R E A 



R E A 



thefe forts of hooks arc ufed occafionally with cither liand, 

 tlie operator fhifting hands, chopping llic ftraw low down, 

 and gathering about lialf a flicaf at a time, which, when 

 put together, ir, bound with reed, combed from former 

 wheat-uraw, or with a double length of the wheat which is 

 reaping. See Skkle. 



Reaping Alachine, a contrivance for the purpofe of reap- 

 ing grain by means of animal labour. With this view, and 

 to facilitate an operation of fuch importance to the farmer, 

 different attempts have been made to conftruft machines, fo 

 as to difpatch the work in a rapid manner by the aflillance 

 of horfe labour, but the fucccfs with which they have been 

 attended, has hitherto been far from complete. An imple- 

 ment of this fort has lately been made by Mr, Plunkiiett ; 

 it is upon a fomewhat new principle, the liorfe drawing the 

 machine inrtead of pufhing it forward, as was the old mode 

 of applying the power. 



In this machine, the horfe tracks from the front fide of it, 

 which is fcen at once by the appearance of the implement, 

 fo as to hi: clfar of the crop, and the two large wheels, by 

 means of the axle, drive another wheel, which communicates 

 with the two other wheels, the latter of which is found in 

 the axis of the cutter : a man at the handles regulates the 

 direftion, &c. This machine may be feen fully reprefented 

 in the fecond volume of the Farmer's Dictionary ; and a 

 reaping machine for clover may be feen in the fame work 

 in the fame plate. 



Other machines of this kind have ftill more lately been 

 invented by other pcrfons, but without anfwering the pur- 

 pofe in that full and complete manner which is neccdary in 

 this fort of work. 



What appears to be chiefly wanting in thefe forts of ma- 

 chines, to render them complete and effeftive, as tools for the 

 purpofe of reaping, is that of their having more power or 

 velocity in the cutting parts, fo that the work may be per- 

 formed in a perfeftly clean neat manner, without the ftraw 

 being drove or forced down in an improper manner before 

 the initruments which are to cut it ; their cutting it out 

 fully in the whole of its breadth ; their being capable of 

 being regulated to cut at different heightj, and to different 

 breadths ; their being made capable of directing the cut 

 itrawy grain all in one even regular direction, fo that it may 

 be bound up with facility ; the horfes, or other animals, 

 being fo attached to them as to permit of their walking 

 along on the fide of the ilanding grain, where the foriner 

 cut was made, or where they pulli the implements before 

 them, the having them fo conveniently fixed in them as to 

 admit of no fort of interruption to the labour in any way ; 

 their being made hght and of ready apphcation, as well as at 

 a cheap rate ; and their keeping the fcythes or cutting parts 

 in a perfectly fharp ftate, without their being taken out, and 

 undergoing the operation of whetting. There are, befides 

 thefe, fome other points, which lliould be attended to, but 

 thefe are, probably, the moll material. 



REAPS, fmall parcels of corn, laid along on the ftubble, 

 in reaping, to be afterwards gathered into (heaves by the 

 binder. This is molt commonly the cafe, when the weather 

 is moift, as in dry times the reaps of corn are ufually laid 

 in the bandi, and tied up, as foon as they are in fufficient 

 quantity, into fheaves. 



REAR, a term frequently ufed in compofition, to de- 

 note fomething behind or backward in refpeft of another ; 

 ijl oppofition to -uan, or avant, before. 



It is formed by corruption oi the French arriere, figni- 

 fying the fame. 



Rear, in a Military Senfe, is ufed for the hind-part of 

 an army, &c. in oppofition to the front, or face of it. 



Rkar, in Naval Laniruage, is a name given to the lafl. 

 divifion of a (quadron, or the lall fquadron of a fleet, and 

 which is accordingly commanded by a rear-adn»iral, or the 

 tnird officer of tlie faid fleet or fquadron. 



REAH-artniiral. Sec Admikal. 



REAR-guar/l. See GuAiin. 



KnAR-half-filfs, are the three hindmoft ranks of a bat- 

 talion, when it is drawn up fix deep. See YiLE-leaJeri. 



KKAR-line of an army encamped, is always twelve liun- 

 dred feet at lead from the centre line, both of which run 

 parallel to the front line, and alio to the referve. 



REAii-rani, is the laft rank of a battalion, or fquadron, 

 when drawn up, and generally fixteen or eighteen feet from 

 the centre line, when drawn up in open order. 



REAR-tif, in the Manege, called iu French cabrer, is the 

 action of a horfe, when he railes himfelf upon his houghs or 

 hinder legs, as if he would fall quite over in a backward 

 direction, to the great danger of his rider. This is often 

 caufed by his having too much of the curb. 



Rkai!, in Rural Economy, to raife the roof part of any 

 fort of ftied or other building for containing fome kind of 

 live-dock. 



REARED, or Wale-REAREn. See WALE-r/-ar^r/. 



REARING Animals, in Agriculture and Rural Eco- ~- 

 uomy, the bufinefs of breeding and bringing them up to the 

 moll fuitable flates for the purpofes of the farmer. I'he 

 principles of this art depend upon a variety of different cir- 

 cumflances and kinds of knowledge, as has been already ex- 

 plained. See Breeding, and lL.i\E-Sloct. 



Animals of the horfe kind fliould invariably be brought 

 up in the befl manner, without any fort of (tinting in their 

 food, according to the ufes they are defigned to ferve, in 

 order that they may have their full growth and power. In 

 the labouring cattle kinds of animals, attention fhould, in 

 fome degree, be paid to hardinefs, both in their food and 

 their expofure, by having recourfe to the more coarfe forts 

 of feeding in the lefs flieltercd fituations, but nothing of 

 Hinting fliould ever be allowed, as by thefe means they be- 

 come large, and capable of fultaining a greater degree of 

 exertion. There is, likevrife, much utility in good training, 

 in rearing all forts of animals in this intention ; and it requires 

 careful, ileady, mild perfons to be employed in it, as they, 

 for the moil part, acquire the habits and difpofitions of thofe 

 about them, in fome meafure ; and the more early they are 

 obtained the better. This point deferves much more at- 

 tention from farmers and others than it has hitherto met with, 

 as molt of the bad habits of working animals arife from the 

 negleft of it. Befides, good training and mild difpofitions 

 are highly favourable to fattening animals. See Horse. 



In rearing poultry, pigeons, rabbits, and fifli, much care, 

 management, and circumfpedlion, are conltantly neceflary, 

 in order to their perfeft fuccels. Too little attention is for 

 the molt part beftowed on the nature of the birds, in fome 

 forts of the more wild poultry kinds, as thofe which are of 

 the game defcription, for inftance, the galena, the pheafant, 

 the fwan, and fome others. Thefe cannot be fo readily- 

 reared, or with fo mnch facility, under hens of the domeftic 

 kind, as other forts are, fuch as the turkey, peacock, &c. 

 This circumltance fhould therefore be always kept in mind 

 in rearing fuch birds. See Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbit, 

 &c. 



A very nice attention and management is alfo requifite in 

 the rearing and perfefling of fifli. See Flsh, PoyiD-Fifheriet, 

 and Salmon Fishery. 



In rearing birds of the game kind, fuch as the above, in 

 the way of ornament about a refidence, Mr. Loudon has 

 remarked, much depends upon encouraging them, when al- 

 lowed 



