RAIN-GAUGE. 



RAKE. 



elusive), together with the number of days in 

 each month during which certain winds pre- 

 vailed, the last being the results of three ob- 

 servations each day. 



RAIN-GAUGE. An instrument for measur- 

 ing or gauging the quantity of rain which falls 

 at a given place. It is also known under the 

 several names of ombrometer, udometer, plu 

 viameter, and hytetometer. Its principles and 

 construction are of the simplest nature; but 

 it is made in a variety of shapes. 



A convenient form of the instrument is that 

 where the rain which enters a funnel of certain 

 size, is collected in a bottle or other vessel, and 

 afterwards measured in a graduated cylindri- 

 cal glass tube, the marks on which not only 

 represent the tenths and hundredths, but even 

 the thousandth part of an inch of water. The 

 height is read immediately on the scale. 



It is requisite to be particular in the situa- 

 tion of the instrument. The gauge is best 

 placed about 3 or 4 feet from the ground. In 

 all cases an open space, free from trees, shrubs, 

 or buildings, must be chosen. 



RAKE. A tool of the toothed kind, of va- 

 rious sizes and forms, made use of in garden- 

 ing, and for different agricultural purposes. 

 There are several others used for field opera- 

 tions, some of which are worked by horses. 



The drag-rake, in its simplest form, is merely 

 a long cross-head, with a row of teeth placed 

 in it: in some these are straight; they are, 

 however, generally bent, with their points pro- 

 jecting forward. A very excellent and light in- 

 strument, having the teeth of steel, and made 

 with screws, so as to admit of their being easily 

 replaced in case of accident, is well known in 

 England as Badgley's improved drag-rake. 

 These rakes had, from time to time, increased 

 in length and weight, till they became too large 

 to be balanced by the hand. Two small wooden 

 wheels were then added, which rendered them 

 manageable by women or boys. Further ad- 

 ditions having been made to them, they are 

 now sufficiently strong to be worked by a horse. 

 Used on fallows when foul, to remove the 

 couch-grass, they act as a harrow, to get to- 

 gether the rubbish; or in harvest-time they act 

 as a rake to collect the loose corn which may 

 have escaped from the scythe or sickle. In 

 order to clear them readily, there are different 

 contrivances. One of the most simple and 

 efficient is an arrangement which, by lifting 

 the handle, causes the teeth to be raised and 

 broug r t between two iron bars, which constitute 

 part 01 the framing; by this means all the rub- 

 bi ,h is stripped off from the teeth of the rake. 



In " Wedlake's Horse Hay-Rake," the weight 

 of the rake is balanced upon the carriage by 

 two heavy balls projecting in front of it ; so 

 that a slight lifting power applied to the handle 

 u'ill raise it from the ground, and disencumber 

 it of the hay or stubble it may have gathered. 

 This rake obtained the commendations of the 

 Committee on Implements, at the meeting of 

 the Royal English Agricultural Society at Cam- 

 bridge. 



The East-Lothian Stubble-Rake is a machine 

 not so well known in England as its merits 

 deserve. Its advantages over those previously 

 940 



described are as follows: It has each tooth 

 placed in a separate head, which, working upon 

 a centre like the levers of a drill, adapt them 

 selves to any inequality in the ground. To the 

 handles, a bar the length of the harrow is firmly 

 fastened, and from this bar each lever is sus- 

 pended by a few links of chain. When it is 

 necessary to clear the rake, these handles, on 

 being elevated, lift all the levers between a 

 framing of light iron rods. 



An ingenious practical farmer, John Sayer, 

 of Bodham, in Norfolk, made considerable im- 

 provement upon this rake, by altering the form 

 of the teeth to avoid tearing the land ; and in 

 order to effect more work without increasing 

 the width of the rake, the naves of his wheels 

 were made to project inwards, so that two ad- 

 ditional levers could be introduced, working 

 quite close to the spokes. 



But within the last few months a very im- 

 proved implement of this character has been 

 introduced and patented by J. C. Grant, of Stam- 

 ford, which obtained the prize of the Royal Ag- 

 ricultural Society of England, at its meeting at 

 Liverpool. Its advantages consist in the adap- 

 tation of a compound lever, by which the whole 

 row of tines may be instantly raised, and as 

 quickly allowed to resume their position, while 

 the form of the teeth being such as to describe 

 part of a circle, the centre of which is the axis 

 of the separate levers to which they are at- 

 tached, each portion of the curve is succes- 

 sively brought into a vertical position, thus 

 rapidly disengaging the teeth from the mate- 

 rial collected, so that, without stopping the 

 horse, the process of collecting is resumed 

 leaving no interval beyond what is requisite 

 for the deposit of the hay, corn, or stubble pre 

 viously collected. 



Several minor improvements are included in 

 the patent, but as these mainly refer to modes 

 of construction, it will not be necessary here 

 to particularize them. 



A hay-making machine invented by Robert 

 Salmon, of Woburn, and patented in 1816, con- 

 sists of a series of rakes revolving upon two 

 skeleton frames, to which motion is communi- 

 cated by cog-wheels attached to the naves of 

 the wheels in which it travels. It has under- 

 gone considerable improvement by R.Wedlake, 

 an ingenious manufacturer, residing at Horn- 

 church. These improvements consist in form- 

 ing the cylinder in two parts, each of which 

 has motion independent of the other, and in 

 placing the tines or rake-teeth upon a bar, 

 which, being supported by a spring, will yield 

 to any obstruction caused by sudden uneven- 

 ness of the surface of the ground, and return 

 again to its original position. Its object is to 

 spread the hay, and by thoroughly separating 

 its parts, continually to expose them to the sun 

 and wind, which it so thoroughly effects as to 

 render the hay fit to cart much earlier than by 

 the common process of shaking it by the hand. 

 To the practical agriculturist, it will not be ne- 

 cessary to remark on the advantages accruing 

 from the ability to hasten, if only by a few 

 hours, the process of hay-making ; but it will 

 be valuable to know, that the universal testi- 

 mony of all with whom we have conversed ii, 



