THRESHING BY MACHINERY. 



217 



afterwards to allow the straw free passage. The machine 

 is made of different sizes, and the larger are frequently 

 worked by horse-power. 



The numerous inventions of the pre- 

 sent age have greatly shortened some ^l \ 

 of the processes of agriculture, but 

 there are others which appear inca- 

 pable of abridgment, and which must 

 always demand a great amount of 

 manual labour. The processes of 

 threshing out the grain, and of con- 

 verting the straw into provender, have 

 been greatly quickened by the aid of 

 machinery. The introduction of new 

 methods of rural industry are often 

 looked upon by the labourer with a 

 jealous eye. Nor is this to be won- 

 dered at. He has been accustomed 

 to a particular method of doing his 

 work, and it has become easier to him, 

 from habit, than a new, though an 

 improved method, would be. A good 

 servant, however, is anxious to pro- 

 mote his master's interest, and has 

 sufficient sense to see that by so doing 

 he will also serve his own. He is, 

 therefore, ready to lay aside some of his 

 prejudices, and to enter into any new 

 mode of working that may be judged 

 necessary by his employer. Labour- 

 ers are beginning to be in some degree 

 sensible of the advantages of modern 

 inventions. The threshing-machine, 

 for instance, which was once the ob- 

 ject of their prejudice, is now justly 



f -,, , r d pi , . J THRESHING-MACHINE. 



leit to be a very useful and impor- 

 tant help at particular seasons ; while it does not 

 supersede the general labours of the flail. It is an 



