116 AGRICULTURE AND TARIFF REFORM. 



liorses, and, with a good harvesting machine kept 

 continually on the move stirring the drying 

 fodder, large quantities can readily be dried with- 

 out the old tedious process of repeatedly turning 

 it with the hand, pick, or fork having to be 

 resorted to. The horse-rake will also draw the 

 fodder when conditioned enough into big rollers, 

 and although the mechanical contrivance for 

 gathering the hay up and depositing it on the 

 waggon as the latter is drawn forv/ard has not 

 been worked much as yet, most likely any 

 obstacles to its perfect success will soon be 

 removed. For placing fodder on the stack the 

 elevators of the different makers do their work 

 admirably, and save some of the severest of 

 muscular toil. 



Horse-hoes, no less than corn and seed drills, 

 are now very skilfully constructed compared to 

 what they were in the forties and fifties. Not 

 uncommon is it to find a steerage horse-hoe nicely 

 fitted with tines so as to stir perfectly the intervals 

 of the rovrs of a crop of wheat, oats, and even 

 barley. The seed corn should, of course, be 

 drilled a little wider than the original ordinary 

 width, still not more than 10 or 12 inches, and 

 we have seen tjie object well carried out with 

 inches intervals when the steerage hoe has 

 been of the same width as the drill. 



Both sheep-shearing machines and cow-milking 

 apparatus have given good account of themselves 

 at trials, sufficiently to win the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society's medals. Both are urgently re- 



