118 Implements of Husbandry. 



have also been tried, but they do not work well, where corn 

 is long, or bending, or foul, or where it is grown in rows. 



Various attempts have been recently made to construct 

 reaping machines. If they could be supplied at any rea- 

 sonable expense, their advantages would be very great; for, 

 though they can hardly succeed in rough and uneven fields, 

 yet, on level ground, they may be brought to answer. The 

 general price of reaping with the sickle or the hook, is about 

 twelve shillings per English acre. But with a well-con- 

 structed machine, if such could be invented, the expense 

 would necessarily be considerably reduced ( l83 ). 



4. Implements for harvesting Corn. 



It is now generally admitted, that the best mode of har- 

 vesting crops of grain, is by carts. They are more easily 

 loaded and unloaded, and managed with less difficulty than 

 waggons. 



For the preservation of corn, stacks are greatly preferable 

 to barns, more especially since the plan has been adopted, 

 of placing them on stone or cast-iron pillars ( l84 ), by which 

 the corn, being clear from the ground, is kept perfectly dry, 

 and the access of mice or other destructive vermin is greatly 

 prevented. The advantages resulting from these prac- 

 tices, may be estimated at above one-thirtieth part of the 

 crop ( I85 ). 



In some districts, if the season be wet, stacks have bosses 

 placed in the centre, consisting of a triangle of wood, through 

 which the air has freedom to circulate, nearly to the top of 

 the stack ; and which is of great service in preventing the 

 grain from spoiling, if it be not perfectly dry when harvest- 

 ed (See the Engravings, Plate III.) ( l86 ). 



5. Implements for thrashing and cleaning Corn. 



There are three sorts of machines calculated for these 

 purposes : 1. The thrashing machine ; 2. A machine for 

 dressing barley ; and, 3. Fanners, or winnowing-machines. 



1. The thrashing-machine is considered to be the most 

 valuable implement that modern times have produced. The 

 saving of manual labour, and that of a severe kind, by means 

 of this invention, is perhaps beyond calculation, while the 

 grain is separated from the straw, in a more perfect and ex- 

 peditious manner, than has hitherto been accomplished by 

 any other mode. Nothing could be more barbarous, than 



