IMPLEMENTS. 



INCUBATION. 



and workmanship, but many more of rude, 

 cumbrous, and ill-executed implements. At 

 Liverpool many machines were exhibited, not 

 only of surpassing skill in contrivance and 

 execution, but also having for their object the 

 effecting of processes in tillage-husbandry of 

 the most refined nature and acknowledged im- 

 portance, but hitherto considered of very diffi- 

 cult practical attainment. Some of these may 

 already be considered as forming part of the j 

 necessary apparatus of every well-managed 

 farm, and to be essential to its economy and 

 profit. This vast stride in the mechanics of 

 agriculture, made within so short a period, has 

 doubtless arisen from the congregating together 

 of agriculturists and mechanicians from all 

 parts of the empire: and a still higher perfec- 

 tion in machinery may be confidently antici- 

 pated from the opportunity offered, under the 

 auspices of the Society, of periodically con- 

 trasting and estimating the merits of varied 

 implements used for similar purposes in dif- 

 ferent localities and soils. It is apparent that 

 the manufacture of even the commoner instru- 

 ments has already, to a great extent, passed 

 out of the hands of the village ploughwright 

 and hedge-carpenter, and been transferred to 

 makers possessed of greater intelligence, skill, 

 and capital. The improved style of finish, the 

 greater lightness and elegance of construction, 

 and the generally superior adaptation of the 

 means to the end, in every class of implements, 

 were sufficient manifestations of the beneficial 

 results arising from the encouragement given 

 by the Society to these objects. Neither were 

 examples wanting in the higher classes of ma- 

 chines to show that the fourth important object 

 for which the Society was incorporated is, to 

 some extent, fulfilled viz. 'to encourage men 

 of science in their attention to the improve- 

 ment of agricultural implements.'" 



The great variety of soils and fluctuations 

 of climate in the extensive territory of the 

 United States, call for multiplied expedients 

 to till the various plants, and provide shelter 

 from heat as well as cold. The wants and exi- 

 gencies known in various parts of the country 

 must therefore contribute to make the United 

 States a fruitful field of inventions. Ac- 

 fiordingly, by consulting the records of the 

 Patent Office at Washington, we find that since 

 the year 1793, when the first patent law was 

 instituted, and up to the year 1836 inclusive, 

 the number of patents taken out for inventions 

 is 6000, of which 124 are for improvements in 

 the plough, 119 for threshing-machines, 80 

 for churns, 125 for washing-machines, &c. 



The remarks of the Messrs. Ransome, of 

 Ipswich, upon the preservation of agricultural 

 implements in general, are such as every far- 

 mer should be guided by. They suggest to 

 farmers generally, that a little instruction given 

 to the workmen in the use of the machines, 

 and care in preserving them, would add to 

 their efficiency and durability. Attention to 

 washing implements and machines before lay- 

 ing them by, a little oil on such as have re- 

 volving wearing parts, and a coat of paint 

 occasionally to each, will cost but little, and 

 make the difference between having a machine 

 ready for use, or covered with rust and want- 



ing repair just as the season for its rise com- 

 mences. These suggestions are so obvious, 

 that one would think no apology needful for 

 making them, as experience proves that a 

 large proportion of the repairs required arises 

 from want of attention to these apparently 

 trifling matters. And to this end the advice 

 of Mr. Crosskill, of Beverley, may be acted 

 upon with considerable advantage: he says, 

 "Select the most likely labourer on the farm, 

 put the implements under his care, make it a 

 strict rule with all the men that each imple- 

 ment done with for the season shall be brought 

 to one particular place, say near the pond or 

 pump; the man having charge of the imple- 

 ments must then wash and clean them well 

 before putting them into the shed." 



IMPOSTHUME. In farriery a sort of swell- 

 ing, or collection of matter or pus in any part 

 of the body of an animal. See ABSCESS. 



IN-AND-IN-BREEDING. The practice of 

 breeding from close relations. See BREEDING, 

 CATTLE, SHEEP, &c. 



INCH. A measure of length, the twelfth 

 part of a foot. 



INCISORS or INCISORES (Lat. incido, I 

 cut). The teeth implanted in the inter-maxillary 

 bones of the upper jaw, and in the correspond- 

 ing place in the lower jaw, and which are 

 generally shaped for the purpose of cutting or 

 coarsely dividing the food. The ruminating 

 animals, including the bull and cow, sheep, 

 goats, the deer tribe, and the camel have no 

 incisors in the upper jaw; but some of them 

 have canine teeth, which project from the 

 mouth. See AGE OF ANIMALS. 



INCLOSURE (Lat. includo, I shut up). See 

 ENCLOSURE. 



INCUBATION (Lat. incumbo, I brood over). 

 Hatching or the laying down of an animal 

 upon her own or another's eggs, communicat- 

 ing to them heat, and maintaining them at 

 her own temperature, a condition essential to 

 their developement. In many animals the de- 

 velopement of the foetus takes place after the 

 exclusion of the egg, and whilst it is maintain- 

 ed in contact with the external surface of the 

 parent's body, as in the crab and lobster tribes 

 beneath the caudal plates ; or agglutinated to 

 the surface of the abdomen, as in certain spe- 

 cies of pipe-fish (*yn gnat bus), or concealed in 

 cutaneous marsupial cavities, as in other spe- 

 cies of gynstnathug, and the hippocampus; but in 

 these and other instances from the cold-blooded 

 animals, the eggs are retained by special con- 

 trivances in contact with the parent, without 

 occasioning any restraint upon her postures or 

 movements. 



That a due degree of warmth is the essen- 

 tial object of incubation in birds is proved by 

 the ancient and well-known practice of substi- 

 tuting artificial heat, by which fertile eggs are 

 hatched in the same period, and the excluded 

 chick is as fully and strongly developed as 

 when produced by natural incubation. 



Artificial incubation has been practised from 

 a remote period by the Egyptians and Chinese ; 

 the former, indeed, have carried this process 

 to such a high degree of perfection, as in many 

 instances to have entirely superseded the use 

 of the hen in hatching. 



655 



