590 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



the stone. Feeding the mill was also found difficult and dangerous. This unsuccessful 

 attempt should not discourage mechanists from further trials. Stones previously broken 

 to the size of five or six inches, might be thrown upon a strong circular horizontal 

 grating, made of cast iron. The stones might be forced downwards through this 

 grating by an iron rammer or a sledge ; they would thus be broken to fragments that 

 could not exceed a certain size, and that would not be reduced to powder. 



3657. The manner of breaking, according to Telford, is of great importance. More 

 depends, he says, on the weight, shape, and manner of using hammers, than any one can 

 conceive who has not had much experience in road-making ; the difference in managing 

 this operation being not less than ten per cent. ; and is, besides, of equal importance 

 towards the perfection of the road. The size and weight of the hammer he would ap- 

 portion to the size and weight of the stones ; and the stones should be broken upon the 

 heap, not on the ground. It must be evident that using round stones, instead of broken 

 ones, will be the means of deranging the position of those near them, and of grinding 

 them to pieces. 



3658. According to M'Adam, the only method of breaking stones, both for effect and 

 economy, is by persons sitting : the stones are to be placed in small heaps ; and women, 



boys, or old men past hard labour, must 

 sit down with small hammers and break 

 them, so as none shall exceed six ounces 

 in weight. 



3659. In Nottinghamshire, and part 

 of Yorkshire, a very convenient portable 

 machine is employed for the breaking 

 of small land and waterworn stones. 

 The diameter of the stones to be broken 

 according to the mode in question 

 should not exceed five or six inches : 

 they are placed on a table of a tri- 

 angular shape {fg. 541.), boarded on 

 three sides like a dressing-table, but 

 open at the narrow end, which is placed 

 next and in front of the operator, who 

 sits on a stool {b) or stands as he may 

 choose, and has a block between him and the point of the table (a), the top of which is 

 542 about six inches lower than the top of the table. By means of an iron ring 

 fixed into a handle of wood {fig. 542.), he draws from the table as many of 

 the stones as the ring will enclose on the block, and then breaks them while 

 still enclosed in the ring, which is held by his left hand. When this is 

 done, then, with another motion of his left hand, he draws them in the ring 

 off the block till they form a heap at one 

 side, or he at once drops them into the hand- 

 barrow measure {fig. 543.) To prevent any 

 fragments from getting to his face, he puts 

 on a wire guard or veil {fig' 544.), which 

 may be tied by a ribbon round his head, or 

 suspended from his hat. The same hand-barrow, which serves as a cubic yard measure, 

 serves to carry the stones to any distance. The price paid is so 

 much a yard. In some places, the breaking apparatus consists of 

 three separate parts, the table, the block, and the stool : in others, the 

 whole is combined in one machine, furnished with a wheel (fg.541.c'), 

 which serves as one foot when the machine is stationary, and handles 

 (rf) ; and which admits of moving it from place to place, as easy as 

 a common wheelbarrow. All that is wanted to render this appa- 

 ratus complete, is a portable shelter or shed, which might be formed 

 entirely of plate-iron, to move on three wheels ; or a slight iron 

 frame on three wheels, to be covered with reed frames or straw 

 matting. The shelter should be formed so as not only to protect 

 from perpendicular rain or sun, but from side winds and drifting 

 snows or rains. {Gard. Mag. vol. v.) 

 3660. Boulder stones, according to Fall, " are broken with a hammer upon a block made 

 of cast iron. The hammer should weigh about three pounds and a half or four pounds, 

 with two flat faces of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and a handle similar to 

 a blacksmith's hammer. The cast-iron block must be six or seven inches square, and 

 three inches and a half in thickness, and let into a piece of coarse solid wood, about 

 thirteen or fourteen inches square, and seven or eight inches thick. The block, when 

 used, is to be placed firmly upon the ground, with a kind of trough so fixed that the 



