AV H I 



placed ill fomc convenient fituation, fo as to prevent the 

 Train from Hying about during the operation, which 19 then 

 begun. Wliere the latter contrivance is made ufe of, the 

 frame is woven with ftrong (licks, in the manner of a hurdle, 

 being placed in the fame fituation when ufed. 



The procefs is performed by taking large haudfuls of the 

 com in the ftraw by the butt end, and ftriking the top or 

 ear-ends over the upper part of the frame, fo as to force 

 out the grain from the ears of the top part, without break- 

 ing the ftraw, which in this way becomes much better for 

 thatch, and at the fame time the grain is lefs injured than 

 by the flail method of threfhing it out. The butt parts of 

 the ftraw are fometimes afterwards thralhed over, in order 

 to get out any wheat that may have been left in the Ihort 

 ears. This is an excellent mode of providing feed-wheat, as 

 the fincft grain is chiefly procured. 



And it is fuggefted, too, as a particularly good method in 

 cafes where wheat is infedted with the fmut, as during the 

 operation of threfhing, the flail breaks the fmut-balls, and 

 reduces them to a powdery ilate, which caufes the good 

 wheat to have a blacker appearance than would otherwife be 

 the cafe when ground. It may likewife be ufed to advan- 

 tage with other forts of grain in fome cafes. 



The above is alfo a term fometimes applied in the northern 

 diftrifts, to the praftice of ftriking it over a ilone or other 

 fuch contrivance, in order to get out the grain, and leave the 

 ftraw in an unbroken ftatc. In this way it is fometimes 

 termed lafhing. It is an excellent praftice in getting out 

 this fort of grain in many points of view, when on a fmall 

 fcale, but it is not well fuited to large concerns. See 

 Threshing. 



^VHIPPLE-TRF.^, a term ufed to fignify the bar or 

 wooden part of the contrivance by which a horfe or team is 

 attached to a plough, harrow, or any other fort of imple- 

 ment of thefe kinds. They are of different fizes and forms, 

 according to the nature of the teams and other circumftances. 

 See SwiNGLE-T/Y/", Indented. 



WHIPSTITCH, a term not unfrequently ufed in 

 ploughing to fignify a fort of half-ploughing, or what in 

 many places is termed raftering. It is principally made ufe 

 of for keeping the land more dry and healthy in the winter 

 feafon. See Raftering. 



WHIPSTITCHING, the pradice of working tillage- 

 land in fomewhat the raftering manner. It is a method often 

 employed for turning up llubbles of the wheat and other 

 kinds in the winter time, inftead of making a fallow. The 

 beft mode of doing it in this intention is firft to make what 

 is called a whipltitch, rafter, or fort of half-ploughing of 

 the land ; and that when come back again to the fame 

 furrow, to turn them both over ; the top parts of both fur- 

 rows being thus turned in the middle, which leaves the fpace 

 of four inches betwixt each furrow : then ploughing the 

 land acrofs the old furrows. If land lies ever fo wet in win- 

 ter, by ploughing in this manner, it may be kept dry and in 

 a healthy ftate. It is neceflary, too, to ftrike up the old fur- 

 rows every day before leaving the ground ; and to let the 

 main drains be kept well open to receive the water from the 

 furrows in the land : by this means, the froft will be ad- 

 mitted four inches deeper than in the cafe of a flat fallow- 

 work. 



This mode of tillage is that which is fometimes called 

 double whipft.itching in fome diftrifts and places. 



Some prefer it before all other methods for winter-tillage, 

 as it brings the land into much better condition for cultiva- 

 tion than twice fallowing. 



WHIPT Syllabub. See Syllabub. 

 WHIRL-POOL, an eddy, vortex, or gulf, where the 



W H I 



water is continually turning round. See Gulph, Eddy, 

 Vortex, &c. 



Thefe in rivers are very common, from various accident?, 

 and are ufually very trivial, and of little confequence. In 

 the fea they are more rare, but more dangerous. Sibbald 

 has related the effefts of a remarkable marine whirlpool 

 among the Orcades, which would prove very dangerous to 

 ftrangers, though it is of no confequence to the people who 

 are ufed to it. This is not fixed to any particular place, 

 but appears in various parts of the limits of the fea among 

 thofe iflands. Wherever it appears, it is very furious, and 

 boats, &c. would inevitably be drawn in and perifh with 

 it ; but the people who navigate them are prepared for it, 

 and always carry an empty veflTel, a log of wood, or large 

 bundle of ftraw, or fome fuch thing, in the boat with them ; 

 as foon as they perceive the whirlpool, they tofs this within 

 its vortex, keeping themfelves out ; this fubftance, whatever 

 it be, is immediately received in the centre, and carried under 

 water ; and as foon as this is done, the furface of the place 

 where the whirl-pool was becomes fmooth, and they row 

 over it with fafety ; and in about an hour they fee the vortex 

 begin again in fome other place, ufually at about a mile 

 diftant from the firft. Sibbald's Prodr. Hift. Scotl. 



WHIRLIGIG, in Military Antiquities, an inftrument of 

 punifliment formerly much ufed for trifling offences, com- 

 mitted by petit futlers, Jews, brawling women, and fuch 

 perfons. This was a kind of circular wooden cage, which 

 turned on a pivot ; and when fet in motion, whirled round 

 with fuch an amazing velocity, that the dehnquent became 

 extremely fick, and commonly made difcharges through 

 every operation of the body. 



WHIRLING-Table, a machine contrived for exhibit- 

 ing and demonftrating the principal laws of gravitation, and 

 of the planetary motions in curvilinear orbits. A A (Plate 

 XXI. _yf^. 13. AJlrnnomy) is a ftrong frame of wood, B a 

 winch fixed on the axis C of the wheel D, round which 

 is the catgut-ftring F, which alfo goes round the fmall 

 wheels G and K, crofling between them and the great wheel 

 D. On the upper end of the axis of the wheel G, above 

 the frame, is fixed the round board d, to which may be 

 occaConally fixed the bearer M S X. On the axis of the 

 wheel H is fixed the bearer N T Z, and when the winch B 

 is turned, the wheels and bearers are put into a whirling 

 motion. Each bearer has two wires, W X and Y Z, fixed 

 and fcrewed tight into them at the ends by nuts on the out- 

 fide ; and when' the nuts are unfcrewed, the wires maybe 

 drawn out in order to change the balls U, V, which Hide 

 upon the wires by means of brafs loops fixed into the balls, 

 and preventing their touching the wood below them. 

 Through each ball there pafles a filk line, which is fixed to 

 it at any length from the centre of the bearer to its end by 

 a nut-fcrew at the top of the ball ; the ftiank of the fcrew 

 going into the centre of the ball, and prefling the line againft 

 the under fide of the hole which it goes through. The line 

 goes from the ball, and under a fmall pulley fixed in the 

 middle of the bearer ; then up through a focket in the round 

 plate (S and T) in the middle of each bearer; then 

 through a flit in the middle of a fquare top (O and P) of 

 each tower, and going over a fmall pulley on the top comes 

 down again the fame way, and is at laft faftened to the 

 upper end of the focket fixed in the middle of the round 

 plate above-mentioned. Each of thefe plates, S and T, has 

 four round holes near their edges, by which they Aide up 

 and down upon the wires which make the corner of each 

 tower. The balls and plates being thus connedled, each 

 by its particular line, it is plain that if the balls be drawn 

 outward, or towards the ends M and N of their refpeftive 



bearers, 



