( 549 ) 
mSCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS AND 
NOTICES. 
1. — On the Use of the Reaping-Machine in a Wet Harvest. 
By the Right Hon. J. Evelyn Denison. 
(Extract from a Letter.) 
Tins year (1860) I had a hirge and heavy crop of wheat knocked 
down flat and much twisted about ; my bailiff took off" all the appliances 
from my machine (Wood's combined mower and reaper) for reaping, 
and some indeed of those used in mowing grass ; he even took off 
the wheel on the side farthest from the horses, and allowed the 
knives to rest only on a shoe which travelled on the ground : in this 
way he passed the knives under the wheat, cut it, and allowed it to 
drop as it was cut. 
The machine could only work one way against the inclination of 
the crop, so that time was lost in returning across the field idle ; but 
better and cleaner work was made than could have been made by 
hand, and at a considerable saving of expense. 
The success of this operation seems to be an exception to the 
general rule. I hear generally that reaping-machines did not siic- 
ceed this autumn : it might, therefore, be some advantage that this 
success and this mode of using the reaper should be made known 
through the pages of the Journal. 
The experience which I have had for the last two years of Wood's 
combined mower and reaper is much in its favour. I have cut all 
my clover and grass crops, as well as my corn crops — wheat, barley, 
oats, and beans — with this machine. 
Ossington, ith Dec, 1860. 
2. — Soluble Food for Stock. 
To the Editor of the Journal of the Koyal Agricultural Society. 
Sir, — If you think the following plan worth a place in the Journal, 
I shall feel obliged by its insertion. Knowing well the advantage 
of giving a jaded horse a drink of meal and water, I concluded it 
would answer equally well to keep my water-trough in the farmyard 
continually supplied with any kind of meal that happened to be in 
readiness — such as rape and linseed cakes in powder, ground beans, 
barley, &c. Water is a powerful solvent, and the nutritious pro- 
perties contained in the meal must necessarily be found in a state 
