312 



EXPOSITION, PARIS. 



on exhibition, weighs only half as much as the 

 English Kunsoine rake, its weight being only 

 275 Ibs. 



The hay-presses exhibited were of the most 

 various forms and mechanism. An excellent 

 hand-press, called the Tichenor power-press, 

 was shown by the Hercules Lever Jack Com- 

 pany, of Newark, N. J. A machine worked by 

 a portable engine, invented by P. K. Dederick, 

 of Albany, and made by Clayton & Shuttle- 

 worth, was constructed mostly of wood; the 

 hay is pressed down from the hopper by a 

 toothed board, attached to a beam, which rises 

 automatically as the press goes forward ; the 

 baling goes on continuously, the bales leaving 

 the press in succession, each being separated 

 from its successor by a board which falls, con- 

 taining horizontal grooves for the passage of 

 the binding wires. The capacity of this ma- 

 chine, with four men, is seven or eight bales a 

 day. In the French department was a press 

 in which the hay was separated in rations for 

 cavalry. Another French maker had a press 

 for horse or steam power, invented by Thomas 

 Filter, with a double hopper, into which the 

 hay was thrown by rakes; the press is a disk 

 attached to a spindle ; the hay is fed into the 

 press by rollers which give it a spiral position 

 m the bale ; when the bale is formed, wires 

 are passed around it, and pressure again put 

 on, until an eye can be passed over the hooked 

 ends of the wires ; the weight of the pressed 

 hay is about equal to that of pine wood, and 

 the consistence is firm and even ; about fifteen 

 tons of hay can be packed per day with the 

 services of two men ; the cylindrical bales are 

 easily moved about, but occasion a loss of 

 space in packing. 



There was a most interesting collection of 

 plows, embracing those in use in all countries, 

 east and west, and in all ages. Among the 

 improved types of the plow, the American 

 models, without guiding-wheels, are unques- 

 tionably the best in the proportions of parts 

 and in the lines of the share. The English 

 and French plows are furnished with wheels ; 

 both those countries exhibited plows for a 

 great number of special purposes. The Amer- 

 ican form has been introduced in Russia and 

 other countries, and is copied in some English 

 factories, but only to supply those demands. 

 Four American makers only were represented. 

 Deere, of Moline, 111., had sod plows with a 

 rolling coulter, and stubble plows with none ; 

 also sulky and gang plows. Farquhar, of 

 lork, Pa., exhibited the usual American type 

 of plows for general purposes. Gale, of Al- 

 bion, Mich., exhibited a new form of frame, 

 in which the handles were nearly horizontal, 

 being bolted on the top of the beam ; a joint- 

 er or advance share for turning over stubble, 

 or a sod-cutter, can be used on this tool. Speer 

 Pittsbnrg, Pa., showed a small iron-frame 

 plow, a potato-plow, and a plow with a share 



cing both ways, and a pivoted beam, allow- 

 ing it to be turned around in either direction. 



In the competitive trials of plows, the English 

 steam-plows of Fowler and Howard, the for- 

 mer worked in the ordinary way> and the lat- 

 ter with a wire-rope and windlass tender, ex- 

 hibited by M. Debains, of St. Eeney, 'and a 

 Howard patent anchor. There were French 

 subsoil plows tested, requiring six horses, and 

 one drawn by seven yoke of oxen; but the 

 work done by these was not equivalent to the 

 power required. The Brabant plow was the 

 form generally employed for exhibition, though 

 modified in numberless particulars. The Deere 

 sulky plows mentioned above, and a French 

 double-share plow, drawn by three pairs of 

 horses, were tried in competition, the Ameri- 

 can tool standing the test slightly better than 

 the French. Deere's Gilpin sulky plows and a 

 plow for clayey soils also attracted attention. 

 The only other American plow tested was one 

 of Gale's, in which all the parts were adjust- 

 able, to correspond to the class of work re- 

 quired, the depth of the furrow, the direction, 

 the team, and height of the plowman ; the 

 beam was composed of three three-quarter- 

 inch rods. 



The Randolph ditcher or drain-cutter, which 

 was tried in dry and stiff soil, did not do its 

 duty, though it has been very successful in 

 America : it consists of two disk cutters, run- 

 ning six inches deep and cutting six inches 

 apart, and returning in the same trench, with 

 shares between the disks which carry the earth 

 around and throw it out backward on each 

 side of the trench. The Italian plows exhibit- 

 ed seemed to differ little in shape from those 

 used by the ancient Romans. 



The "Farmer's Friend" grain drill, from 

 Dayton, Ohio, was conspicuous, by the side of 

 the elaborate machines for the same purpose 

 in the British section, for its simplicity and 

 lightness. 



In the English section steam and horse plows, 

 and plows for numerous special purposes, were 

 exhibited in variety. Messrs. Fowler exhibited 

 a new three-furrow balance plow for sugar 

 plantations. A broadcast drill was shown 

 which allowed of the quantity sown to be va- 

 ried at any time by simply sliding the side cups. 

 A steam reaping machine made to cut a twelve- 

 foot swath is the first application of steam to 

 this operation. Reapers with improvement in 

 the controllable rake were exhibited; a new 

 string-binding reaper was shown by M. T. 

 Neale. A loading machine for hay or grain 

 loads a ton in five minutes with the aid of one 

 man. An improvement on the cutting appa- 

 ratus of reaping machines was exhibited by 

 Burgess and Key, which allows of the jaw r s 

 through which the knives pass being sharpened 

 as easily and perfectly as the knives themselves ; 

 the jaws, riveted together in groups of four, 

 are laid over the protruding fingers which 

 separate the blades or stalks, and are kept 

 in place by the knives, which secures a very 

 close contact between .the knives and the 

 jaws. Both knives and jaws can be easily re- 



