THE GENESEE FARMER. 



55 



»f feeding it fast enoagh. Much of the Iightues.s 

 and effectiveness of the machine is attained by a beau- 

 tiful adaptation of the principle of the Archimedian 

 screw to the earning of the gi'ain through different 

 parts. The band of the sheaf it cut, there being no 

 necessitj' for untying the knot^ and the grain is shaken 

 loose at the mouth of the machine, which is at the 

 top of one end ; it is then taken in, and threshed 

 with a spiked cylinder, which it is thought gives more 

 space for the grain to pass through than any other 

 plan; and this cylinder being made of wrought-iron, 

 these spikes or teeth are easily replaced in case of 

 being broken by accident. When threshed the grain 

 does not pass with the straw, but there is an open 

 concave and grate, which allows the grain to pass 

 through by itself, so that there is no chance of break- 

 ing it, thus removing one of the great objections to 

 many of the machines now in use. The straw is then 

 thrown on to an endless belt formed of cast-iron and 

 light rods, which receives a shaking or \ibratory mo- 

 tion as it passes on — carrying up the straw which is 

 thrown out at the top of the opposite end of the 

 machine, so that any kernel disposed to remain is dis- 

 lodged, and no grain can pass out with the straw. 

 One great advantage of this open belt is found in 

 the driving rpparatus, so that the looser it is the bet- 

 ter it works, and the easier it runs. The dressing 

 part is at the tail end, and ail the grain dropping 

 through the concave before mentioned, and the belt, 

 falls into a trough beneath, in which two Archimedian 

 screw conveyors are placed, which convey all the gi-ain 

 threshed directly to the dressing machine, allowuig 

 no chance for the grain to waste under the machine 

 after being threshed. Machines of two sizes are 

 built, one smaller than than that in use yesterday, by 

 which two horses will thresh 1.50 or 200 bushels a 

 day. The only objections we heard made to the 

 machine by practical farmers — and these were pointed 

 out by almost every one who saw it — were that the 

 straw was broken more than by the common machine, 

 so much so as to render it unfit for thatching, and 

 that the cavings and chalf were thrown off together. 

 As to the cost of threshing by the macliine, there 

 were eleven men and five boys employed, and Mr. 

 Mechi estimated the expense, with his four-horse 

 steam engine, which was not going at its full power, 

 at 6d. per quarter; but (and here is a striking pi-oof 

 of the economy of steam power where it can be aj> 

 plied) last week, when worked by eight horses, and 

 with the relay requiring sixteen a day, the threshing 

 cost Is. 6d. a quarter. In fact, we may close our ac- 

 count of the trial by stating that, with the exception 

 of the points alluded to, the jury of practical farmers 

 returned a verdict of " perfectly successful" — Essex 

 Herald, Oct. 29, 1853. 



The Purifying Fffect of Steam. — The purifymg 

 effect of steam on moldy or decayed substances may 

 not be generally known; and as there are at the 

 present time so many haystacks that seem more fit 

 for litter than fodder, it may be of service to some 

 of your readers if I state from my own experience 

 how this property of steam may be applied so as to 

 render such apparently worthless stuff palatable, and 

 I believe nutritious, to stock. I had last year a stack 

 of oats, which were carried in wet weather. They 



became moldy, and were found, on opening the stack, 

 to be so white and matted together with the mold 

 that it would V.e useless to attempt to thresh them 

 out, and the very pigs turned up their nohcs at them. 

 I therefore determined to try the effect of steam; so 

 cutting up grain and straw together, I put the chaff 

 into a pan (belonging to a Stanley's steaming appar 

 ratus), and p;used the steam through it. The steam 

 that issued w v? at first very fusty and unpleasant, but 

 in five minuted this became very sweet and fragrant, 

 and on the pan being emptied the chaff had lost all 

 traces of the mold, and had a deUcious scent, equal 

 to that of the sweetest hay. I followed up this 

 experiment by cutting up the whole of the oat stack 

 into chafi' and stea'ming it. The horses were remarka- 

 bly fond of it, and throve well upon it. I tried a 

 similar process this year with equal success upon 

 flooded hay. The grass was cut after the flood (which 

 had lam upon it for ten days, and had swept away 

 that portion of the crop which had been cut pre- 

 viously) had subsided, and was dried, more for the 

 purpose of putting on the top of a stack than for 

 being used as hay. A few days ago this stack was 

 cut into, and I had some of the muddy hay, which 

 smelled more like river weed than any thing else, cut 

 into chafi' and steamed, having previously had the silt 

 knocked out of it. In this case, also, I found that 

 the muddy smell entirely disappeared, and the chaff 

 was rendered as sweet and palatable as the best gotten 

 hay could be, the smell emitted durmg the steaming 

 being very similar to that produced by brewing. 

 When the chaff is cool and dry, it retains for some 

 days this peculiar fragrance. How far such food is 

 nutritious I have not yet fully ascertained; hitherto 

 I have found horses and stock do veiy well upon it, 

 and prefer it to either good hay or clover unsteamed. 

 It would almost seem as if that good old proverb,'. 

 "Make hay while the sun shines," must, hke many 

 other good old-fashioned things, yield to the encroach- 

 ing power of steam, or else must consent to appear 

 ui this homely guise, " Make hay while the pot boils." 

 At the lisk of my credit, I must further confess to 

 having a stack of clover which the heavy rain in July 

 got to before it was thatched; it is in consequence 

 moldy from top to bottom ; but instead of turning 

 this directly into manure, for which it seems only fit, 

 I am, with the aid of steam, looking forward to 

 making Christmas beef of it, by the way. How far 

 docs mold, if not in too advanced a stage of growth, 

 destroy the nutritious qualities of clover? Fermen- 

 tation, which presents to us the food in which it oc- 

 curs, in a state better adapted for digestion, is sup- 

 posed by some chemists to be attributable to the 

 growth of fungi or infusoria; may not mold, by a 

 similarly dialytical process, leave the clover in a more 

 digestible state, and therefore in a more nntritioua 

 condition, if not suffered to extract from it too much 

 of its goodness? — G. P. S., in the London Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Colic in Horses. — A Tennessee correspondent of 

 the Pa. Farm Journal says: The best remedy that 

 I have tried for colic in horses is, one pint of whiskey 

 and two-thu-ds of a tea-cup of gunpowder. Mix well 

 and drench the horse. In ordinary cases the horse 

 will be well in half an hour. 



