86 INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 



to be so uncertain, that without the addition of horses, a 

 great inconvenience would often be sustained. Mr Hume 

 of East Barns has a machine of the same description, but 

 owing to the vicinity of the sea, he has hardly ever had 

 occasion for the horse power. He considers a threshing- 

 machine of great advantage, even with horses ; but when 

 wind or water can be obtained, it is worth, he states, on a 

 farm of about 250 Scotch, or 316 English acres of arable 

 land, from L. 100 to L. 200 per annum. 



5. Water is by far the cheapest and the best power to be 

 applied to threshing-mills. From the equality and the gen- 

 tleness of the motion, the machine will last twice as long as 

 one drawn by horses ; and as water-mills generally do much 

 more work when in motion, they do not require to be so 

 frequently used. It is calculated, that in threshing a crop 

 of any extent, a pair of horses may be saved upon the farm, 

 by the use of a water-mill, which cannot be calculated at 

 less than L. 100 per annum. 



Mr Stewart of Hillside has a threshing-mill driven by 

 water, collected from the springs in the upper part of his 

 farm, and gathered in a dam. It has seldom been stopt 

 for want of water, and then only in extreme frosts, when the 

 ploughmen thresh, having little other work to do. Mr 

 Stewart adds, that the barley is cleared of awns, by putting 

 it through the mill with a grater upon it, which is done at 

 the rate of three bushels in the minute. This seems to be 

 a useful appendage to the threshing-mill. 



6. Mr Hunter of Tynefield, and many other farmers in 

 the improved districts of Scotland, have threshing-mills 

 wrought by water, or by horses, when the water is scarce. 

 About half Mr Hunter's crop is threshed by the water, 

 which saves about 10 per cent, on the expence, whereas, by 

 the labour of horses only, about 5 per cent, is gained. I con- 

 sider this to be a very useful suggestion. There are many 



