bupn.EMENT. SCIENCE AND ART OF AGRICULTURE 



1815 



the coulters, and are provided with an adjustment, by means of the slits and pinching screws in the col. 

 lar bar (k) of the framework, enabling the operator to regulate the distance between the rows, while, 

 by means of the slits and pinching screws (m m), he can regulate the depth of the rut for the seed-bed. 

 The machine is convertible into a turnip drill by a very simple alteration. The seed-boxes and the claw 

 cylinders are removed ; and, in place of the latter, two barrel-shaped seed-boxes of the common construc- 

 tion are substituted upon the axle (b). It is then a complete turnip drill-machine. When, again, it is 

 required for sowing onions, the turnip seed-boxes are removed, as also the collar bar (A) The axle (b) 

 is then mounted with five barrel-shaped seed-boxes, similar to, but smaller than, those lor turnips. A 

 collar bar, with five permanent coulters, is placed in the slits (//) of the frame. The coulters are per- 

 forated from top to bottom for the passage of the seed, terminating in the hind part of the lower ex- 

 tremity. Five funnels, corresponding to the seed-boxes, are inserted, one into the upper orifice of each 

 coulter, and thus the machine is prepared for sowing five rows of onion seed. (Highland Soc. Trans., 

 vol. x. p. 203.) 



8178 2578. Crossbill's improved turnip drill, with apparatus for sowing bones, ashes, S[C, is con- 

 sidered a very efficient implement, and is much used by those who apply the manures commonly called 

 hand-tillages. The price for one row drill, 6/. 10s., and for two rows, 91. 10s. 



8179 2581. A press for compressing flour or meal into casks is employed in North America, and it 



will be found described in the Quart. Jour, of Agr., vol. iii. p. 559. 



8180. A machine for compressing peat (fig. 1151.) has been invented by Mr. Walter Tod, of Longhope, 



near Hawick. The same machine might also be employed for compressing earth for building walls, and 

 for other purposes. A more powerful and elaborate machine has been invented by Mr. Slight, the 

 Curator of the Highland Society's Museum of Models, and figured ami described in the fourth volume of 

 their Transactions ; but the simple machine of Mr. Tod, we think, will be more useful in countries where 

 the fuel is peat ; and in new countries, where the emigrant might think it advisable to build the walls of 

 his house of dry earth. This machine consists of two strong planks of wood fixed together at each end 

 by cross bars, and mounted upon four wheels. Two pieces of wood (c, d) at the distance of two inches 

 from one another, are mortised into the plank (a, b) at the end a, and at right angles to b. Be- 

 tween the upright posts (c,d) there is inserted a strong beam (a, e) twelve feet long, and secured with an 

 iron bolt passing through the pieces (c, rf), which have numerous holes to admit of raising and depressing 

 the beam (a,e) at pleasure. Two boxes are then made, one of wood, and one of sheet iron fourteen inches 

 in length, three and a half in breadth, and three and a half deep. These boxes have lids which just fit 

 them, about three inches in thickness, to allow them to sink in the boxes by the pressure. Each box is to be 

 alternately filled with peat newly dug, the lid adjusted, and the box placed in the machine at the point/; 

 a man stands at the end (e) of the beam (a, e) ; and, as each box is placed in the machine at the point,/, 

 he bends his whole strength and weight upon the end of the beam. By this means, an immense pressure 

 is applied to the box by a single effort, and in an instant of time. Two women may fill and remove the 

 boxes. In this way a man and three women could compress about eight cart-loads of peat in a day. One 

 man digging, and a woman throwing out the peats, could keep the machine in full operation. The peats, 

 when taken from the machine, are built up like small stacks of bricks, but so open as to admit a free 

 circulation of air. The stacks put up in this way become perfectly dry, without being moved till they 

 are taken home. If the machine just described were to be adopted for compressing earth, boxes ot 

 cast iron, full of small holes, would answer the purpose best. The pressure is so great, that the wooden 

 boxes frequently give way, though strongly made, and secured with iron at the ends ; and even the one 

 of strong sheet iron has been bent. (Highland Soc. Trans., vol.ix. p. 374.) 



Chap. II. — Implements and Machines drawn by Beasts of Labour, (p. 389.) 



8181. — 2598. Swing ploughs on Small's principle. Notwithstanding the numerous swing ploughs that 

 have been brought into notice within the last seven years, the best practical agriculturists who follow 

 the Scotch system, such as Morton and Donaldson in Kngland, and Oliver, Professor Low, and Mr. 

 Stephens in Scotland, seem to be of opinion that the improved Small's plough has not yet been sur- 

 passed. It would appear, however, from experiments reported in the Journal of the English Agricultural 

 Society, vols. iii. and iv., to be afterwards quoted, that there are some ploughs, both with and without 

 wheels, which are drawn through the soil with less power than the best Scotch ploughs. We do not, 

 however, consider the result of the trials which have been made as warranting us in recommending any 

 other swing plough in preference to Small's. The best forms of this plough, according to Mr. Stephens, 

 are: the East Lothian or Small's plough, the Lancashire or Wilkie's plough, and the Mid-Lothian or 

 Currie plough. The best makers in Scotland are Wilkie of Uddingstone, near Glasgow, and Clarke of 

 Stirling. ( Stephens's Book of the Farm, vol. i. p. 407.) 



8182. — 2009. IVilkie's turnwrest or kill-side plough ( Trans. Wort. Soc, vol. xii. p. 484.) (fig. 1152.) as 

 alwavs used by Mr. Smith of Deanston, whose fields, being thoroughly drained, have a regular uniform 

 appearance without furrows. Each of the two mould boards in this plough is attached to the rod b, by 

 two bands of iron, c, c, by which, with the end of the handle d, they are alternately raised or depressed ; 

 while the one is in a working position, the other is carried above. The rod A, extending to the coultet 

 at/, in moving the mould-board, moves also the coulter one inch at the point, so as to give it the proper 

 position with the point of the sock at g. 



8183 2610. The Deanston subsoil plough (fig. 1153.), as designed and used by Mr. Smith on the farm 



of Deanston, has been found peculiarly efficacious in rendering productive a sterile soil upon a tenacious 



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