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On Threshing out Wheat by a Roller, by Nicholas 

 Ridgeley, Esq. of Dover, in Delaware. 



Read April, 1816. 



Dover, 30 March, 1816. 



Sir, 



The encouragement given by the Agricultural Society 

 of Philadelphia, to farmers and others, to make commu- 

 nications of useful and practical improvements in husban- 

 dry, induces me to lay before you, a method of treading 

 out wheat, which is simple, expeditious, and within the 

 power of any man, willing to employ ten or twelve dollars, 

 in facilitating the operations of his farm. I think I am 

 not mistaken in believing, that an equally easy and advanta- 

 geous mode of separating wheat from the straw has not been 

 discovered by, or known to the mass of farmers of our coun- 

 try. I speak with more confidence of its utility, because 

 some of our best farmers have adopted it with the greatest 

 success ; and because I have myself, more than fifteen 

 years, pursued the course I now recommend, and know, 

 from actual experience, that it is not liable to any reasona- 

 ble objection, unless it be that treading out grain forms an 

 objection not to be removed by any benefits. Let this ob- 

 jection be thought what it may, at present it ought to have 

 no effect, for eight tenths, if not more, of all the wheat 

 which is carried to Brandywine, Philadelphia or Balti- 

 more, from this peninsula, is trodden out by horses, and 

 will continue to be so, until some cheaper and better plan 

 can be invented. 



