AGRICULTURE AND PLANTING. €9 



On the Construction of a Thistle-Cutter. 



These pieces are braced two and two together by the four bars E E E E^ which Plate II; 



Fig. 1, 

 are one by two inches square, and eighteen and a quarter inches long. v— -^ .^ 



F. a main piece of ash, wood three by four inches square, and five and a half 

 feet long; to which all the other pieces are fixed by hooks and eye bolts, as per 

 figure, by which the scythe-handles acting as it were upon hinges, the scythes 

 are thereby made to form the same parallel line with the surface of the land, whe- 

 ther it is concave, convex, or level. For this purpose it might be useful to make 

 a joint in the middle of this piece, where the land is uneven. 



In the fore part of this piece a sawgate is made, three quarter^ of an inch 

 from the under side, at the hind part of, the share, and one inch from the under 

 side at the front of the wood (which gives an elevation to the point of the share) 

 to receive the share where it is fixed as per figure. 



G G G G. four iron braces, one end of which is fixed in the scythe handles 

 B B B B, and the other ends to the under side of the scythes by a screw. 



a. the staple to M'hich the chain and swinging tree is fixed, by which the 

 machine is drawn. 



b b. two mortice holes which receives the tenons of two upright studs, to 

 which pullies are fixed for lifting the scythes off the ground, when there is any 

 thing to obstruct them. 



Fig. 2. A. represents one of the studs, (which are both alike) one and a half 

 by four inches square, and three feet long. ^ • Fig. 2. 



B B. two small pullies fixed on each side of the upright studs. Through the 

 pullies of the foremost stud, a small rope passes (one end of which is fixed to the 

 outsides of the fore iron braces) and likewise through the pullies of the hindmost - 

 stud, and then the two ropes unite at about two or three feet behind the whole 

 machine. 



Through the pullies of the hindmost stud pass two other small ropes, 



