WINTER. 
through a cylindrical sieve, having within it a 
rotatory spindle, upon which short blunt arms 
are arranged in a spiral direction; these agitate 
the grain as it passes along, and thus separate 
the small dirt and dust as well as the awns of 
barley, which fall through in a closed box or cup- 
board. The cylinder is placed ina slanting di- 
rection, and is provided at each end with slides, 
which regulate the quantity and speed with which 
the grain shall pass. Through the slide aperture 
at the lower end, the grain is introduced upon 
other sieves, which, having a backward and for- 
ward motion; distribute it equally over their 
surface while it is subjected to the blast of the 
fan, driving obliquely through the sieves; this 
carries the chaff out of the machine; the grain 
falls on a screen, which, having a similar motion 
to the sieves, separates from it all small seeds, 
and the dross corn is carried away in a division 
formed for the purpose. The grain, dross corn, 
and chaff are thus all thoroughly separated from 
each other; and the dust, dirt, and small seeds, 
having fallen in an enclosed box from the cylin- 
der, may be entirely removed. Ihave heard this 
machine highly approved by many,—and when 
pains are taken to separate the corn from the 
short straw, &c., previously to submitting it to 
the machine, I believe it to be very effective ; 
but as there is some degree of complication in its 
details, it is chiefly suitable to those to whom a 
high degree of excellence in the manner of ‘ mak- 
ing up their corn’ is a matter of more importance 
than the time or labour it may require.” 
WINTER. The season which intervenes be- 
tween autumn and spring. It is the season of 
repose to vegetables, and of torpidity to hyber- 
nating animals,—of invigoration to soils, and of 
the digestive preparation of the food of plants,— 
of frost and snow and storm and tempest,—of the 
busiest labours of the farmery, and the roughest 
toils of the farm-field,—of the lowest activity of 
brutes and the most slovenly existence of fools 
and libertines,—but of the strongest outgoings of 
human friendships, and of the loftiest soarings of 
enlightened intellect. We have sufficiently in- 
dicated its natural phenomena and its rural oc- 
cupations in the article CanunpaR, and have given 
a large notice of its biological characteristics in 
the article Hypernation; and we may here, in 
the words of Mudie, very briefly suggest its great 
moral lessons to reflecting men,—and most of all 
to men residing in the country. ‘“ Winter is the 
season of Nature’s annual repose,—the time when 
the working structures are reduced to the mini- 
mum of their extent, and the energies of growth 
and life to the minimum of their activity, and 
when the phenomena of nature are fewer, and ad- 
dress themselves less pleasingly to our senses, than 
they do in any other of the three seasons. There 
is hope in the bud of spring, pleasure in the bloom 
of summer, and enjoyment in the fruit of autumn; 
but, if we make our senses our chief resource, 
there is something both blank and gloomy in the 
WINTER ACONITE. 743 
aspect of winter. And if we were of and for this 
world alone, there is no doubt that this would 
be the correct view of the winter, as compared 
with the other seasons; and the partial death of 
the year would point as a most mournful index 
to the death and final close of our existence. 
But we are beings otherwise destined and en- 
dowed,—the world is to us only what the lodge 
is to the wayfaring man; and while we enjoy its 
rest, our thoughts can be directed back to the 
past part of our journey, and our hopes forward 
to its end, when we shall reach our proper home, 
and dwell there securely and for ever. The win- 
ter is, therefore, the especial season of man,—our 
own season, by way of eminence; and men who 
have no winter in the year of the region in which 
they are placed, never of themselves display those 
traits of mental development which are the true 
characteristics of rational men, as contrasted with 
the irrational part of the living creation. It is 
true there must be the contrast of a summer, in 
order to give the winter its proper effect ; but 
still, the winter is the intellectual season of the 
year—the season during which the intellectual 
and immortal spirit in man enables him most 
triumphantly to display his superiority over ‘ the 
beasts that perish.’ ” 
WINTERA. See Drimys. 
WINTER ACONITEH,—botanically Hranthis. 
A small genus of ornamental, tuberous-rooted, 
small plants, of the ranunculus family. The com- 
mon winter aconite, Hranthis hyemalis, called by 
Linneus Helleborus hyemalis, was introduced to 
Britain from Italy toward the close of the 16th 
century; and has long been almost universally 
cultivated as one of the earliest and most com- 
mon winter beauties of the flower border. Its 
flower is yellow, and sits upon the leaf at the 
height of two inches or so from the ground, and 
blooms from January till March; and though 
neither delicate nor brilliant nor conspicuous 
enough to compare for a moment with any of the 
chief floral ornaments of summer, it has abun- 
dance of beauty to charm the eye amid the 
rigours of winter and early spring, and consti- 
tutes a delightful companion to the snow-drop. 
The roots send out numerous offsets, and may be 
taken up and transplanted after the leaves de- 
cay, or between the beginning of June and the 
latter part of October; but as they are small, and 
of similar colour to common garden soils, they 
must be carefully searched for, else many will be 
left in the ground; and as the plants are only 
one-flowered, and do not make a good appearance 
when thin or scattered, the roots should be plant- 
ed pretty close to one another and in small clus- 
ters. The Siberian winter aconite, Hranthis sibe- 
ricus, is similar to the common species, but does 
not bloom till a considerably later period in the 
spring, and was not introduced to Britain till 
1826. Both species thrive in any common gar- 
den soil. 
WINTER’S BARK. See Drimys. 
