Pboceedings of tee Farmers' Club. 537 



Sheep Shearing by Machinery. 



Messrs. Frank D. Curtis, J. W. Gregory, and A. Preterre, the 

 committee appointed to witness the operation of the sheep-shearing 

 machine exhibited to the Chib by P. Anderson, patentee, called the 

 Pneumatic Sheep Shears, would report : That they found at the 

 American Institute Fair another sheep-shearing machine, and invited 

 Mr. "William Earl, Jr., the exliibitor, to exhibit it at the same time 

 which he did. Two sheep were sheared by the respective machines 

 at the rooms of the iimerican Institute Fair, on Wednesday, October 

 20. The machine of Mr. Anderson cuts the wool on the same princi- 

 ple as a mowmg machine, being driven by compressed air, conducted 

 to the shears througli a rubber tube from the bellows, worked by a 

 crank, and turned by a second person. The machine is very ingeni- 

 ous in its construction, and when sharp will cut the wool closely and 

 rapidly ; but it gets dull quickly, owing to the delicate construction 

 of the knives. The power is not sufficient to clear the knives of the 

 wool, the machine presenting the same difficulties in operating that 

 a mowing-machine does in thick, wet grass. Without increased 

 power and ability to keep sharp longer, and not to clog so easily, the 

 committee could not commend this machine, but yet it has some 

 decided merits, which are the closeness and evenness with which it 

 shears. The machine of Mr. Earl shears witli a rotary-knife with 

 two cutting points, rotating on a bed plate with notches or guards 

 which rest on the body of the sheep, and is attached to a universal 

 joint, connected with a revolving rod to a wheel, turned by a belt 

 driven by a crank and wheel tm*ned by a second person. The machine 

 is easily adjusted, and the universal joints will turn in any direction, 

 allowing the shearer to work the knives ^vithout the least difficulty 

 on any part of the sheep. The committee are of the opinion that in 

 the hands of an ex|)erienced operator the machine will do good work. 



Mr. J. W. Gregory. — Although I sign the report, I must say that 

 the closeness with which it shears is to some extent an objection. 

 With the delicate, fine wooled stock, I cannot Init think that it 

 leaves the animal with too scant covering. If I had a sheep worth 

 several hundred dollars I should prefer the old practice in the shear- 

 ing. 



The Wickedness and Folly of Bird Suckjtlng. 

 Dr. Trimble, the well known entomologist of New Jersey, dis- 

 played the carcases of a great iiumber of forest warblers which had 



