402 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



is lost turning at the ends of the swarths, in carrying hay, and on many other occasions. 

 In this way, the inconvenience may be removed vv'ithout doing the smallest injury to the 

 symmetry or strength of the carriage. 



2623, The Norfolk cart and waggon is formed by adding a pair of fore- wheels and 

 shafts to a common cart, connected by a pole from axle to axle. It is said to be light, 

 cheap, and convenient, and capable of carrying nearly as much hay or straw as the 

 Berkshire waggon. 



2624. Hood' s patent waggon (Jig. 345.) is a contrivance whereby the same carriage 



6 ._ _ b 



may, in a few minutes, be changed by the driver into two complete tip-carts of the com- 

 mon dimensions, and applicable to all the uses of carts in general, or into one waggon, 

 so complete, that a narrow inspection is necessary to distinguish it from a common 

 waggon. The carts have a contrivance (a, a) to render them more safe and easy to the 

 horse in going down a hill, and have moveable side-ladders, (b, b,) which will be found of 

 great use in carrying corn, bark, &c. It may be constructed with perfect facility by the 

 wheel-wrights of any county ; its shape and particular dimensions can be suited to the 

 wishes of the owner, or to the local fashion of his neighborhood. "ITie result of consi- 

 derable experience and inquiries, enables its inventor to state, that it may, in any 

 county, be completed for about five pounds more than the cost of two common carts. 

 It must, however, be admitted to be somewhat more clumsy than a common waggon. 



Sect. VIII. Machines for threshing and otherwise prejyaring Corn for Market. 

 2625. Threshing and jyreparatory machines include threshing and winnowing machines, 

 and awn and smut machines. Threshing machines are common in every part of Scotland, 

 on farms where the extent of tillage-land requires two or more ploughs ; and they are every 

 year spreading more and more in England and Ireland. They are worked by horses, 

 water, wind, and, of late, by steam ; and their powers and dimensions are adapted to 

 the various sizes of farms. Water is by far the best power ; but as a supply cannot be 

 obtained in many situations, and as wind and steam require too much expense for most 

 farms, horses are employed more generally than any other power. Where wind-mills 

 are erected, it is found necessary to add such machinery as may allow them to be 

 worked by horses occasionally in very calm weather ; and the use of steam must be 

 confined, for the most part, to the coal districts. 



2626. The operation of separating the grain from the straw was long performed by the flail, to the manifest 

 injury of both the farmer and the community ; for though, in some cases, the work was tolerably well 

 performed, yet in a greater majority of instances it was otherwise. A quantity, perhaps, equal to the 

 seed over the county, was lost even in the best cases ; but where the allowance to tlie thresher was 

 either a proportion of the produce, known by the name of lot, generally a twenty-fifth part; or, when he 

 was paid in money, at so much per boll, the temptation to do the work in a slovenly manner was so great, 

 that a quantity, perhaps double of what was required for seed, was lost upon many farms ; an evil that 

 did not escape the notice of intelligent men, by several of whom attempts were made to construct ma- 

 chines that would do the work more perfectly ; this, therefore, seems to have led to the construction and 

 use of this valuable nxachine. 



2627. The first threshing-machine, as before observed (777.), was invented by Menzies, brother to 

 the then sheriff-depute of East Lothian ; the machinery was driven by a water-wheel, which put in 

 motion a number of flails of the same kind with those used in threshing by the hand. Trials made with 

 these machines were so far satisfactory, that a great deal of work was done in a given time, but owing to 

 the velocity required to do the work perfectly, they soon broke, and the invention fell into disgrace. 



2628. Another attempt, some time in the year 1758, was made by a farmer in the parish of Dumblane, 

 in Perthshire. His machine was constructed upon principles similar to the flax -mill, having an upright 

 shaft with four arms inclosed in a cylinder, three and a half feet in height, and eight in diameter, within 

 which the shaft and its arms were turned with considerable velocity by a water-wheel. The sheaves, being 

 presented by the hand, were let down from the top upon the arms, by which the grain was beat out, and, 

 together with the straw, descended through an opening in the floor, where they were separated by riddles 

 and fanners, also turned by the water-wheel. 



2629. A third attempt, about twenty years after, was made by Elderton, near Alnwick, and Smart, at 

 Wark, both nearly about the same time. Their machine was so constructed as to act by rubbing, in place 

 of beating out the grain. The sheaves were carried t>etween an indented drum, about six feet in dia- 

 meter, and a number of rollers of the same description ranged round the drum, towards which they are 

 pressed by springs, in such a way as to rub out the grain, when the drum was turned round. Upon trial. 



