels by machinery ; while others strive for excellence in 

 of-all-work,' which shall be adapted to as many kinds oi' farm .-civic.- a- 

 possible. At the Great Exhibitions in London and Paris (18.11 and 

 1855), foreigners were much struck with the .-u|..-ii"i- neatness and 

 compactness of English farm-carts, over those made and used on tilt- 

 Continent. At the Salisbury meeting in 1857, a pri/.c a> ..H'cicd for 

 " the best one-horse cart, constructed with a view to lightness of 

 draught and the ready loading and unloading of farm |.T. 

 qualities which may l>e best attain. .! by the judicious use of long 

 shafts, high wheels, and cranked axles." This prize led t<> the pro- 

 duction of a number of excellent carts for agricultural purposes. 



Tkretliini/ Martinet. The important process of separating the com 

 from the husk used, in former days, to be effected by means of a flail 

 beating against a threshing-floor; but farmers are now becoming more 

 and more accustomed to employ the improved implement called the 

 threshing-machine. For the simpler process, see BARN ; and for tin' 

 more complicated but more efficient, THRESHING; Turn <mv; M \. IUM 



HV ''///'/ mill Ortaing Machine. These are so intimately allied 

 with the machines lost mentioned, in their pur].osc :md action, that 



they may usefully 1> noticed together, under T >m\.: ; TIIKKSIIIV: 



M.u'iiiXKs. 



l.Ml'LEMKNTS FOU STOCK I Kl:mN'.. 



7'nniifi-Cnllfri. The pre|nition of fodder for animals has be. 

 department of farming in which many useful and ingenious implenicnt- 

 are employed. It has been found that the labour of the jaws in 

 eating uncut food, temls to waste the muscle of the farm animals aii.l 

 retard their growth; it is therefore now a custom to cut or brni-e 

 most of the kinds of fodder for such animals. The luriii/i-i'ii/iti- is one 

 of the implements employed for this purpose. There is no doubt con- 

 le advantage in the use of a turnip-cutter to the animals indi- 

 vidually so fed, but the principal economy of the process arises from its 

 saving much of the roots as food which is otherwise trodden down in the 

 slice], pen. Lambs fed with the aid of a turnip-cutter would be worth 

 more at the end of a winter by 8*. a head than lambs fed on whole 

 tunii]M, thus effecting a saving of about 70. per acre on turnip crop. 

 The tiimip-i -utters vary greauy in action, some cutting by a > 

 and others by a rotatory movement. 



cli'iffCidiirt. Another implement of tliis class is the chaff-cutter. 

 'I'b. i. not being enough natural cliatl for the use of farm animals, 

 artificial chaff is made by cutting straw into very small pie. - 

 first the straw was cut by a chopper, but cutting-machines were aft. i 

 wards introduced; they usually consist cither of a blade working 

 vertically, or of on, or more cutters ranged on a wheel ; but in tome 

 large farms the cutters are worked by means of a strap conn. . i.-d with 

 a fixed or moveable steam-engine. The process now costs nh on. 

 sixth or one-eighth of the charge formerly incurred. Then .-..- .1 tii.il 

 of chaff-cutters during the Agricultural Meeting at Carlisle in 1855, ill 

 which one apparatus, made by Conies, cut 14851bs. ..t ,li:itl per hour 

 by steam-power; those that worked by the muscular IN, WIT of one man 

 each cut quantities van-ing from !i to 'JliHIw. per hour. In Brown 

 and May's screw-cam chaff-cutter, exhibited at the Smithliel.l Show in 

 1858, there are feed-rollers, which hold the hay or straw firmly while 

 the knife is passing through, and these rollers move round to bring it 

 forward in the space between the knives, ready for the next cut. 



Cnulim. (i'rindm,a*d Bruintn. These machines, mostly of modern 

 introduction, act by the crushing movement of roll, is rather than tin- 

 grinding movement of mills, and are intended l-i facilitate the com 

 munition of substances for cattlc-f.sid. One is a linsi-ed , < 

 another a corn-crusher; a third, an oilcake bruiser: a fourth. 

 meal mill; a fifth.agorsc-brniscr. It is evident, fion, 

 of this lift, that there is mu. li scope for ingenuity in the arrangement 

 of working parts for such machines, Som, of ih.- lin. ' .made 



