ni2 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



from being twisted out of its position. A short handle ((f), like the loft handle of the scythe, and fastened 

 nt a convenient spot on the thank with an iron wedge, will larilitatc the passage of the rake over t tic 

 ground. (Quart Journ, Agr., vol. Iv. p. 363.) 



8163. Cot I urn's im p roved dibble has two wheels which move on the axle so as to be set at any distance 

 apart ; and the dibblers on the tire can also be set at any distance, so that the implement is singularly 



complete for dibbling wheat, beans, mangold wuriel, 4c. Figured In Johnson's Agr. Imp. 1843, p. 15. 



Cottam'i portable weighing machine may readily be carried by two men, and any description of farm 



produce can be weighed by it accurately and expeditiously, figured in Johnson's Agr. Imp., 1843, p. 16. 



9164 8481. The renping-kook. It Is observed by the author of an excellent article on reaping with 



the scythe, published in the Quart. Joum. Agr., vol. iv. p. 350., as a remarkable circumstance in the 



history of mechanical science iu Britain, that the art of cutting down corn crops should 



be so inadequately supplied with instruments. The reaping-hook, unlike every other 



mechanical instrument, depends entirely for its efficacy on the physical powers and dex- 



teritv of the labourer. The knife and the spade are as simple in their forms as the 



reaping-hook; and yet the former has been displaced by many mechanical contrivances, 



/ while the reaping-hook remains in all its primitive simplicity. Its continued use in the 



field is attended with immense loss of time and money ; and therefore, till an efficient 



reaping-machine is invented, it is proposed to substitute, in many cases, the scythe in 



its stead. The scythe is used, for this purpose, in France, Switzerland, and in many 



parts of Aberdeenshire, and it appears to be gaining ground everywhere. 



8165. — 24N9. Ho tr den's two-edged bill-hook (Jig. 1144.). This hook is something like the 

 letter S : it is all round sharp, and combines the powers of the carpenter's axe, the gar- 

 dener's knife, the hedger's hook, the Highlander's broadsword, and the joiner's chisel. 

 The blade is twelve inches in length, and three inches broad ; the socket is eight inches 

 long, and serves instead of a wooden handle when the instrument is used as a knife, 

 billhook, or axe ; when it is to be used as a chisel.it must be placed on the end of a long 

 handle ; and w ill then, either by pushing or drawing, remove small branches from the 

 stems of tall trees. The long socket is made a little oval in the direction of the two 

 edges, in order to let the operator feel where the edges are. The chief use of this in- 

 strument, how ever, is for dressing hedges, and for that a wooden helve, or handle, of 

 about two feet in length, is best. (John llowden, April 30. 1830.) 



8166 2189. To preserve hedge-bills, scythes, sickles, and other steel instruments, from rusting, wipe 



them quite dry, heat them sufficiently to melt common bees' wax, and then rub them over with it so as to 

 cover the whole of the steel with a thin coating. The wax, completely excluding the air, prevents any 

 decomposition from taking place on the surface of the steel ; and when the instrument is wanted for use, 

 the wax is readily removed by the application of heat. (G. M. ls3'J, p. 186.) 



8167 2505. Grazier's sliding rule for showing the weights of fat cattle, was invented by Dr. Wollaston 



for Lord Spencer, and may be considered an essential article forevery cattle dealer. (Journ. A. £., vol. iii. 

 p. 337.) 



8168. Cottam's dynamometer is so arranged as to obviate the continual vibration of the pointer usual 

 in such instruments. This is effected by a cylinder tilled with oil, which is furnished with a piston with 

 small apertures in it, the rod of which is attached to the pointer. The obstruction caused by the oil to 

 the quick passage of the piston, prevents any slight alteration in the draught from influencing the 

 pointer ; unless the increase or decrease is continuous, when it will immediately indicate the mean 

 draught of the machine on trial, and not the draught of any temporary impediment, or cessation of re- 

 sistance. (Johnson's Agr. Imp. for 18-13, p. 15.) 



8169. Clyburji's dynamometer, records on a roll of paper the distance which the plough or other im- 

 plement may have passed over, and the weight necessary to draw it through all its variations. (See 

 Johnson's Agr. Imp. for 1*43, p. 37.) 



8170 2523. A seed sifter, or machine for cleaning rye grass seed, or other grass seeds, is described and 



figured in Trans. H. S., vol. xii. p. 202. 



8171 2525. II ire turnip baskets, as a substitute for those of willows, in carrying turnips to feeding 



cattle, are recommended by Mr. Buist in Q J. A., vol. xi. p. 112. 

 8172 — 2560. Slight and Lillic's straw-cutter (fig. 1145.) is considered to be the most perfect machine of 



this description that 

 has hitherto been in- 

 vented. In most of 

 the other machines, 

 the oblique position 

 of the cutters, rela- 

 tively to the hay or 

 straw which they 

 have to pass through, 

 is found to be at- 

 tended with difficul- 

 ties to the workmen 

 when replacing them 

 after they have been 

 taken off for sharp- 

 ening. Messrs. Slight 

 and Lillie have ob- 

 tained the advan- 

 tages of passing the 

 knives in an oblique 

 direction through 

 the body of hay, 

 without occasioning 

 the slightest diffi. 

 culty when these 

 knives are removed 

 to be ground. This 



is done by elongating the cutting-box into a nozzle, which is twisted until its orifice assumes an 

 angle of about thirty degrees. By this arrangement, the entire efficiency of the machine is retained, 

 while its construction and keeping in order are simplified, and its price is proportionately reduced. The 

 framing is made entirely of cast iron : a is the feeding-trough, the rollers being only partially seen ; b is 

 the nozzle or cutting-box ; c c, the cutting bearers, with the cutters attached by their bolts ; d is a lever 

 and weight, which, through the medium of the bridge c, keeps a constant pressure on the feeding- 

 rollers to counteract any inequality of feeding ; / is the By-wheel for equalising the motion ; and g, the 

 handle to which the power is applied. The small pinion on the fly-wheel shaft gives motion to the spur- 

 wheel, which is mounted on the shaft of the lower feeding roller, and carries also the lower feeding- 

 pinion. This last pinion works into the pinion of the upper roller; and, both being furnished with very 

 long teeth, they thereby admit of a limited range of distance between the rollers according to the quan- 

 tity of feed. With one of these machines, a man, assisted by a boy to feed in the hay or straw, can cut 



