90 INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 



Water-mills, where that power can be had, are certainly 

 the best in every respect; facing more economical and 

 steadier in their operation, than when driven either by 

 horses or wind. But water is very apt to fail in autumn, 

 and during long frosts, unless where care is taken, to have 

 the water-wheel under the cover of a house. On these 

 accounts, both wind and water machines, except when the 

 latter have an ample and regular supply of the moving 

 power, ought to be provided with horse-wheels. 



Advantages of Threshing- Milk. It is impossible to form, 

 an adequate idea, of the advantages which have been deri- 

 ved from this important invention, without considering the 

 manner in which threshing had been previously perform- 

 ed. There were two methods adopted for that purpose. 

 The first was by a person who contracted to thresh the 

 grain, giving twenty-four parts to the farmer, and reser- 

 ving one twenty-fifth part to himself: the second method 

 was, to hire a man to thresh the grain, at Is. 3d. per boll. 

 Both these modes evidently furnished an inducement to 

 thresh the grain in a slovenly, rather than in a perfect 

 manner ; for the more labour that was bestowed on the 

 threshing, the less was the profit derived from it. The 

 mischief was, that by these methods, every part of the 

 business was a distinct process. In the first place, as many 



high winds, more especially when entrusted to the management of per- 

 sons not intimately conversant with their nature, and the mode of work- 

 ing them. This has given rise to so much trouble, disappointment, and 

 expence, that some farmers in Berwickshire are tired of wind-mills, and 

 propose returning to horse-wheels in their stead. As wind-mills are so 

 common both in England and Holland, this must be owing to some de- 

 lect in the construction, to mismanagement, or to higher winds being 

 more prevalent in Scotland than in those countries. 



