'io. 4. 



Willis^ Improved Corn Shelter — Fruit Ladder. 



127 



Willis* Improved Double Operating Corn Sheller» 



Fig. 23. 



The Improved Double Operating Corn 



Shelter will shell two ears of corn at the same 

 ;ime, can be worked by hand or any other power 

 — is very durable and not lilcely to get out of 

 jrder, and is one of the most convenient and 

 labor saving machines used by farmers. Eve- 

 ry practical farmer, who raises any quantity 

 of corn, should own a good corn sheller, as it 

 is one of the most convenient and labor saving 

 implements that he can use. The advantages 

 are almost incredible ; and we are persuaded 

 that no person who has seen this machine in 

 operation, and it Ls said to be one of the very 

 best in use, would be willing to pursue any 

 longer the old system of shelling by means of 

 the shovel, the tub and the bodkin — an unsat- 

 isfactory and tedious process, resorted to prin- 

 cipally in rainy days. This instrument, put 

 into rapid motion, will perform more in the 

 way of shelling corn in one day, than will 

 be accomplished during a whole month of 

 "storms without and oi storms within, mAass 

 boys are more industrious tlian some we knew 

 when we belonged to that class." The price 

 is no objection — but if it be deemed too high 

 for the quantity of corn raised on small flirms, 

 two or three neighbors might unite in the pur- 

 chase — as they are portable, and easily re- 

 moved from one place to another. There are 

 a variety of corn shellers, of different con- 

 struction, capacity, and prices. We would 

 not be understood as recommending a joint 

 purchase by farmers of a neighborhood, of im- 

 proved implements, as a general thing. Ex- 

 clusive ownership is best — yet there are cases 



in which this rule may with great propriety 

 be departed from — for instance in a neighbor- 

 hood composed of small farms, — which by the 

 way generally rank high in the scale of fer- 

 tility, — several neighbors may unite in the 

 purchase of Hussey's Reaping and Mowing 

 Machine, or any other of great importance, 

 the price of which is too high for the propri- 

 etor of a small plantation. The corn sheller, 

 however, does not belong to this class. 



Fruit L<ati(ler. 



A gentleman in Maine recommends the 

 following ladder, or frame, for gathering ap- 

 ples, &c. It consists of two upright posts, 

 from seven to ten feet long, (more or less at 

 the option of the constructor,) inclining to- 

 wards each other, about four feet apart at the 

 bottom, and one loot at the top. The rounds 

 of the ladder pass through tliese posts, and 

 are about a foot apart. They are made some- 

 what larger in the middle than at the places 

 where they are inserted into the posts, to give 

 greater strength to the machine. A third 

 post is added to these, through which the top 

 round of the ladder passes, permitting the post 

 last mentioned to turn thereon, so that its 

 lower end may be set at a greater or less dis- 

 tance from the other two posts, or rather from 

 a straight line drawn between them. This 

 ladder m?i' be made light and portable, and 

 possesses the advantage of supportuig itself 

 without leaning on any other object. 



Robert Burns, the poet, was a ploughman. 



