220 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



end of the machine. Sometimes this last cylinder has 

 brushes fixed to it, which sweep back any of the corn or 

 chaff which may have fallen into the cavity at E. 



The threshing-machines commonly used in the eastern 

 counties, are, for the most part, such as belong to in- 

 dividuals who gain their livelihood by taking them 

 from one farm to another, and working them at so 

 much per quarter. The farmer finds horses and men, 

 but the owner superintends and feeds the machine. 

 Horse-labour, however, in a threshing-machine, is now 

 yearly less and less employed as the advantages of 

 steam-power become evident. The circular motion in 

 those machines is injurious to the horses, and during 

 the last few years the travelling steam-engine, drawn 

 from place to place, supplies the wants of the farmer, 

 'and has rapidly grown into favour. It is no new 

 invention ; for a steam-engine was used in threshing as 

 early as 1802; but it took more than forty years to 

 familiarise it and make it really efficient. The orders 

 for these engines are now so numerous, that twenty 

 manufacturers, in different parts of England, are en- 

 gaged in their construction, and one firm alone made 

 upwards of five hundred engines during the year 1856. 

 Barn machinery has indeed been made so complete, 

 that in many cases it threshes, raises the straw to the 

 loft, winnows and dresses the corn, divides the wheat 

 according to quality, and delivers it into sacks ready 

 for market; while the tailings, also divided into firsts 

 and seconds, remain for the pigs and poultry, and the 

 cavings for litter in the boxes and pigsties. The same 

 engine which puts in motion all this automaton work 

 is often made available for pumping water, grinding 

 corn, crushing cake, cutting chaff for cattle, and grind- 

 ing bones for manure, while the steam from the boiler 

 may be turned into an apparatus for cooking food for 

 cattle. 



The prejudice against machinery which once existed 

 in rural districts is now almost at an end, for most 



