The Evolution of Agrirvlfnral Imjylemenh. 03 
able improvement. The best cup drills showed a difference of 
7 lb., and tbe worst of 40 lb., per acre between the greatest and 
smallest amounts of seed received by two furrows traced by the 
same machine. The “ force feed ” drill, on the other hand, has 
a practically perfect deliverj’’. Its discharge does not vary more 
than 10 ounces per acre under the worst circumstances, and a 
machine constructed on this principle, and tested by the British 
Commissioners at the Philadelphia Exhibition, did not vary 
more than two ounces per acre, while its performance was abso- 
lutely unaffected when working at inclinations of 30 degi’ees. 
Clas.s III. — Harvesting Implements. 
In 1780, the Society of Arts offered a gold medal for the 
introduction of a reaping-machine, and continued this offer, 
without practical results, for more than thirty years. 
Mr. Capel Lofft, of Troston Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, drew 
the attention of Arthur Young to this offer, and was told by 
him of the Gallic Eeaper, which has already been alluded to. 
Surprised that this machine should have been so long neglected, 
Lofft sent Young translations of Pliny and Palladius describing 
it, together with notes suggesting certain improvements on this 
early piece of mechanism. Mr. William Pitt, of Pendeford, 
responded to the stimulus thus imparted to the question by the 
invention of a “Rippling” machine, of which Young gives an 
illustrated description in the eighth volume of the Annals of 
Agriculture (p. IGl). This apparatus consisted of a number of 
circular saws mounted on a common axis, and set closely together, 
so as to form a serrated cylinder which, in revolving, snatched 
the ears from the straw and threw them into a collectinsr box. 
o 
IVhen the box was full of ears it was removed and sent to the 
threshing-machine, the reaper continuing its progress. 
It was not until April, 1812, that John Common, a mill- 
wright of Denwick, Northumberland, laid a machine before the 
Society of Arts which embodied all the essential principles of 
the modern reaper, having reciprocating knives, open finger 
guards, a swathe delivery, and a reel for bringing the standing 
grain to the cutters. Common made three different reapers in 
1811-12, but ceased from woi-king on the problem in the latter 
year, partly on account of the mechanical difliculties to be 
overcome, but chiefly because of the popular clamour raised 
against his machine. This was so great that his early trials 
were made by moonlight, the Duke of Northumberland, who 
was greatly interested in them, assisting at more than one of 
these midnight essays. 
