416 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dec., 1898. 
- For a knife I know nothing better than a piece of a short, thick scythe, 
such as is used for cutting Bathurst burr. It should be passed through a cut 
in the wood in an open angle close to the back-end of the right-side piece. 
Do not let the knife protrude more than from 4 to 5 inches; otherwise it will 
drag the stuff along after it is cut. 
The bender is a bar of iron, 3-inch thick. Fix one end of it in a hole on 
the wood near the hinges, then bend it gradually upwards, outwards, and 
backwards until it is about 6 inches infront of the knife. Here pass it through 
the eye of another bar, 32-inch thick and 2 feet 6 inches high, firmly fixed in the 
wood, and then bend it gently for about 1 foot outwards, so that the bender 
forms also an open angle, similar to the angle formed by the knife with the 
wooden piece it is fixed on, but about 6 inches in front of it. 
The bender is the main piece of the corn-cutter, without which the 
implement will never work well. As you see by the form of the bar, it 
performs twofdifferent works. It first lifts gently any cornstalk which might 
happen to be bent down and, above all, it bends slightly forwards and 
outwards all the stalks, which are then cut yery easily and, so to say, 
nearly without any friction by the knife, which follows close after it. 
Do not attempt to put on any more wheels. The machine is of easy 
draught ; as it is, alight horse has no difficulty in working it the whole day. 
Neither should a second knife be put on the left side, for then the stalks will 
fall on the next row and get entangled with the standing crops. It will cut 
any sort of cane, sorghum, or maize sown inrows. The Darling Downs Gazette 
thus describes‘ its work :—“ It was engaged cutting Amber cane for ensilage 
at the time of our visit, and did its work excellently, cutting the thick stalks 
close to the ground and laying them down evenly. Its capabilities were very 
apparent, for the drays busily engaged drawing the cane were unable to keep 
anything like pace with the machine. As fast as the horse can walk will the 
machine cut and lay the crop,” &c. 
When the crop is well dried, it has now to be carted to the yard. For such 
a bulky crop the usual farm dray is unhandy. It is far too high, entailing 
a great waste of time and energy to lift the crop on toit, Neither isit spacious 
enough, even with the addition of the usual hay frame. To obviate these 
drawbacks the writer has devised and made, on the Experiment Farm, “ rolling 
platforms” standing within a foot from the ground on two 12-inch wheels with 
broad tires, whilst the forepart is provided with an iron arrangement hanging 
on the middle of the axle of the dray. ‘That work is made of very strong iron, 
4 inches by 4-inch, bent nearly at right angle, and then welded or bolted to a 
