INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 103 



thinks would at once ascertain which of them had the 

 easiest draught ; at the same time, it would be difficult to 

 say, with any degree of correctness, which ought to be pre- 

 ferred. If, instead of models, real machines were to be 

 made use of, it would be necessary, in order to make the 

 comparison complete, that the machines should be all new, 

 and that the same horses, the same sort of grain, if possi- 

 ble from the same field, and the same driver and feeder, 

 should be employed to the machines driven by the different 

 movements. The great object, however, is, clean thresh- 

 ing, without which, facility in movement is no advantage. 



As to the cost of erecting a threshing-mill, the experice, 

 on an average, may be calculated at L. 200 for each ma- 

 chine, including the horse-shed, the fanners, and the loft 

 connected with the framing of the machinery, but exclusive 

 of the barn, the barn lofting, &c. This expence, owing to 

 the higher price of wood, is not likely to be diminished. 

 Mr John Shirreff at the same time remarks, that that must 

 in some degree be counterbalanced, by the present more 

 general introduction and employment of cast-metal seg- 

 ments and pinions, in the construction of which much la- 

 bour is saved, and consequently wages to the operative 

 mill-wright. 



4. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made, to con- 

 struct a threshing-mill at a low price, so as to answer the 

 purposes of small farmers, and that object has at last been 

 accomplished. Mr William Johnston, an ingenious me- 

 chanic, at Langholme, in Dumfries-shire, has contrived a 

 machine on Meikle's principles, which may be purchased for 

 so low a sum as even L.8, and may be driven by two men, 

 though a small horse, water, or wind, would be a better 

 power to apply. An account of this machine, and an en- 

 graving of it extracted from the Farmer's Magazine, will 

 be found in the Appendix, No. XX. There is no doubt of 



