4* 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



A Ci ;kiu clod-crusher— but unlike them, funda- 

 mentally distinct from any and every instrument 

 that wis ever seen afield, as doing its work not by 

 traction, not by its rolling weight, but driven by its 

 axis, as the steam-paddle, the circular saw, tfte 

 drivinc-wheel of the locomotive, are driven sup- 

 ported by its own apparatus, and abrading the soil 

 with its armed teeth, first cutting its own trench, 

 burying itself to the required depth, and then com- 

 mencing its onward task, teannff down the hanl 

 (so to speak) on the advancing side canting back 

 the abraded soil, earth's saicdust, " comminuted, 

 aerated, inverted* ii > the trench it leaves behind 



And here we would stop for the present to take 

 breath, and let our readers do the same, before 



to a future chapter. If we have tailed 



picture clear, or intelligible, it 



about which we feel so much 



to "draw aside the curtain." 



and diccincr stands 



proceeding 

 in making 



not 



is yet 

 solicitous, 

 The idea 



our 



that 



as 



of 



ploughing 



digging 

 the whole philosophy 



like a thick blind before 

 of the subject, and screens the inventive mechanician 

 from the simple application of his mind to the quod 

 est faciendum. His faculties are clogged, stupified, 

 held in check by the pestering contemplation of 

 processes that enter not necessarily into the problem 

 to be solved, nor need appear in its solution. They 

 are unessential to the matter. They becime so the 

 very instant the steam-engine was discovered; a 

 power, and the only one we possess that can be 

 carried to the field, and put into an agricultural 

 machine— like the main-spring into a watch — to 

 give it independent intrinsic action within itself, 

 owing nothing to, but separate entirely from, the 

 traction and progression of the implement along the 

 field. Hitherto there is not even the attempt so to 

 apply it ; it has never had a chance. Every field- 

 implement we have, works by traction — like the 

 pedometer that ticks because the wearer marches; 

 but with steam for our mainspring we can make the 

 'icatch tick in the fob of the dead soldier'! When 

 we understand that, when we have in idea and in 

 fact detached the work of cultivation from the mere 

 progression of the implement, made them perfectly 

 separate and independent, so that if you ceased to 

 proceed, your " coffee-mill" would still be at icor/c, 

 and only wanting fresh coffee to grind, then, and 

 only then, shall we have laid hold of the end of the 

 clue that leads to cultivation by steam; for then, 

 and only then, shall we have begun to appreciate 

 the real and unique value of the new agent we 

 possess. To attempt to gear its noble faculty to the 

 dragging of ploughs or the redoubled solecism of 

 rolling spades, implies an utter oversight of the very 

 elements of the enquiry, arising from a blindness of 

 the essential characteristics of the new power we 

 possess, the specific advantage that it offers, and the 

 exactions that it makes,— exactions founded in the 

 deepest axioms of physical truth, inherent in the 

 recondite laws that pervade Matter and Motion, and 

 regulate their harmonious development under the 

 inventive energy of our race. C. W. II. 



REPORT ON ^IIE AGRICULTURAL SECTION 



OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION 



*J°: T 11 '- 1 ^ ne ;\ fc l )art of our Report refers to 

 " Division D. Barn Machinery." 



Threshing Machines cannot receive from us any 

 weight of commendation equal to that contained in the 

 tabular .statement of results of their trials at the Royal 

 Agricu ltural Society's meetings ; and therefore, without 

 attesting any description, we will just state a few of 

 Je comparative merits of some, as brouSt out bv 

 the tests applied at the Exeter meeting last year * 





si a 

 i . — 



Names « 



Of C r£ 



Makers. - z c 



>. »"< 



! 



3 to 



a 



20 sup. 

 paeed 

 re- 



- L 



— 2 = * i Work. 



%* -~ 



12 g £ Z perfcot 



- : s o c -a 



3 •2 



fern Qt \M 



z* 



n 



t x 





2 



•SO 



3 ° 



g i 



B s 



a 



Garrett . 

 Cross kill 



Hem man 



Horns bj. 



HoJtties 

 .Barrett, 



Clayton, 

 &c. . . . 







- 





4I.H7 

 4 2.31 



4 -'.05 

 4 M7 



• - • 



2.439 



2.7ou 



2 t) 

 2.58 



7i 



U 



90 



H20 



m. s. 

 393 18 



. * . 



4,2.42 2.9c 



I 



131 < 2.229 



• t « 



20.92 

 16.72 

 14.26 

 24.39 

 15.03 



3 



r. 



20 ! 20 

 1919 





are of d 



ing- 



19 



20 



20 

 19 



IS 



20 

 17 



°; 



15 19120 



W 20.02 20! 19 

 11 36.04 119 20 



As it is desirable to perform worL 7 Tw^T~' 

 perfectly, the eighth column^™ l^eaply 



17 



56 

 56 

 59 

 56 

 54 



56 



with strength, convenience for taking up and setting 

 down, &c. And in these particulars, we believe, there 

 is little that is new, the separate carriages for horse 

 and barn work, or arrangements for packing both on one 

 pair of wheels, are well known. It is certain, though, 

 that the general workmanship of the different machines 

 is much improved within the last year or two. Straw- 

 shakers seem now to be thought an indispensable 

 adjunct of the barn works ; and in some cases a screen 

 or riddle has been attached, in order to facilitate the 

 after operation of roughing. The favourite form of shaker 

 is that composed of parallel bars, the alternate ones 

 rising and falling with a circular motion ; but the bars 



liferent shapes and fitted with various kinds of 

 screens and teeth. Garrett's Patent Portable Threshi 

 machine has a registered straw-shaker, and also a 

 patent riddle and winnower. It is adapted for threshing 

 all descriptions of grain in large quantities, and may be 

 worked by steam, water, or horse power. A screen 

 attached to it riddles away all loose ears, short straws, 

 fee., and leaves the corn ready for the dressing-machine. 

 When driven by a small steam-engine, the cost of the 

 whole operation is supposed not to exceed from 6<fc to 



9d. per quarter. 



Crosskill's Threshing-machine, with four horses, has 

 threshed from 40 to 45 quarters of Wheat per day 

 and 50 to 60 quarters of Oats per day. The shaker will 

 thoroughly shake the corn from the threshed straw, 

 and rapidly convey the straw 10 feet clear away from 

 the machine, thus saving much corn and the labour of 

 two men and a boy. W. Hensman and Son, of Castle 

 Works, Woburn, Bedfordshire, obtained the first prize 

 at Exeter, for their Threshing-machine. The drum 

 being on a new and superior principle, the draught is 

 lessened while the work is better done, as appears from 

 the table already given. It will thresh clean all de- 

 scriptions of corn and seeds ; and by its being fed 

 lengthways, instead of ears foremost, as in other ma- 

 chines, it will deliver the straw as straight and unbroken 

 as when in the sheaf. Barley may be threshed by it 

 in a superior manner for malting, a brighter and better 

 sample and more free from awns being produced, than 

 when threshed with the flail, and without the nib of 

 the seed being in the least injured. Hensman's Patent 

 Vandyke Hand-threshing-machine, is a valuable in- 

 vention. The outer edges of the beaters on the threshing 

 cylinder are of a vandyke or tooth shape, revolving 

 through similar notches in the concave ; they perfectly 

 penetrate the straw and strip it of its contents. The 

 average capability of the machine for three men, is to 

 thresh seven or eight quarters of Barley, Wheat, Oats, 

 or other grain per day, without injuring either corn or 

 straw more than in flail threshing; and it will head 



and draw Clover seed upon an average six bushels 

 per day. 



Hornsby'spatentunitedthreshing,shaking, and riddling 

 machines will thresh all sorts of grain, and combine 

 upon one frame (moveable from place to place upon four 

 wheels, on which they stand when at work), a double 

 crank straw shaker with a patent reciprocating trough 

 underneath, which delivers all that drops through the 

 shaker to a riddle placed on the end of the trough, where 

 all the corn, chaff, short straws, &c, are separated. 



Barrett, Exall, and Andrews' patent hand-threshing 

 machines have the advantage of being entirely of iron, 

 and yet very easily shifted from place to place. This 

 firm have a remarkably ingenious contrivance for 

 adjusting the concave to the drum ; and their patent 

 safety horse-works appear to supply all that is needed 

 of compactness without a counterbalancing amount of 

 extra friction. The two-horse power machine threshes 

 from 10 to 14 quarters of Wheat, or from 12 to 1 

 quarters of Barley in a day. The horse works are 

 fixed upon a wood frame on low iron wheels ; and the 

 levers, which act as shafts, have a strip of iron mailing 

 along their top side, so that the barii-work on litt 

 wheels are very easily run up and down upon them as 

 on a tram rail. 



Most of the straw shakers, from their tearing action, 

 and from the number of long spaces between the bars or 

 rails, make a great deal of pulse ; and Hornsbv has 

 adapted his reciprocating trough on purpose to catch 

 and riddle this pulse out of the com. But Tuxford and 

 bona, of Boston, have attempted to obviate this defect 

 altogether Their patent perforated table shaker-off is 

 clothed with a continuous web of wire, so that only a 

 very small portion of straw is passed throi h with die 

 grain It is also furnished, when required/with a finer 

 web of wire by which the pulse is separated from the 

 gram, and delivered into a separate partition. 

 J " e n °*ced what we supposed to be a straw-shaker, 

 patented by Robinson, of Halsham, in Ho m 



reyoHmg mono direction by means of small wheds at 



ho h ends It does not seem calculated the piWtiK 

 defect we have mentioned above 



W. Carpenter, of Banbury, exhibits an anti-attrition 



power is prefer 



nicr 



every stackyard threshed 

 machines, than by mechanism 



Teasing number of portable steam ^ P ^*. 

 say that we are much more likS^T^ ***£ 



lli ™y to see the J?* 



out b y *»« 



Permanently ^JfT 



best Winnowing or Con* r»r. * 



in the Exhibition is most nrl n BB, *-lU*. 

 IT,„m,.1,v n,„l s™. „ ™ A* P 10 °ably that in^JJj 



the buildings. 

 The 



Hornsby and Son 

 Agricultural Soc 



m— seeing that it nU • , ^* 

 ; ety's firsl prize V ^. * 

 1848, and a prize also in 1846 ?LJ i 8 °°' ,a "«! 

 competition with all the best machbes \tv ' ** J 

 closest competitors were Hensman and bS***» 

 as the- former had borrowed the kL "^k 

 machine from the latter, the hidm*. ?*ns if ^ 



as we have stated. The advant£ e Tv* ** »5 

 others is, its heing fitted with^i 2 SffSS 

 through a grating, so arranged as 2 form" ho ^* 



rough pulsy state, as it comes" bZ Z tUl! 

 machine, without having been previously riddSS 

 is easily adjusted to suit corn either in ro ) i. 

 any other state. It is also fitted with a douSl ?fc 

 screen at bottom, which more effectually d^J 



it is capable of separating the corn from the 



?,° 1 : n . f, : " 1 I a 3 l _ kiluls ° f S , ma11 seeds than a feed one 



feeding roller is taken off ; and a board beW ?£i 

 ront of the grating, makes it an excelWt ™.Jr\* 



the second time over, the strap which turns &£ 

 feeding roller is taken off • miri * k-^-a i . . 



" dividing 



f 



fm« ui » gmuuft manes it an excellent Md££ 

 finishing the corn tor market. Superior as its *£ 

 may be for rough corn, it is of still greater vafoTu 

 finishing— the judges at Norwich describing ^L 



the refuse in a masterly manner" ]W 

 dressing machines of Cooch, Holmes, Wedlake & c Z 

 all the better makers, are also to be viewed' on 4^ 

 respective stands in this class. We noticed one bv W 

 Nicholson, of Newark, having a simple contrivance i* 

 regulating the power of the blast. The back of thefe 

 case is eccentric, and has a shutter or valve ib&' m 

 opened inwards or shut to throw the double blastoff 

 on. A " potterer " and the screen and riddles are i2 

 vibrated from one crank. 



Another machine, shown by W. Halston, of Mn 

 Renfrewshire, is of peculiar construction ; and e* 

 dently intended for cleaning the grain of liariff wit 

 winnowing it. There is an endless cloth in the phe 

 usually occupied by the screen; and this deiivers Ik 

 corn on to a shaking screen near the ground. Tk 

 hopper consists of a flat dish or receiver on the topi 

 the machine, resting on friction rollers, and bra piety 

 sliding motion jerking the corn into the machine. W. 

 Grounsell, of Louth, Lincolnshire, exhibits a "i steni 

 corn-dressing machine," which seems capable of ctoiBj 

 grain and seeds by means of sloping and shaking riii| 

 without the aid of wind. L A.C, 



IRELAND. 



Perhaps there is not a more questionaUt s&j+ 

 than the existing state of Ireland. By those *h 

 benevolently and rather sanguinely look for kr pros- 

 perity, every favourable symptom is seised oa iili 

 avidity, and lower poor-rates and diminished reeipk* 

 of poor relief are regarded as conclusive proofs i 

 coming prosperity. By those who, in goren fc 

 country, would gladly get rid of the Irish difr 7,* 

 shaded side of the picture is disregarded, and tkyWj 

 direct attention to the prominent points on which tksn 

 light gleams. But to those who wifl more : 



inquire into the various workings of ourso ^ stlrf Vf 

 do not allow their sight to be dazzled by ft sop. 



nor 



their opinions to be led by theirwisl* *«■" 

 rose is not quite so .apparent. It is not V*?"^ 

 them tliat our transition state has yet assumed % »«» 



able nhasis. ' ■ j. 



That some beneficial springs of aetam-»» "«J 

 there can be no 'doubt, the inevitable ^TT 

 the ever-ehanRina; modes in man's existence, w 

 by the reeeHt impulse given in Ireland by w ££ 

 able suffering in the years of famine, m 

 painful .nsequences of them, an acce era m«^ 

 social nw omenta has probably obtained, an 

 perhaps, somewhat sooner than we f ^f; * & 

 the necessity of securing our daily bread m 



threshing 



friction-wheels to the drum bean 



ie 55 



machine, in which he has boldly "an S 

 upon a wheel about Jft tt&JUlLT 



portant 

 farm 



as 



the last 



and 



limn hr. ■ '-' aS Wel1 as 



umn here gnea is quite ag ^ 



rarrner wanting to imrcLS^ZT^ tbe two ' the 

 : vhich of the pSncipL &«SfiSl S SIS 



that w.il tJn-esh in ihe best manner for 1 e ZT 0m 

 There are various advantages, howevu Vo^L eX ff nSe - 

 8«od portabkl threshing t.mel i„ e wh ^ ^ a 

 -ry one - 8 ob5erv ^ n _ SUeh J ^tesrcotbinel 



smaller ones above it. If theV^heek ' wT kZ S e 

 I eommg into use in our better farmed couS; but lean, 



It is 



o this, are 



labour, become, in aU ranks of societj,i»«> ^ 

 to the lowest, more provident, more gvr _ ^ 

 industry. We are no longer a reckless F J^J* 

 less of the morrow. We are yet, bowevci, »» .^ 

 s -t signs of advancing prosperity, an 

 employment of the people. kr3 ««* 



A decrease in poor-rates and or tne u ^^ 



ing relief, which has been conndcut '/are no* « * 

 pi f that we have turned the corner aBS»£ ^ ^ 



open mad ..f prosperity, ought n°t> j- ' it: fcr* 

 that implicit u-ust which is demand«l r ^ ^ 

 are to re llect that many other cau.e* 

 other than an improvement in our m0D? 

 which are sufficient to cause this decrea. • ^ 

 I will name a population daily decreas >ng, ^ 

 distaste to poor-house restraint and poo ^ 

 ment which covers our roads witt Mg tg *0r 

 creased demand for land is perhaps ra ^ 



buted to a subsidence of the panic tna ^^ IP 

 ment in the pecuniary condition ot x ita i 3n ,l»^ 

 new tenant appears as deficient • ^^ & ffl^ 

 struggling a man as the old one, i teke frofl^ 



Stem of till e: tooulyeff^-'^Ui**^ 

 land all he can^nd to give it as i«l 'H^** 



been drained by the . tttS**^* 



i • vAniss on fee, anu ,,iw 



social cod*^ 



t 



money he had, as an admission ie«> con , ; 

 long as his landlord will feel bandit 



died 



