100 INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 



rolling round the fluted roller; in which case the straw 

 must be immediately cut, otherwise much mischief may be 

 done. This is supposed to be a Scotch invention, for it 

 was only introduced into Northumberland in the year 1807. 

 When chipped^ the straw adheres to the roller, without 

 rolling or lapping round it, which it is apt to do, when the 

 roller is fluted, if the straw is damp. On this subject, how- 

 ever, there is a great diversity of opinion. One respect- 

 able correspondent affirms, that a plain roller, instead of 

 being an improvement, is, on the contrary, detrimental to 

 the work; fluted rollers being, in his opinion, necessary to 

 retain the corn for a length of time sufficient to thresh it. 

 Another intelligent farmer, on the other hand, considers 

 the plain roller, chipt cross-wise, a great improvement. 

 He adds, that damp straw is threshed with much inconve- 

 nience by fluted rollers. They are not only troublesome, 

 but dangerous. Indeed, he had a man who lost his life by 

 being entangled in the rollers, whilst attempting to cut the 

 rolled or lapped straw from the roller. A chipped roller 

 also, is well calculated, not only for threshing oats in a 

 damp day, or the wet bottom of a stack, but also for thresh- 

 ing rank pease, a point of considerable importance. Mr 

 Dudgeon of Prora uses three hands to feed the machine, if 

 the pease or beans pass through to any degree of thickness 

 between the rollers, and they receive only that degree of 

 threshing which is necessary for separating the corn from 

 the straw. 



It is well known, that accidents have often happened 

 from the difficulty of informing the driver of the horses, 

 that the machine should be stopt. Mr Erskine of Marr 

 has obviated every difficulty of that sort, by hanging a bell, 

 the string of which is within the reach of the feeder of the 

 mill, and by teaching the horses to stop immediately when 

 the bell rings. The horses are also taught to proceed 



