HCSB u ti'Jg ,L THE IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. BY J. ALLEN RANSOME. LONDON: J. RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY. MDCCCXLIII. LONDON: R. HODSON, PRINTER, HOLBORN HILL. PREFACE. OF the matter contained in the following pages a considerable portion was first collected for, and formed part of, an essay for the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The work is the result of laborious observation and inquiry, which in various ways have been afforded from the circumstance of my engagement as a partner in a long established manufactory of agricultural implements. The facilities which this position has afforded me for obtaining a general knowledge of farming implements, and for becoming acquainted with the manufacture and trial of most of the machines in general use, leads me to hope that the information thus gathered, may not be without value, to those who are interested in the progress of Agricultural mechanics. With this view, I have ventured to sketch a history of the im- plements in past and present use, and to introduce such comments upon their practical utility, as may possibly assist the inquirer, in arriving at a correct knowledge of their merits. In obtaining materials for the historical part of this work, I have availed myself as much as possible of original sources of information have explored the musty records of the patent offices 1V PREFACE. consulted the earliest records of agriculture, and in comparing my results with those of some earlier labourers in the same field, I have pleasure in bearing testimony to the value and general accuracy of their conclusions. To the editors of the Encyclopaedias of Agriculture and British Husbandry, this meed of praise is especially due. I am also indebted for much information to the works of Gray, Bailey, Williamson, Professor Low, and to the author of the article on Husbandry in the Penny Encyclopaedia, whom I have ventured to quote as authorities of unquestionable value, while in the more ready and available advantage of the experience of my senior partners, I have had that assistance which gives me a just confidence that my labours as an author, although of small literary pretension, will be useful to agricultural readers ; and if this object is in only a slight degree attained ample indeed will be my reward for all the pains I have taken to render the work a concise and accurate hand-book of the Implements of Agriculture. Ipiwich, 1843. TABLE OF CONTENTS. SECTION I. PLOUGHS. Page Greek Plough - - . .7 Roman ditto - - . - - 8 Hindoo ditto - 9 Chinese ditto - ^ . 9 Saxon ditto - - - 10 Norman ditto . rj . n Rotherham ditto . . - 13 Small's ditto . - . . 14 Scotch ditto - . ... - 15 Brand's ditto - - - 16 Ransome's ditto - - - - - 18 English Swing ditto - - . -22 Plough Head - - v^ } . . 23 Share - . ., ,. . 24 Mouldboard .. -.^vf - 25 Coulter - - - 30 Skim Coulter - - - . . - 32 Suffolk Wheel Plough . - - 33 Rutland ditto ditto - - - - 39 Lever Plough . . . 40 Ploughs with Friction Wheels . 42 Double Furrow Plough . 44 CONTENTS. Clark's Universal Plough Smith's Subsoil ditto - 47 Rackheath ditto, ditto - - 47 Raclcheath Subturf ditto - 48 Charlbury Subsoil ditto - 4 Skeleton ditto - 49 Kent Turnrest ditto - 49 Smart's Improved Turnrest ditto - 55 Smith's Turnrest ditto - - 55 Wilkie's ditto, ditto - 55 Capt. Hay's ditto, ditto - 55 Huck vale's ditto ditto - 56 Mole ditto - - 56 Dummy ditto - - 57 Paring ditto - - 57 SECTION III. HARROWS & SCARIFIERS. Early English Harrow - - 63 Russian ditto - 63 Belgian ditto - - - 64 Norfolk light ditto - - - - 66 Suffolk Heavy ditto - - - - 68 Armstrong's ditto . . . - 69 David's ditto . . . 70 Smith's Chain ditto . . - 70 Morton's Revolving Brake ditto - - 71 Vaux's Revolving ditto - - . - 72 BiddelTs extirpating ditto - - - . 73 CONTENTS. Vll SCARIFIERS. Page Cooke's Scarifier - 75 Fuller's Extirpator - 76 Finlay son's Harrow - 77 Wilkie's Parallel Adjusting Brake - 77 Kirk wood' s Grubber - 78 Biddell's Scarifier - 79 Lord's Ducie's Cultivator - - - - 81 SECTION IV. ROLLERS. Booth's Rollers - - - 92 Heavy Iron ditto - - 93 Barley ditto - - 94 Drill ditto - - - 94 Seam Presser - - . . 95 Crosskill's Clod Crusher - . . - 96 SECTION V. DRILLS. Chinese Drill . . - 100 Early European ditto - 100 TulTs ditto . . '" . IOQ Anstruther's ditto - . - 101 Cooke's ditto - - . . 102 Baldwin's ditto - - 103 Smyth's Suffolk ditto . - 104 Garrett's ditto ditto . - 105 Bedfordshire ditto . . - 109 Vlll CONTENTS. Page Maynard's drill - 1 1 1 Lord Western's ditto - 1 1 1 Grounsell's Patent drop ditto Hornsby's Patent ditto ditto - 1 14 Garrett's Turnip and Manure ditto - 115 DIBBLING MACHINES. Wedlake's dibbling machine . .117 Rham's ditto - - - - .-117 SECTION VI. HORSE HOE. Tull's Horse Hoe - - 119 Blakie's ditto - 120 Grant's ditto - 121 Morton's Expanding ditto 122 Clarke's Universal ditto -123 White's Double Action ditto - - 124 Huckvale's Patent Turnip ditto - 125 Garrett's Patent Lever ditto - - - - 126 SECTION VII. -RAKES. Hand Drag Rake - 129 Suffolk Horse ditto - 130 Wedlake's Horse Hay Rake - 131 East Lothian Stubble ditto - - 132 Grant's Patent Lever Horse ditto - - 133 Salmon's Hay Making Machine - 134 CONTENTS. IX SECTION VIII. THRASHING MACHINE. Page Ancient modes of Thrashing - - - 137 Menzie's Thrashing Machine - - 189 Stirling's ditto - - 140 Winlaw's ditto - 140 Willoughby's ditto - - 141 Jubb's ditto - - 141 Wardropp's ditto - - 142 Musigny's ditto - - 143 Steedman's ditto - 143 Meikle's ditto - - 144 Samuel's ditto - - - 147 Modern Scotch ditto 148 Wigfull's ditto - . 149 Lee's ditto - 150 Suffolk Portable ditto - .152 Bolting Machine - - 154 Atkinson's Thrashing Machine - 156 Earl Ducie's ditto - - 156 Ransome's Hand ditto - - - - 171 SECTION IX. WINNOWING MACHINE. Saltoun Winnowing Machine - - 174 Meikle's ditto - 174 Moodie's ditto - 175 Cooch's ditto - 175 Elmey's ditto - 176 Salter's ditto - - 177 Clyburn's ditto - 179 Tuxford's Reeing ditto - 180 Barley Hummelling ditto - 181 CONTENTS. SECTION X. CHAFF ENGINES. Page Early Hand-box Chaff Engine -183 Salmon's ditto - - - - - - 184 Passmore's ditto - - - - - 185 Lester's ditto - - - - - 186 Heppenstall's ditto - - 189 Lord Ducie's ditto - - - 190 Ransome's and May's ditto - - - - 191 SECTION XL TURNIP CUTTERS. Barrow Turnip Cutter - - - 194 Gardner's ditto - - - - 195 BiddeU's Turnip Cart - - - 197 SECTION XII. MILLS. Kibbling mill - - 200 Seaman's bean ditto - - - - 201 Norfolk crusher - - - - - 201 Suffolk ditto - 202 Spiral mill . - 203 Egyptian flour mill - - 205 Pompeii ditto ... 207 Analytical abstract of patents for mills - - 210 Wilkinson's patent - 210 Milne's - - 210 Hayne's ,, - 212 Truth's - 213 Taylor's 214 CONTENTS. XI Dearman's patent - . _ - 215 Smith's - 216 Pratt's - 216 Ferryman's - 217 Hunt's - - 218 Wright's - 218 Williams' - 219 Smart's - 221 Kenrick's ... 221 Devereux's . 222 Ayton's . - 224 Smith's ..... 225 M'Curdy's - 226 Selden's . . - 227 Goodlet's - - 228 Savoye's - - - - . 229 Hebert's . - 229 Don's . 233 Sharp and Roberts' - 233 Berry's - - . 235 Hebert's - - 236 Hebert's - - 238 Horsefield's ,, . 238 Dean and Evans' - 241 Scott's - 242 Parkes' . - 242 Hebert's , - - - - - 243 SECTION XIII. THE DYNAMOMETER. SECTION XIV. STEAM ENGINES. CONCLUSION - - 253 APPENDIX - - - - - 255 THE IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. SECTION I. THE Implements which mankind have employed in the cultivation of the earth, and their gradual improvement, is a theme closely interwoven with the history of agri- culture. In tracing the gradual progress of farming implements towards their present state of perfection, it will be readily perceived how steadily, in all ages and countries, they have improved as agriculture has advanced, and how sta- tionary they have ever remained in those countries where the science of agriculture is neglected. It would even seem that there is an intimate connection between the establishment of freedom of thought and of action, and the progress of agricultural arts and agricultural life, of all modes of life the most conducive to health, to virtue, and to enjoyment. The cultivation of the soil necessarily re- quires the construction of implements for the purpose ; and it is gratifying to observe the progress which has been made in them in Holland, in America, and in Eng- land, and contrast the beautiful and labour-lessening im- plements of agriculture which these free countries possess, 2 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. with those of the cultivators of Spain, of Portugal, and of Russia, or of the more degraded slaves and ryotts of the countries of the East, such as those of Palestine, and of the banks of the Ganges. These, it is more than prob- able, have remained unaltered, without any successful attempt at improvement, for two thousand years. Thus we find that the Israelites, instead of employing in their warm climate a thrashing machine, or even a flail, to thrash out their corn, were accustomed to turn their oxen on to the barn floor to slowly tread out the seed. And this rude mode is still the custom in Syria, and even in Portugal ; and " the Moors and Arabs " says Dr. Shaw, in his Travels in Palestine, " still continue to tread out their corn in this way." " In no parts of Hindostan," observes G. W. Johnson, in his excellent Essay upon the Agriculture of India, " is the crop stacked for any time after reaping ; barns are unknown ; thrashing immediately succeeds the cutting of the crop. This operation is generally per- formed by five or six oxen, upon one of which a driver is seated, travelling abreast around a post placed in the centre of the floor. The Hindoo sacred laws expressly for- bid the animals being muzzled while thus employed, but in a bad season the ryott is compelled to limit this privilege of his four-footed servant. The thrashing floor is merely a space in the field which has been levelled and beaten hard for the purpose. In Mysore the thrashing floor is made of a compound of clay, cow-dung, and water, spread over the ground, and made smooth. Some of the smaller seeds are beaten out by means of bamboo rods, but any- thing resembling the British flail is unknown." And, in accordance with this neglect of labour-lessen- ing implements, scarcely any expedients beyond the most IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 3 primitive appear to have been adopted in the cultivation of the earth. Thus we find the prophet Isaiah declaring (xxxii. 20), "Blessed are they that sow beside still waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox, and the ass." Sir John Chardin, and others, have described an indolent practice still prevalent in the Oriental countries, which explains this expression of the prophet. It seems that in planting rice, which is a crop that only flourishes in wet swampy grounds by the banks of rivers, while the earth is yet covered with water they cause it to be trodden by oxen, asses, &c., and that, after the upper por- tion of the ground has been thus imperfectly disturbed, they sprinkle the rice on the surface of the water.* And if the ground is thus rudely prepared to receive the seed by the action of the feet of cattle, in a manner equally imperfect is the seed covered with the earth by these untutored cultivators. The English farmer must not expect to find in these ill-farmed and unenlightened coun- tries any instruments even remotely resembling the com- pact and powerful harrows of this country : instead of these, the branch of a tree, or a few logs of wood fastened coarsely together, and dragged slowly over the surface of the very thinly and partially disturbed soil by oxen, are the only means employed to cover the seed. These in- struments are thus described by G. W. Johnson : " When the plough has done its utmost on the stiff soils of Bengal, they still remain cloddy, and unfit to be seed beds. To * And every thing relating to the preparation of the ground for the growth of corn, or its after preparation for food, appears to have been in keeping. The Israelites had formerly only hand mills to grind their corn, and these were commonly worked by female slaves. Exodus ii. 5 ; Judges vi. 21 ; Isaiah xlvii. 1,2; Matt. xxiv. 41.) B 2 4 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. remedy this a still more imperfect implement than the Indian plough is employed, which is intended to produce the combined effects of the roller and the harrow. This is nothing more in form than an English ladder made of bamboo, about eighteen feet long drawn by four bullocks, and guided by two men, who, to increase its power, stand upon it as they direct, and urge on the cattle. Again and again has it to pass over the same surface, and then, as in the case of their plough, it causes a great expense of time and labour without any commensurate effect. The Indian ryotts show their consciousness of the reason that the operation of pulverizing and levelling is beneficial, by calling it Rasbandham, that is, the confining of the moisture. Asiatic Res., vol. x. p. 4. And, in countries somewhat more civilized, the construc- tion of agricultural implements has hardly progressed more rapidly than in the East, for even in many parts of Europe they still use ploughs of the heaviest and most ill-con- structed character. Their teams, too, are equally neglected; horses, cows, asses, and even goats, are harnessed together in a most wretched manner, as was the custom, it would appear, in very primitive times in Palestine. " Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together." The German farmers still use, instead of a plough, an instrument called a haken, which is exactly similar to one used by the Roman farmers. Their harrows have commonly only wooden teeth, and are worked with five horses in a very bungling manner. (Johnson's Farm Encyclopedia, p. 559.) And still farther north, the Muscovite harrows are formed even in a ruder way, by merely fastening together the branches of the fir tree, whose projecting, partially trimmed spurs form the teeth, while the implement they IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. use for a plough is little more than a shapeless bundle of sticks tied together with tarred rope. As long, in fact, as men continued to till the earth as slaves, sowing a crop they were not sure of reaping, de- graded in spirit, and totally uneducated, it was in vain to expect superior implements of any kind, or any efforts, however slight, towards the improvement of agriculture. In our own island, for instance, ploughs were, during the early and dark ages of its history, rudely constructed, in- tolerably heavy, and of all kinds of shapes ; a result which might have been reasonably anticipated, for by an^old British law every ploughman was rejjuired^to^ m jikejbis_own^ plough. The harrows and other agricultural implements were equally ill-shaped. Drills were utterly unknown until about the sixteenth century. And when, about the year 1730, the celebrated Jethro Tull endeavoured to banish the flail from the barn, his neighbours loaded him with execrations. The tradition of the neighbourhood of Prosperous farm, near Hungerford, which Tull cultivated, still is, that he was "wicked enough to construct a ma- chine, which, by working a set of sticks, beat out the corn without manual labour." This is the first traditionary notice of a thrashing machine with which I am acquainted. Jethro Tull, indeed, must ever be regarded as one of the earliest improvers of English agricultural implements ; his ploughs, his horse-hoes, and his ingenious attempts to construct a drill machine evince a spirit of inquiry, and an advance in agricultural mechanics, which betoken at once his ability and his enthusiasm. He was far indeed before the general agricultural knowledge of his age ; and if he did now and then suffer his enthusiasm to carry him too far in the conclusions at which he arrived, still the 6 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, very effort to improve in such hands was sure to be attended with a measure of success ; for while his exertions produced immediate good fruits, they also widely diffused a very general and well-founded suspicion that the implements of that age were not so perfect as they might be made. This led to considerable improvements, and prepared the way for still more important efforts by the next gener- ation of implement makers, to whose merits I hope to do justice when treating of their several improvements in the implements of agriculture ; and in the following Essay I shall adopt what may perhaps be fairly regarded as the natural course, beginning with the implements necessary for the preparation of the ground for the reception of the seed ; then examining those adapted for the committal of that seed to the soil, for covering it with earth ; for cleansing the land as the crop proceeds towards maturity ; for gathering it in when ripe ; and finally for thrashing out the seed and dressing or preparing it for market. SECTION II. THE PLOUGH. THE Plough (a name which appears to be derived from the Saxon P/OM,) is certainly the most valuable and the most extensively employed of all agricultural implements. The first notices of the plough are brief and slight; we find, however, that in very early times the children of Israel ploughed with two oxen (Deut. xxii. 10.), that their plough had a coulter and ploughshare (1 Sam. xiii. 20), and that they were early aware of the advantages of a winter's fallow. (Prov. xx. 4.) It is certain that ploughs were long since furnished with wheels ; a fact which is proved by the drawings of the early Greek ploughs which have es- caped to us, of which the annexed is one copy. Hesiod (Works and Days, p. 50 441) advised the Greek farmers to have a spare plough, that an accident might not interrupt the work ; and he also enforces the advantages of careful and skilful ploughing. The ploughs of Rome were of the most simple form ; the following engraving of one of them is inserted in this place, in order that the gradual progress of the art of 8 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. plough -making may be the more readily traced. Rivalling these hi sim- plicity and rudeness of form, are the never altered or improved ploughs of the Hindoos and the Chinese, from whose implements it is probable the shape of those of Rome were borrowed. This may be seen from the following sketches. MA NO A LORE PLOUGH. PLOUGH OP DANIWASI, IN CONARA. THE PLOUGH. CH ATAKHAI. PLOUGH. PLOUGH OF PALI-GHAT. CHINESE PLOUGH. 10 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. It is curious to trace the progress of plough -making in England. Those of the early cultivators were of neces- sity rude and imperfect, for, as has been remarked, in those days the ploughman made his own plough. A law of the early Britons in fact directed that no one should guide a plough until he was able to make one. The driver was, by the same law, to make the traces by which it was drawn, and these were to be formed of withes of twisted willow, a long exploded custom ; many of the olden terms of which, however, are still retained by the rustic plough- man. Thus the womb-withy is yet called the wambtye or wantye. Withen trees are denominated witten trees, or whipple trees, &c. It is uncertain whether the early British plough had wheels ; some of those of the Saxons were certainly furnished with them. The annexed engraving is taken from a Saxon Cal- endar. (Cotton. MS. Tib. b. 5.) Yet it is pretty certain that they used ploughs of a form rivalling in simplicity those of modern India; a rude sketch of one of these is given in a Saxon MS. (Harl MS. 603.) From this cut it would seem that our Saxon fore- fathers were wont to fasten their horses to the plough by the tail ; a barbarous custom, which certainly was formerly practised in Ireland to such an extent that the legislature in 1634 found it neces- sary to interfere, and by the 11 & 12 Car. II. c. 15, (Irish THE PLOUGH. 11 Parl.) intitled, " An Act against plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wool off living Sheep," declared that " in many places of this kingdome there hath been a long time used a barbarous custome of ploughing, harrowing, draw- ing, and working with horses, mares, geldings, garrans, and colts, by the taile, whereby (besides the cruelty used to the beasts) the breed of horses is much impared in this king- dome. And also divers have and yet do use the like barbarous custome of pulling off the wool yearly from living sheep, instead of clipping or shearing of them." These wretched practices are then declared illegal, and to be punishable with fine and imprisonment. The Norman plough was also furnished with wheels, and it was usual for the ploughmen to carry a hatchet to break the clods, as is depicted in the ancient picture from whence the v annexed sketch is engraved. It is pretty certain that the ox was at first, and for a lengthened period, the only animal employed to draw the plough. Thus, although the plough and oxen are so frequently mentioned in conjunction in the Bible, the horse is never alluded to for such an occupation : an old British law forbade the use of any animal except the ox for this purpose. The first representation, of which I am aware, of a horse employed in the plough, is that given (A.D. 1066) in the tapestry of Bayeux. There are evident traces in the early English agricultural authors of the importance which they ascribed to the improved construction of the plough. This implement, however, was long drawn entirely by oxen in Britain. Fitzherbert, in his Boke of Husbandry TV i ^.i. < MI v *.!_ 25 or 30 bolls, or from R. Douglas states that mills by water, or with - A , , , , ,. 150 to 180 bushels. 4 horses, would do great execution. V In the report of Norfolk, in 1804, Arthur Young gives an account of machines which be- longed to the following parties : 170 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. Droziers, Reedham, built by Wigfull, cost 120/., worked by 7 persons and 6 horses. Farrow, Shipdam, built by Wigfull, worked by 7 persons, and by 4, 5, or 6 horses. Beck, Castle Rising, built by Wigfull, cost 200 guineas, worked by 6 persons, and 4, 5, or 6 horses. Whiting, Tring, built by Fordyce from Scotland, cost 200/., worked by 6 persons and 6 horses. Bevan, Riddlesworth, built by an engineer from Leith, cost 100/., worked by 10 men, and 8 horses. Coke, Holkham, cost 6QOL, worked by 12 men and 8 horses. Thrashing per Day. (40 co. wheat, or 50 co. barley, or 60 co. oats or peas. 20 co. wheat, or 30 co. barley, or 40 co. oats or peas. 32 co. wheat, or 64 co. barley, or 80 co. peas. f24 co. wheat, or 55 co. barley, or 63 to 84 co. oats. 40 co. wheat, or 40 co. barley, or 50 co. oats, 64 co. wheat. Reeves, Heverland, built by Assby, Blyboro', cost [ 30 co * wheat ' 100 guineas, worked with 2 or 3 horses. or 32 co ' barle y' [or 40 co. peas. Styleman, Smithsham, cost 300/., worked by 10 persons and 8 horses. In the report of Kent, R. Boys, in 1805, remarks on the only thrashing-mill then hi Kent, which, by a number of improvements, and after many alterations, he finds to answer extremely well ; and he states that it requires 4 horses and 1 2 men to work it. In Sir John Sinclair's System of Husbandry, pub- lished in 1812, we find an account of R. Kerr's machine, which, with 6 horses, 4 men, and 4 women, would thrash 80 co. wheat, or 120 co. barley, peas, or oats. 24 qrs. wheat, or 32 qrs. barley, or 40 qrs. oats. 50 bolls, or about 300 bushels of wheat. THE THRASHING MACHINE. 171 Considerable improvements have since been effected. In the statements of the trials of implements at the Royal English Agricultural Society's meeting at Cambridge, in 1841, the quantity of wheat thrashed by two four-horse portable machines manufactured by J. R. and A. Ransome, of Ipswich, and R. Garrett and Son, Leiston, was respec- tively sixty-one bushels and three quarters of a peck, and sixty-one bushels and a quarter of a peck ; and the corn was clean-thrashed and uninjured. This must not be taken as a criterion on which to found an average, as it was doubtless the result of stimulated exertion ; but it is not unusual with machines of this con- struction, with reaped wheat in fair condition, to thrash 50 quarters or 400 bushels in a day of ten hours, and the same quantity of mown barley. It should, however, be observed, that these, having neither rakes nor fans, the work of which is done by hand, would require eight men and five boys, and a change of horses in the day. 173 SECTION IX. THE WINNOWING MACHINE. Having traced the excellent modern implements commonly used for raising the -Farmer's crops, and separating the seed from the straw, the next valuable instrument which demands attention is the Winnowing Machine, for separating the corn from the chaff. The earlier mode of producing this effect was by a very simple blower, or fan, composed of four pieces of wood, placed longitudinally in the direction of an axis, upon each of which was fastened a piece of cloth or canvas ; as this was made to revolve by turning a handle or winch, it produced an artificial current of air, before which the corn was thrown by shovels, so that in passing the blast, the lighter chaff and dust was carried away; and amongst the labourers this rude instrument is still in use for dressing their gleaning corn. The machine now in general use, is a partially enclosed box containing at one end a chamber in which a fan is caused by means of toothed wheels to revolve very rapidly, forcing a strong current of air in the required direction. The corn being put into a hopper at the top, descends upon sieves arranged in front of the fan, and during its descent is subjected to the action of the blast, by which 174 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. the chaff and other light matter is separated and blown away ; the sieve is kept in constant and rapid motion by means of a connecting rod attached to a crank on the axis of the fan," and the corn, being violently shaken whilst still exposed to the stream of air, is driven to the edge of the sieve and falls upon a long inclined screen, whilst the small corn, seeds, and remaining dust pass through the sieve, and the corn, when it has reached the bottom of the screen falls out perfectly cleaned and fit for market. Various are the accounts given of the introduction of this machine, and many the claimants for the credit of having been the first maker of this piece of mechanism in England or Scotland. All, however, agree that the idea, design, or model was originally furnished from Holland ; earlier, how- ever, than the date of any of these claims by at least a period of twenty years, we learn from the papers of Robert Somerville of Haddington, that in 1710, pursuant to articles of agreement between himself and Fletcher, Laird of Sal- toun, James Meikle (father to Meikle of thrashing-machine memory) visited Holland for the purpose of learning " the perfect art of sheeling barley," in order to the introduction of the barley mill. The same authority, writing in 1805, states, " that on Meikle's return he made the first fanners which were seen in Britain;" and that these were in use only a few years before that date at the Saltoun barley mills. That the machine was not made public till many years after its first introduction, may be attributed to a clause in the above-mentioned agreement, by which Meikle was bound, on leaving Saltoun's service, " not to profit any more by this mill, nor communicate the arts he had learned to any other." In 1737, through the medium of Rogers of Cavers and others, it was brought into more THE WINNOWING-MACHINE. 175 general use ; and in 1 768, A. and R. Meikle obtained a patent for a machine of this kind. Although a very con- siderable advantage over the plan of dressing by hand, these machines still appear to have been but very imperfect, the corn having to be passed through them twice or thrice in order to be perfectly separated. And in 1 798, R. Douglas, in his Agricultural Survey of Roxburghshire, remarking upon these defects, mentions an improvement invented by one Moodie of Lilliesheaf, " in which he had happily com- bined some properties of other fans, so that the grain at one operation could be both separated from the chaff and lighter seeds, and completely riddled of all sorts of refuse." COOCH'S WINNOWINQ-MACHINB. 176 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. Other patents had been taken out which do not appear to have involved much real improvement, till, in 1800, J. Cooch, of Northampton, patented the machine which has since been known by his name, and has obtained deserved commendation, being in use and approved beyond most at the present day. This machine dresses all kinds of seeds, and its work is performed in a perfect manner ; its prin- ciple involved more mechanical combinations than were at that time generally understood by the class for whose use it was intended ; and this, together with its then cost, long retarded its more general adoption. I do not know of any better machine in general use ; in proof of the estimation it deservedly continues to hold, the R. A. S. E. prize was awarded to it at the Liverpool meeting, 1841. ELMY'S WINNOWIVQ-MACHINE. THE WINNOWING-MACH1NE. 177 In 1812, John Elmey obtained a patent for improve- ments in winnowing-machines, and produced a very efficient implement ; the arrangement of its various parts were simple, and greater effect was obtained from the blast. Comparing this with the drawings and description of one I find in the Edinburgh Journal of Agriculture, and with that described by Professor Low, I have little doubt of their general identity with this, and as it is the model upon which the machines in general use are now made, I subjoin a sketch of it. It is very simple, easy to work, and not likely to be out of order, and is in very general use. SALTER'S WINNOWINO-MACHINB; SIDK ELEVATION WITH FRONT REMOVED. N IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. SALTBR'S WINNOWINO-MACHINE; END ELEVATION. In 1839, T. F. Salter obtained a patent for a machine for winnowing and dressing corn and seeds, which at the R.A.S.E. meeting at Cambridge was exhibited, and ob- tained the silver medal. In this invention are combined the principles of the hummelling machine, described at the close of this section, with the operations of the common winnower. The undressed grain from the hopper passes 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 THE WINNOWING-MACHINE. 179 fall through in a closed box or cupboard. The cylinder is placed in a slanting direction, 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 forward 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, sepa- rates from it all small seeds, and the dross corn is carried away hi 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 cylinder, may be entirely removed. I have 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 suited to those to whom a high degree of excellence in the manner of " making up their corn " is a matter of more importance than the time or labour it may require. I now come to the description of the winnower used in combination with the thrashing apparatus at Whitfield, in which the principal feature is the improvement of the fan or blower. Having noticed that the ordinary form and position of the fans, which are flat boards, radiating from the centre as seen in the drawing, tended to keep the air constantly whirling within the casing, rather than to force it forwards ; and that if, instead of being flat, they were N 2 180 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. curved forward in the direction of their motion, they would draw the air in from the tube, and force it out at the sides, R. Clyburn, of Uley, the engineer by whom the machinery at Whitfield was executed, constructed a blower, in which by a backward curvature of the fans, and a different arrange- ment of the chamber in which they revolve, the tendency to form a vacuum is considerably increased, and greater force is consequently obtained from the blast. The arrange- ment of the chamber in which the fans are made rapidly to revolve will be better understood by the following sketches, the first showing imaginary spaces required for the passage of the air drawn off by each fan, and the second the position of the fan in the eccentric box which surrounds it. DIAGRAMS. We are not disposed to leave this part of our subject without some allusion to an invention for still further carrying out the process of cleaning corn, known as Tuxford's Reeing- machine. This consists of a series of sieves, to which a rotatory motion is given : the grain is by this means sepa- THE WINNOWING-MACHINE. 181 rated from any small dust and dirt which passes through the wires of the sieve, while all the lighter rubbish is by the motion brought to the top, whence it is removed by hand. This implement is more, perhaps, adapted for millers ; and its cost presents, in its present form, a bar to its general introduction. If it could be reduced to the power of being worked by hand, it would be a very valuable assistant to the proper preparation of the grain for the market. BARLEY HUMMKLLI.NCi MACHINE. This instrument, though not a winnowing-machine, de- serves, as a machine for preparing barley for the market, notice here. It consists of an inclined cylinder of wove wire, similar 182 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. in form to that of a flour-dressing machine, but of much coarser texture, within and concentric to the cylinder is placed an axis on which is fixed a series of knives set in a spiral form, and nearly reaching to the wire. The cylinder is fixed in a box, on the top of which is set the hopper, into which the barley is to be thrown, and at the bottom is a spout whence it is discharged when cleaned. The shaft with the knives is driven at a rapid rate by means of toothed wheels, and the barley contained within the cylinder is violently agitated, by which the awns of the barley are broken off and driven through the interstices of wire work, and are deposited in the bottom of the box. The invention of this machine is claimed by several, but in British Husbandry, vol. ii. p. 204, its present simple form is ascribed to an individual of the name of Grant, of Gran- ton, in Aberdeenshire. I do not know whether this was prior to the invention of Mitchell's, described in No. 7 of the Appendix to Sir John Sinclair's Systems of Husbandry, but it is a much more simple and effective instrument. The one from which the above description and cut was taken, was furnished me by R. Garrett, of Leiston, who has, I believe, been instrumental in its further improvement. 183 SECTION X. CHAFF ENGINES. I CAN find no early traces of the construction of chaff engines, although it is probable that, in some rude form or other, these existed from a very remote period. Some of the early agricultural writers direct the farmer, to give their cattle cut hay and straw ; thus M. P. Cato, the earliest of agricultural writers, lib. 54, mentions chaff as the food for oxen, with the ordinary provender of the modern farm yard, and directs these to be given mixed with salt. The leaves of the elm, the poplar, the oak, and even of the ivy, appear to have been extensively used as food for cattle by the Italian farmer of those days, and it is difficult to imagine how this could be done to any extent, except by means more powerful than the unassisted knife or the chopper. The advantage of confining in a trough the fodder intended to be cut, would soon be apparent to the workman, and hence would readily originate the old- fashioned, and extensively diffused hand chaff-box. I am not aware of any attempt to improve upon the plan of pressing the hay in a trough, and bringing it in small portions to the front edge, where it was severed by a long knife attached to the end of a lever, till in 1794-5 184 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. J. Cooke, clerk, of London, and W. Naylor, of Langstock, respectively obtained patents for machines for expediting the process. SALMON'S STRAW-CUTTER. In the year 1797, Robert Salmon, of Woburn, whose in- ventive talent and practical experience added many and various original ideas and improvements to the then limited knowledge of agricultural mechanics, constructed a chaff engine, which, although cumbrous in its appearance, was effective in its operation, and furnished the original idea, which was subsequently improved upon, first, by Rown- tree, and afterwards by Thomas Passmore of Doncaster, THE CHAFF-CUTTER. 185 the latter of whom, in 1804, patented the machine known as the Doncaster engine, upon the plan of which, for many years, most of the engines in the midland and eastern counties were made, and even at the present time, few of the machines in general use are found more effective. A reward of thirty guineas was conferred on Salmon by the Society for the encouragement of Arts, &c., for this im- proved machine. The plan of Salmon's engine, as exhibited in the accom- panying illustration, may be described as the fellies of two wheels connected together, and knives fixed upon them, the edges of which are fixed at an angle of 45 from the plane of the wheel's motion. Springs are fixed on the wheels thus connected, by means of which the knives are pressed forward against the box. On the other side of the knives, wedges are fixed to counteract the pressure of the springs, should it be too great. To a circular block of wood, having four holes, and fixed on the wheel, one end of the feeding arm is screwed, and is fixed to the cross bar by a pin, moveable at pleasure to five different holes, by which arrangement twenty different changes of length of chaff may be obtained. Two spiked rollers in the box are turned from the outside by ratchet wheels, so that the straw is at rest during the time the knife is cutting upon it. A weight is suspended by a lever under the box, which will assist in forcing the straw forward, and counterbalance the rachet wheel of the upper roller. Equal pressure is given to the straw by a chain passing from near the fulcrum of the lever to a roller with two small bars of iron, which are attached also to the projecting axle of the upper feeding roller. 186 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. PASSMORK'S CHAFF-ENOINK. Passmore's machine, it will be perceived, was very similar, but its mechanical combinations are advantageously simplified, and the circle upon which the knives are fixed is much reduced. In 1800 and 1801, W. Lester, of Paddington, patented a straw-cutter, which with some alterations, is much used at the present day, and is known as the " Lester engine." It is a very simple machine, having but one knife placed on a fly-wheel. THE CHAFF-ENGINE. 187 IMPROVED CHAFr-KNGlNB, ON LESTER'S PRINCIPLE. The fly-wheel turns on a cranked spindle, which com- municates motion to a rachet wheel, fixed at the end of one of the feeding rollers by means of a small hook or catch, which is capable of being so adjusted as to lift one two, three, or four teeth at each revolution, and by this is regulated the length of the straw projected in front of the face plate, and which is severed by the knife. On the roller was fixed a revolving cloth or endless web, which passed over another roller at the hinder end of the box. A heavy block was used to compress the straw. In the more 188 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. modern engines the rolling cloth is entirely dispensed with, as the purpose for which it was intended is effected by the introduction of an upper feeding roller, to which motion is communicated by a pair of cog-wheels, one of which is attached to the lower feeding roller before described ; the heavy block is substituted by a pressing piece, which, re- ceiving its motion from the cranked spindle, alternately presses down the straw previous to the cut, and rises after- wards to allow the straw free passage. A cut of the im- proved machine is given above ; it is made of differentsizes, and the larger are frequently used with horse-power. This is one of the best modern chaff-engines, it will adjust and vary the work to the following lengths of cut : J inch, ^ inch, and f inch. Bushels of fodder per hour. < At J inch it will cut from . 18 to 20 . . 40 to 50 f .50 to 60 Another chaff-cutter is made on the same principle, but a size smaller, which At } inch will cut from . 10 to 12 i .30 to 40 f .. , 40 to 50 Passing- by several which, in the course of the next fifteen years, were introduced, but which, however ingenious, were too complicated and cumbrous for general use, in 1818, we find a simple invention was patented by Thomas Heppenstall, of Doncaster. It consisted in the application of a worm to turn two wheels, which in their revolution meet each other. These wheels are attached to two feed- ing rollers, which convey the straw forwards to the knives. THE CHAFF-ENGINE. 189 Two of these knives are placed on a fly-wheel, which is fixed upon the same spindle as the worm. This is the simplest form of chaff-engine, and with a slight alteration* substituting wheels with the cogs on the face instead of on the outer edge, is the common form for the small engines now in use. This engine is suited to gentlemen's stables and small establishments, and being entirely of metal, is adapted for hot climates. It will cut from 1 5 to 20 bushels of fodder per hour. IIEPPENSTALL'S CHAFF-ENGINE. Two patents have also, within the last year or two, been taken out for considerable improvements on the chaff engine, one by Lord Ducie, in connexion with Clyburn and Budding, two engineers residing at Uley. 190 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. LORD DUCIE'S CHAFF-CUTTER. Lord Ducie's machine is thus described in the Judges' Report of the Implements shown at Liverpool, R. A. S. E. Journal, vol. ii. p. 111. It is stated that, upon trial, it per- formed its work admirably. " The cutters consist of two series of thin blades or knives, with serrated edges, coiled spirally round a horizontal rotating cylinder, and presenting their edges at an angle to it. The one series is coiled from left to right, and the other from right to left, meeting in the middle of the cylinder ; an unbroken continuity of cutting action is thus attained. A pair of feed-rollers is driven from the spindle of the cutting cylinder, which again gives motion to an endless cloth, upon which the material to be cut is placed, and by which the supply is maintained. The speed of the feeding-rollers is regulated by a highly ingenious and simple application of the worm and wheel. The wheel fixed on the roller is so constructed, as to admit of being driven by worms, with threads varying from one to four ; THE CHAFF-ENGINE. 191 thus, by changing the worm on the axis of the cylinder, (which is also accomplished in a dexterously mechanical manner) the hay or straw is cut into lengths of from a quarter of an inch to one inch. This machine may be worked by manual, animal, or steam power with equal convenience." RANSOMR AND MAY'S CH AFF-KNGI N R. The chaff-engine, patented by C. May, is a successful attempt at combining the advantages of some of the older plans, with the power of altering the length of the cut, and 192 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. also avoiding the difficulty of supplying the material to be cut, so evenly, that it may be delivered at the mouth pressed so close, as to stand against the knife. The altera- tion of the length is accomplished by adding a second shaft, placing the screw which impels the rollers upon one shaft, the wheel carrying the knives upon the other, and con- necting the two by toothed wheels of varying diameters, and capable of change at pleasure ; this produces a variable rate between the velocity of the rollers and the revolutions of the knife wheel, and the hay or straw is cut into lengths proportionate to such variation. By means of a plate called the presser, the material is secured close together, and this plate in the patent engine instead of being fixed to the support of the upper roller, has a motion round the axis of it, and thus, if the feed is thin, the presser follows down, or if thick, rises up so that at all times the proper pressure is applied. The fault of previous engines being, that the proper pressure was in- sured only when the feed was uniform ; another advantage is also thus gained, inasmuch as no loss of power takes place, for whereas in the old form of engine, a feed that was too thick, was pressed also too lightly and a feed too thin not pressed at all, and the work thereby deteriorated; in this engine, a slight pressure is uniformly given, which, while it answers the purpose, opposes but little resistance to the passage of the material. The parts being strongly con- structed, a considerable velocity may be given to the wheel carrying the knives, and from 300 to 350 cuts may be made per minute, through an area of 30 to 50 square inches; 12 cwt. of hay may be cut into half-inch lengths, per hour, with the power of two horses, and the chaff is so uniform as to require no subsequent sifting. 193 SECTION XI. THE TURNIP CUTTER. THIS machine, as most of our readers will readily re- member, must be an instrument of modern invention, for it is but a few years since the cultivation of the turnip has become general in this country. Although there are several kinds of turnip cutters, the principles upon which they are constructed do not embrace much variety : setting aside the simple application of the knife with a lever handle, the others may be divided into two classes ; first, those which have their knives placed on a disc; and secondly, those with their cutting edges arranged on a cylinder. As the object to be effected is simple, and involves little mechanical contrivance, a short description will suffice. I subjoin a sketch of that one which appears to be the most convenient of any with which I am acquainted ; the disc is attached to the side of a barrow, which serves as a hopper ; the knife is nearly the length of the radius, and when required to cut the turnip in slices is alone used ; if it be necessary to cut small slices for sheep, cross knives are by a simple contrivance adjusted to dissect the slice ; and in this case the barrow is useful, as it is easily o 194 IMPLEMENTS OP AGRICULTURE. moved from trough to trough, into which the small slices may be made to fall. RANSOME'S BARROW TURNIP CUTTER. The illustration I adopt for the cylindrical cutter is one which, though of recent invention, yet is now so generally known as to need no further description than is afforded by the wood cut given below. It is intended to cut into small slices for sheep, and is generally acknowledged to be the best implement for the purpose that is at present in use. Our farming readers will not fail to recognise in it Gardner's Patent Turnip Cutter. The following cut shows the Turnip Cutter as it is in use. THE TURNIP-CUTTER. 195 GARDNER'S PATKXT TURNIP CUTTER. The following cut shows the same Turnip Cutter as the above, with the hopper removed. Here the peculiarity of the arrangement of the knives is seen. Each knife having cutting edges at right angles, is placed above another till they approach each other at the centre. The cylinder is furnished with two sets of these knives, so that at each revolution thirty cuts are made. o 2 196 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, INTERIOR or GARDNER'S PATKNT TURNIP CUTTER We here subjoin a sketch of an ingenious adaptation of the disc turnip cutter to the turnip cart. The disc is put in motion by a face-wheel fixed upon the nave of the cart wheel, which, as it revolves, communicates by means of cog-wheels with the axis of the cutting plate. It offers a very convenient mode of feeding sheep on pastures or lawns, and was introduced about the year 1834, by Arthur Bid- dell, farmer, of Play ford, the inventor of the well-known scarifier, which bears his name. THE TURNIP-CUTTER. 197 TURNIP CART, WITH CUTTING APPARATUS ATTACHED. 199 SECTION XII. MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. - - J> ' - THESE machines, in some rude form or other, have been employed in rural affairs from a very remote period. And even the knowledge of the advantages of bruising, or breaking the food of live stock, is not a modern discovery ; for Samuel Hartlib, in his "Legacie," many years since, men- tions the advantages of breaking the corn given to horses and cattle. The term mill seems to have signified originally an engine for grinding corn, but it is now used in a general sense to denote a great variety of machines, whose action Depends chiefly on circular motion. The machinery by which it is necessary to accomplish the ultimate objects of the mill must obviously vary almost indefinitely. Many works on this subject have been pub- lished, as well as separate accounts of particular structures. See Brewster's edition of Ferguson's Lectures ; Gray's ex- perienced Millwright ; Buchanan on Millwork, by Tredgold; Banks on Mills ; The Repository of Arts, fyc. A catalogue of the principal works on the subject of mills is given in Gregory's Mechanics, vol. 2. but in this place I shall 200 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. confine my attention only to those designed for the use of the farmer. In the first place, to such as are used for pre- paring grain for cattle ; and in the second to those intended for the more important object of reducing grain to flour as food for man. The Kibbling Mill is well worthy of notice. It is com- posed of a small iron cylinder, usually about eight or nine inches wide, and six inches in diameter, tapering slightly to one end, and fluted on the inside. Within this a barrel of the same form, but a size smaller, and fluted spirally on the out- side, revolves by the turning of a spindle on which it is fixed. The meal is rendered finer or coarser in proportion as the working barrel is set nearer to or farther from the small end. This mill is made entirely of iron or steel, and is usually attached to a post. It is provided with a hopper, and is worked by a crank fixed at one end of the spindle, while a fly-wheel revolves at the other. It is used for beans, peas, and other pulse, for malt and various kinds of grain, and is a very useful and ingenious contrivance, but requires care in its adjustment and general management. Referring to Fruth's patent, 1 768, it would appear that the credit of the invention of this useful mill belongs to him ; but it has been extensively manufactured by Zachariah Parkes of Birmingham, and, from the excellence of its manufacture, they have become so associated with his name as to be generally known as Parkes' Mills. Bean Mill. A mill for grinding beans, constructed by Seaman and Bryant, of Melton, in Suffolk, is a simple and effective implement. It is placed on a wooden stand, with crank, fly-wheel, and hopper ; and consists of a coarsely- fluted steel barrel, working against a cast-iron front cutting plate ; the latter being set at a proper distance from the barrel MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 201- by means of a screw. It is used chiefly for beans and peas, but may be employed for grinding malt, by exchanging the barrel and cutting plate for a pair of rollers. SKAMMEN'S BEAN MILL. The Norfolk Crusher is similar in appearance to the fore- going, and is worked by two rollers of equal dimensions, each being flanched at one end, and reversed so as to prevent the grain from falling off at the side. The rollers are per- fectly smooth, and consequently, as its name implies, it crushes the grain instead of cutting it. 202 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. RANSOMK'S SUFFOLK CRUSHER. The Suffolk Crusher is simply a variety of the above, and differs from it in having its hind roller finely grooved, and of half the dimensions of the front one ; this has no flanche, but works within the ffanches of the front roller, which are attached at both ends. To render these mills effective for crushing oats, the rollers should be left slightly rough as they come from the lathe, to draw in the kernels, as the latter are apt to start back at the moment of entering between the rollers, if they are polished. MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 203 The Spiral Mill An improvement, however, on all the previously described mills, and combining in a great degree the peculiar advantages of each, is now obtained, by spirally grooving two cylinders, which, by means of toothed wheels of different dimensions are made to revolve towards each other at unequal speeds, by this means, the tooth or edge formed by each groove in one cylinder passes in a diagonal direction the grooves cut in the other, and the effect produced is similar to that of a series of shears. Machines on this con- struction will effectually reduce either grain or pulse with less expenditure of labour than any others I have seen. THE SPIHAL MILL. 204 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. Whether mills for the reduction of grain into flour may be regarded as Agricultural machines, is a question that will admit of controversy; but as flour mills are everywhere required in the rural districts ; and as they must be more or less objects of interest, not only to the farmer, who raises the corn, but to every individual who consumes it, I shall not hesitate to proceed at once .to the consideration and description of such as have from time to time been intro- duced to the public. It is, however, not my intention to occupy these pages with an elaborate description of the machinery used in the general mill establishments, which has already been done very ably in the works before alluded to, and especially in those periodical magazines that are devoted to the publica- tion of newly patented inventions. Indeed, it would be impracticable to give, within my limited space, any detailed description of those numerous contrivances which modern art has successively introduced into the operations of the public miller on the great scale. 1 Without overlooking the progress of invention as applied to mealing generally, I shall chiefly apply myself to a concise description of those port- able machines, which have of late years been so much in request, by agriculturists as well as private individuals, for the reduction of grain to a fit state to be used as food. Previously, however, to entering upon these descriptions, it may not be improper nor uninteresting, to take a rapid historical retrospect of the mills of olden time : from which it will be seen that the two principal forms of mills now in use, namely, that of cylinders and the frustra of cones are of very ancient date. MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 205 The domestic mills used by the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and other nations of antiquity, gene- rally consisted of a circular flat stone (a), having an upright pin (6) in its centre ; this pin, which con- stituted the axis, passed through a hole (c), in an upper stone (d), which was provided with a handle (e), for causing it to revolve over the lower stone. The upper side of the top stone was hollowed out into a shallow basin (/) > to contain the corn, and to permit it to fall down the hole (c), around the axis (6). The annexed figure shows both stones together in their working position. In this beautifully sim- ple apparatus, constructed several thousands of years ago, we behold the germ and the rudiments of our boasted machines of the present day ! It was constructed on a principle of action the most efficacious ; requiring nothing but accurate workmanship and the means of regulation, to make it produce uniformly the finest results. It is indeed a remarkable fact that the united skill of successive ma- chinists through so many ages, has done little more than adjust and regulate the original contrivance ; not from the lack of talent, but simply because the ancient principle of construction was the most perfect that the mind of man could conceive, or will probably yet discover. The mill just described, though used as a single-handed mill, and to be held in the lap, there is much evidence to 206 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. show was occasionally made of larger dimensions ; and was sometimes worked by several persons at once, causing it to rotate through the medium pf levers, in the manner of a capstan : asses and other cattle were also, in some places, employed as the propelling power. To these the Romans added the force of water to the working of mills. A writer of the time of Cicero thus poetically alludes to this impor- tant epoch of the mealing art :, { . " Cease your work ye maidens, ye who laboured in the mill : sleep now, and let the birds sing to the ruddy morning; for Ceres has commanded the water nymph to perform your task ; these, obedient to her call, throw themselves upon the wheel, force round the axle-tree, and by these means the heavy mill." ( An illustration of the conical form given to ancient mills (before adverted to) is afforded by the interesting discoveries made in the city of Pompeii, which, in A. D. 79, was suddenly buried in the ashes thrown upon it by an irruption of Mount Vesuvius. Upwards of seventeen hundred years have passed away since the occurrence of that event, and now are brought again to light by the removal of the earth from above the long-buried city, the machines and prp- cesses used in several handicraft operations. Amongst these is a large and effective hand mill, standing in a baker's shop, the owner of which appears to have been a wealthy man from the magnitude, solidity, and completeness of his apparatus. The mill is about six feet in height, and five feet wide at the base (d), in the centre of the latter is a conical projection (&), and over this is placed a double hollow conical block (c) (c) , the upper portion constituting the hopper, an4 the lower portion the revolving grinder, which is put in motion by levers inserted into holes made in an iron band MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 207 (d). In the fixed grinder (6) is inserted an iron spindle, which passes through the revolving one at the bottom of the hopper ; and through the latter are drilled holes for the passage of the grain. POMPKIl MILL. . y: From a variety of circumstances it would appear that the conical form of mills just described did not obtain very generally in Europe, though there is much evidence to show that machines having a resemblance to them are (and have - .:.-.;..: ^. . J j ' ; : " . -' . ; \ ,'," been for many centuries) extensively used in India and other parts of Asia ; from whence, indeed, it is highly probable they originated. The ancient mills that we meet with in our own country are generally of the cylindrical form, and of comparatively small dimensions. As civilization advanced the reduction of grain into bread flour became a distinct occupation ; that of the public miller. By constant applica- tion to his craft, experience and skill were gradually acquired, 208 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. the power of wind and falling water were advantageously applied, and by degrees the dimensions of his machinery were augmented, until the mill-stones reached the extraor- dinary size of six, seven, and even eight feet in diameter ; in short, every available means which practice or the know- ledge of the time developed were put into requisition for economising the process and improving the results. Till at length, by the continual accession of improvement in every department, a modern steam corn mill, with all its self- regulating apparatus for making the varied operations of the vast machine act harmoniously together, under every change of circumstance, presents to the mind an interesting example of human ingenuity applied to an object of universal utility. Although the establishments of the public miller throughout this country have for several centuries past almost super- seded the employment of small domestic corn mills ; it has been in some measure owing to the non-existence of efficient and durable hand machines that they have not been more extensively used. For otherwise it will be readily supposed that the farmer who has to send, in some cases, many miles to the mill, would avail himself of the means of doing at home that which costs him time of horses and men, as well as other expenses, at an inconvenient distance. It is only within a comparatively recent period, that suitable economic machines for the purpose have been placed within his reach. With the view of obtaining the fullest information on this subject, the writer has attentively examined the several specifications of patents for mills that have been deposited in the enrolment office in Chancery, and although much of the information thus obtained relates to contrivances not needful to particularize in detail, still he conceives that a very concise abstract of such of these as immediately bear MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 209 upon the present subject will be found of utility to all those who have occasion to employ mills, or who take an interest in the progress of mechanical invention, and that presented on this form the information will be most readily obtained by the reader. A slight attention to the respective claims to invention set up by each succeeding patentee, will in general show pretty clearly the degree of originality that belongs to it ; succeeding inventors will also find the abstract an important aid in the prosecution of their plans, as by its help they may perchance save themselves the trouble of re-inventing contrivances that have long been in use ; and the consequent disappointment and vexation that attends the subsequent discovery. 210 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. ANALYTICAL ABSTRACT OF PATENTS GRANTED FOR MILLS FOR GRINDING AND DRESSING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. " To Isaac Wilkinson, of Wilson House, Cartmell, Lan- cashire, ' for a new sort of cast metallic rolls, for the crush- ing , flattening , bruising, or grinding of malt, oats, beans, or any kind of grain ; and also for crushing, bruising, or grinding of sugar canes." Patent granted 24th January 1752. * This invention is of extreme simplicity ; it consists in merely passing the materials above mentioned between two plain metallic rollers. It is a process that has ever since been employed very extensively in crushing malt and oats, and also sugar ; under various modifications, wherein the original machine has been improved, especially as respects the giving different velocities to the opposing rollers. " To John Milne. ' A machine for dressing the flour of wheat and barley, which will make a more lively and better flour than bolting cloths fwhich is the common methodnow usedj from the same corn. It will dress all sorts of flour, and divide the sharps from the bran at one operation, and the person that attends it may easily make two sorts, or only one, by moving the partitions that divide the flour,, MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 211 which must be within the box or case in which the machine works ; and as flour is an article that loses every time it is stirred, it evidently appears that it dresses with less loss because it does that business at one operation, which, to be done with cloths in the common method now used, requires several operations and several different cloths, and the trouble of changing them, they being obliged to change their cloths for different sorts.' ' Patent granted 10th May 1765. A cylinder six feet long and 16 inches internal diameter (or any other size which may be preferred) has fixed upon the inside, wire work, or cloths of different degrees of fine- ness. Through the centre of the cylinder passes a spindle having fixed upon it brushes either lying parallel to the axis, or forming a screw or worm. The cylinder is fixed in a box, either in a horizontal or a slanting position. The brushes are made to revolve, and the cylinder may either be station- ary or revolve likewise : MILNE'S FLOUR DRESSKR. This invention has the conspicuous merit of being the original contrivance of the now almost universally used p '2 212 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. dressing cylinder. The principle of its construction is so excellent, and its operation so efficacious, as apparently to render any essential improvement impracticable. To Richard Hayne, of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, ' for a machine or mill so contracted and effectual that it may be set up and conveniently worked in any small room, and used as well for the grinding of wheat, corn, and other grain, as in preparing of utensils and materials used in divers manufactories and businesses. Patent granted 24th December 1767. If the foregoing title of Hayne's patent be calculated to excite the reader's curiosity to learn the construction of a mill which, by its contraction, is to perform such extensive operations ; his surprise will be great upon being informed that the inrolled specification describes no mill at all ! and that the ingenius patentee was contented with claiming the employment of the motive power of a smoke jack, assisted by manual force ! ! for the grinding of wheat, and performing all and singular the divers operations set forth. " To Samuel Fruth and Samson Fruth, both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, merchants, 'for certain hand corn mills for grinding wheat, in private families, in a more easy and expeditious manner than hath been done by any other mill or machine, calculated for private families, here- tofore invented. ' ' Patent granted 6th October, 1 768. MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 213 KKl'TH S HAND COliX MILL. This invention appears to be the earliest patent granted for improvements in metallic domestic corn mills. The above sketch is copied from the specification, which, like many of such documents at that period of the time, seems to have been drawn up with the intention of affording as little practi- cal information as possible as to the construction of the essen- tial parts of the machine. The box (a) is stated to contain a roller, which roller, as well as the box, is made a little tapered. The box and roller are both to be full of fine teeth, and both are to be made of refined iron, and case hardened ; (6) is the regulating screw ; (c) the winch for giving motion, through the medium of a pinion (d) ; and a wheel (e) to the grinding roller. The slowness of motion is remarkable, being only 214 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. about half a revolution to one of the handle ; the general practice now being to increase rather than to dimmish the velocity! The object was probably to gain sufficient power to turn a mill of the size. " To Walter Taylor 'for an invention of a great improvement in the construction of machines for grinding grain of all kinds, and also starch for hair powder as well as all other matters where stones are now used, and also for cooking or bushing and greasing of shivers and pulleys of all kinds.' Patent granted 30th October, 1768. This patentee, like the previous one, is very cautious of explaining himself. The substance of the information given in that portion of his specification which relates to grinding is as follows. " The machines for grinding are of two kinds : 1st. A machine of cast iron, made nearly like mill stones, with holes or impressions therein to cut and grind the corn, and with grooves or furrows to admit the flour to pass while grinding. 2d, Conical mills of cast iron, with grooves cast on the external and internal surfaces ; or with steel cutters fixed in grooves cut on said cover. 3d. Making those mills called steel mills, of cast iron." To Richard Dearman, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron Master, ' for making mills for grinding malt, and various other articles, in the same manner as those articles are ground in what are commonly called steel mills." MILLS, CRUSHERS, ETC. 215 Patent granted 22d March, 1779. It does not appear that Richard Dearman has much claim to originality in the matter of his patented invention ; all he appears to have attempted was to make mills of cast iron, instead of steel. There were five or six patents before this for making mills of cast iron, (including those for bark, &c.), yet no one, perhaps, to give the unfortunate speculators the infor- mation. " To Charles Smith, of Manchester, for a machine for bolting or dressing of flour and meal.' ' Patent granted 4th Dec. 1781. SMITH'S FLOUR DRESSKR. Smith's machine consisted of a close rectangular box (a), containing a series of open sieves (b c) , having any desired number of compartments, connected together by straps (d) 216 IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. at the sides, and suspended at the end by chains (' - Palmer's drill .. Smith's subsoil Roman plough 276 INDEX. Rotherham plough Russian harrow Rutland plough Salmon's haymaking machine Chaffcutting machine Sailer's winnowing machine Sander's coulter Harrows Saxon plough . . Scarifiers Cooke's Fuller's Finlayson's Wilkie's .. Kirkwood's Biddell's Ducie's Scotch thrashing machine . . Scotch plough . . Scutching and beating compared Seam pressers . . Seamen's bean mill Selden's coffee mill Sharp and Robert's mill Share iron Skeleton ploughs Skim coulters . . Small's plough Smart's turn-rest plough . . Smith's subsoil plough Web harrow Flour dresser Smyth's drill Spiral mill . . Steam engines Sterling's thrashing machine . . Swing plough, English Suffolk drill .. Rake Thrashing machine Tines of cultivator! Thrashing in Palestine Hindostan machine, Tulls' Juhb's Menzie* Meikle's Page Page 13 Thrashing machine, Sterling's .. 139 .. 36 Winlaw's . . ,. 140 .. 93 Willoughby's .. 141 .. 134 Wardropp's .. 143 .. 184 Drums .. 146 .. 177 Yokings .. 147 .. 31 Scotch .. 148 .. 70 Wigfull's .. 149 .. 10 Ducie's .. 156 .. 75 Lee's .. 150 .. 75 Ransome's hand . . .. 168 .. 76 Suffolk .. 152 .. 77 'Compared .. 168 .. 77 Treading in of corn 2 .. 78 Turnip cutters .. 193 .. 79 Ransome's .. 194 .. 80 Gardner's .. 195 .. 149 Turnip cart .. 197 .. 15 Tull, Jethro, his thrashing machine 5, 139 .. 160 on ploughing .. 12 .. 95 drill .. 100 .. 201 Turn-rest plough of Kent .. 49 .. 227 LJley cultivator .. 81 .. 234 Vaux's revolving harrows .. 72 .. 19 Wardropp's thrashing machine .. 143 .. 49 Web harrows .. 70 .. 32 Wedlake's hay rake .. 131 .. 14 Western's mould board .. 26 .. 55 drill .. Ill .. 47 Wheel coulters .. 32 .. 70 plough .. 33 .. 215 White's horse hoe .. 124 .. 105 Worlidge's mystery of husbandry .. 12 .. 203 Wilkie's plough . . . . .. 42 .. 247 Brake .. 77 .. 139 Wigfull's thrashing machine .. 149 .. 22 iVinnowing machines .. 173 .. 104 Barley hummelling .. 181 .. 130 Cooch's .. 175 .. 152 Clyburn's blower .. 181 86, 87 Elmy's .. 176 2 Salter's .. 177 2 Winlaws' thrashing machine .. 140 5.139 Willoughby's thrashing machine .. 141 .. 141 Williams' malt grinder .. 220 .. 139 Yoking of thrashing machine .. 147 .. 143 IMPORTANT WORKS ON AGRICULTURE, &c. PUBLISHED BY JAMES RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY; AMD TO DE HAD OP ALL THE AGENTS FOR THE " FARMERS' ALMANAC," AND OP EVERY COUNTRY BOOKSELLER is EVERY MARKET TOWN. ^ The three first arc excellent Elementary Works for Agricultural and other Schools, for whom they may be had at 9s. per dozen. They on- therefore earnestly recommended to the notice of Clergy m.-i'i, and the Directors of Agricultural Establishment*. I. AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY FOR YOUNG FARMERS. By CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, Esq., F.R.S. 12mo. Is. 4th Edition. n I agricultural chemistry are made familiar enough lor any capacity. Each section it preceded by a few questions and answers relating to the subject treated upon ; and in case the reader may meet with any chemical term, which he may not clearly un- difficulty is removed." Urit"." Farmers' Mair " This essay we would recommend every farmer to read." Banbnry Uuardian. " A short and classified digest of the results of Agricultural Che- mistry." Sussex Advertiser. AND BY THE SAME- AUTHOR, II. THE COTTAGE FARMERS' ASSISTANT IN THE CULTIVATION OF HIS LAND, AND BOOK OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 12mo. Is. 4th Edition. ; " A valuable manual of Lilliputian Farming, showing how much may be made ot'a little land well tilled. W,. wi-.li v could reprint the whole, but the work is very cheap. Buy it, lamllords, and give it to your tenants ; tenant*, and give it to your lahoiirirs." Erit. Form. .Ma. " >V .. 't for ninny a day with - complete a guide book fo Lane Ei>rt'.'> so port uli jr the cot table, , ttager."- J Important Works -n Agriculture, Sfc. 276 Rotberham plough Russian harrow . Rutland plough Salmon's haymakii Chaffcutting Salter's winnowing Sander's coulter Harrows Saxon plough Scarifiers Cooke's Fuller's Finlayson's Wilkie's Kirkwood's Biddell's . Ducie's Scotch thrashing n Scotch plough Scutching and heal Beam pressers Seamen's bean mil Selden's coffee mil Sharp and Robert's Share iron Skeleton ploughs Skim coulters Small's plough Smart's turn-rest p Smith's subsoil plo Web harrow Flour dresser Smyth's drill Spiral mill Steam engines Sterling's thrashing Swing plough, Eng Suffolk drill Rake . | Thrashing mi fines of cultivators [Crashing in Palest Hindostan machine, Tul! Jubb's Menzies Meikle's III. A CALENDAR FOE YOUNG FARMERS. 12mo. Is. %* This contains directions, with copies notes, for the business of the Farm during each month of the year. IV. THE FARMERS' ENCYCLOPEDIA AND DICTIONARY OF RURAL AFFAIRS One thick volume. 8vo. 2 10s. P V.-ON THE FERTILIZERS. Being a complete History of the various KINDS OF MANURE, with a Description of the Land to which each is adapted, and the best means of application. 8ro. 2nd Ed., Enlarged. 16s. TL THE FARMERS' MEDICAL DICTIONARY FOR-THE DISEASES OF ANIMALS. Price 6s. "One of the most important practical works ever laid before the agricultural community."-- Brit. Farm. Mag. " An admirable work." Far- mers' Mag. " This is a very useful nrork. It conta variety of recipes', fur t* e cure " domestic animals . tvhicl hav long .. 143 k. It contains great fully employed in an extensive practice in thesouth are of the diseases of of England." Gardeners' Chronicle. "A capital IY long beenucceB- work. Mark Lane Express. Published by James Ridgway. 3 Just Published, price Is. Od.,bound in Cloth, the New Edition of VII. THE ENGLISH RURAL SPELLING-BOOK, \Vitli Easy and Progressive Lessons; intended as an Introduction to the Spelling and Reading of the English Language, and to the First Principles of th Practical and Scientific Cultivation of the Soil. By CUTHRERT W. JOHNSON, Esq., F.B.S. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Illustrated Alphabet Hoeing bles, pronounced as in Grecian and Ro- Common Letters Syllables of Two Letters Lessons inWords of Two Djnfy Raking I'l intin.- Two, and accented on the First Syllable The Cottager's Cow man History Pneverauee Word* sounding nearly Letters I'.itat... The Horse the same, but differ- Words of Three Letters CaV M - The Food of the Cow ent in Spelling and Sentences in Words of Wheat The Fowl of the Horse 8... ^ ignincatiun Two- or Three Letters Words of Two, Three, Take care of the Crumbs A Stitch in Time The Sheep The Shepherd Boy Be Honest in all Things Of Letters and Four Letters Conduct is Fate Tli.- I),,- Of Accent and Bm- Lessons in Words of One Syllable, similar in sound Lessons in Words of He who will thrive must rise at Five Idle People take the most Pains The Pig The Food of the Pig The Barn Door Fowl The Turkey |1>1 .S.I Of Capital Letters Of Stop* and Mark* Of Rending One Syllable, on the The Good Farmer The Goose Rules for Spelling use of B final Words of Two Syllables, The Duck Foreign Words and Lessons in Words of accented on the Se- Words of Four Sylla- I'M - I One Syllable cond Syllable bles, accented on the Latin Words and The Garden The Dog and the Shadow First Syllable I'l.r The Cow The Reward of Inhu- Words of Four Sylla- Common Abbreviations The Fatting Pig manity bles, accented on the The Church Catechism The Horse Avoid Bud Company Second Syllable A Catechism of Public II. .* Industry and Idleness Travellers see strange 1 In':- . The Gate and Fence Words of Three Sylla- MriM What to do in cn*es of The Little Gardener bles, accented on the Words of Four Sylla- Danger Words of One Syllable First Syllabic bles, accented on the Prayers I Short Sentences in Re up And doiny Second, and pronounc- Advice to Young Be. Words of One Sylla- The Bull and the Frog ed as Three ginners ble Ten Rules for Obser- Travels round the Remember The Plough-Boy vancein Ordinary Life School-room Our Daily Want* The Little Milk-Maid Words of Three Sylla-' Words of Six Syllable* Geography The Milk-Maid's Story blea, accented on the Of what use ore Worms T The Cow-Boy Second Syllable Where do Butterflies Astronomy The Little Workwoman The Drover come from 1 Poetry Words of Two Syllables, Gentleness to Dumb Proper Names which oc - Agricultural Chemistry accented on the First Animals cur in the Holy Bible Chronological Table Syllable Words of Three Sylla- Proper Names met with Arithmetical Tables Good Air ble*, accented on the in Modern and An- Large Hand \Veeds Last Syllable cient Geography Runninir Hand Good Water Words of Three Bylla- Proper Names occurring Black Letter. PUBLIC NOTICES. "The importance of early preparing youth for the duties which they may have to (fulfil in after exchanging light, clean, and cheerful cottage* for comfortless cellars ; it may give them better clothes. life, no one will perhaps be willing to deny. And better food, and better health ; it may deck their yet the attempt to commence the solid foundation windows with finer flowers, spread cleaner linen of this with the first rudiments of their education ou their tables, and adorn their dwellings with has never, till this work appeared, been attempted more convenient furniture.' Such objects the au- in a way suitable to the use of all classes. Of all thor of the valuable little work which we arc now the employments of mankind, that of cultivating reviewing hns very successfully assisted. It is the the soil, either in the field or in the garden, is a first great step, we think, in the right path, and pursuit the most universally interesting and refresh - will do more to discard from our modern school* ing. All those who have written upon education the antiquated barbarisms and imbecilities of by- have seemingly felt the truth of this, and have allu- gone generations of schoolmasters like Vvse, Pen- ded, in some way or other, to the general advantage ning, and Mavor than any school-book that has and pleasure derived from such pursuits. Mrs. Aus- yet appeared. We cheerfully and heartily com- ten long since, when pointing out the ends of a good mend it to the perusal of the parent and the teacher education, described the results of thus early train- of youth, not one of whom, we think, will consider ing the voothful mind to the exercise and enjoy- that we are wrong in asserting that this " Rurul - ment of the gentle and kindly sympathies, the Spelling-hook" is by far the best of any that has sense of self-respect, and of the respect of fellow- yet made its appearance." The Globe, Oct. 29, 1946. men; the free exercise of the intellectual faculties, " This," remarks Dr. Lindley (Gardeners' the gratification of a curiosity that ' grows by what it feeds on,' the power of regulating the habits and business of life so as to extract the greatest Chronicle for 1840, p. 37S), ' is an adaptation of the common spelling-book to the special purpose of teaching the rural population useful truth*. possible portion of comfort out of small means, while they are passing through the first process of the refining and tranquillising enjoyment of the beautiful in nature and art, and the kindred per- instruction. As compared with Fenning's bar- barous spelling-book, that now before us is im- ception of the beauty and utility of virtue, the measurably its superior ; and it is not saving too strengthening consciousness of duty fulfilled, and, much to add, that while it is equal to the last edi- above all, 'the peace which passeth all under- tion of Mavor, it is advantageously distimruixhed, standing.' And when speaking of the education even from that, by the usefulness of the sub- the best adapted for the working classes, Mr. Bap- jects from which the lessons are taken. To teach tist Noel remarked, that although ednc.ition is children their duty as servants or masters, tli.- ' not meant to raise the working classes above their nature of the implements, and other familiar s and Plants in Rooms, kc. By ROBERT SWEET, F.L.S. " Indeed, what Mr. Sweet has said OB the culture of bulbs and epiphytes, in the last edition of In* ' Botanical Cultivator,' may be considered as the ultimatum on this subject for the British gardener." Gardeners' Magazine. This Fxlition corresponds with the new edition of "Sweet's Hortus Brilan- nicus," and contain*, for the first timr, Genus " Orchidace**." 10 Important Works on Agriculture, Sfc. Price One Shilling, L. PERUVIAN AND BOLIVIAN GUANO; With Practical Instructions for its Use, and Testimonials of its Properties and Results . LI. PRACTICAL HINTS ON LAND DRAINING. With some Suggestions on Agriculture. Addressed to the Young Fanners. By CHARLES NEWMAN. Price 3s. Dedicated to the Patrons and Patronesses of Village Schools. LIL A CATECHISM OF GARDENING. Intended for the Use of Village Schools and Cottages, containing Plain and Brief Direc- tions for cultivating every kind of Vegetable in common use. By an OLD PRACTITIONER. Second Edition, enlarged. Price Is. 6d. " This is a cheap little work, and far better adapted for its avowed purpose than any of the tracts which have preceded it. The small type and closely printed page of the Catechism show that the Author is perfectly serious in his wish to extend a knowledge of Horticulture to the hum- In 8vo., with Plates and Plans, Os., or 9s. finely coloured, LIII. THE LANDSCAPE GARDENER; Comprising the History and Principles of Tasteful Horticulture. By the Rev. Prebendary DENNIS. " But taste, like every other quality of the mind, I " The present work abounds with original obsor- may be nurtured into excellence ; and Mr. Dennis vation, and is well worthy of a place by the side has shown himself well qualified for the task of of the most esteemed publications on the principl blest classes of Society." London's Gardener's Magazine. "This is not only a useful, but a clieap publi- cation, and excellently adapted for its purpose." Analyst. i the phrase of the cele- brated Landscape Gardener of the last unfolding it; and, to with whose name he is familiar making the most of ita capability." Horticultural Journal . of Landscape Gardening. Horticultural Journal second notice." SPLENDID BOTANICAL WORKS NOW PUBLISHING BY RIDGWAY. LIV DR. LINDLEY'S SERTUM ORCHIDEUM, A Wreath of the most beautiful Orchidaceous Flowers, complete in 10 Parts, at 25s. each, splendidly coloured. %* An early application is respectfully solicited for the few remaining unsold copies, as the Work cannot be reprinted. LV. LADIES' BOTANY. By Dr. LINDLBY, Editor of the " Botani- cal Register," " Fossil Flora of Great Bri- tain," &c. Fourth Edition. 2 vols. 8vo., with numerous plates, finely coloured. 25s. each vol. coloured, and 10s. plain. "We consider it mrite' needless to recommend this work: it must find its way into the library of every lady, and it ought to be in the coat pocket of every young gardener." Gardener's Magazine. " Let it be known let it be introduced into every library, reading-room, and seminary through- out Britain; let it become the class-book of bo- tanical study." Horticultural Register. N.B. An Abridgment of this beautiful Work, illustrated with Wood-cuts, for the use of Schools and Voting persons in general, is now ready for delivery. Price Cs. bound in cloth. " Directions ore ir.iininir, the fo FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. Third Edition, in 1 vol., price 6s. LVL THE FRUIT CULTIVATOR. By JOHN ROGERS, Nurseryman, formerly of the Royal Gardens. for plantin ot Kruit T nting, pruning, ree /Borders, and lting, vm ..* ..... , Orchards, the gathering and storing of Fruit; in n word, e\ery thing t.-hich con be desired i:- han- dled in a plain instructive manner, in sui-li a way n a practical man alone is capable of doing it." Irish Farmer and Gardener 1 * Magazine. It remains only to say, that we think Mr. Rogers has here produced a \vorli, which d which add its other to li cheapness." Gardener 1 g Magazine. aluable practical rsal use, and dation that of Published by James Ridgway. 11 In 2 vols., with Plates, price 80s., New Edition. DARVILL'S ENGLISH HACK-HORSE. LVII. A TREATISE ON THE CARE, TREATMENT, AND TRAINING OF THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE ; With Important Details applicable to bettering the condition of Hone* In general. By R. DAKVILL, V.S. to the Seventh Hussars. " Never before was inch a book written in language, so replete with those minute but indis- pensable particular* of practice, and by a writer who has personally performed his part toroughi nf reference for every stud and training groom, and every jockey." Vide Lawrence on the Honw, p. 297; also, Th Sporting Mofranne and lintish Farmer's Mug-aime. holo of the practice. This is the true book To Amateurs of Flowers. In I vol., 2nd Edit, price G., coloured, in cloth, LVIII. THE FLORIST CULTIVATOR; Or, Plain Directions for the Management of the principal Florist Flowers, Shrubs, &c., adapted to the Flower Garden, Shrubbery, and Green-house ; with select Lists of the liiiist Roses, Geranium*, Carnations, Pinks, Auriculas, Polyanthuses, Tulips, Dahlias, Heartsease, Cistus, or Rock Rose, ice. To In 3 vols., with 230 Copper-plate Engravings, price Q Ids., LIX. THE FOSSIL FLORA OF GREAT BRITAIN; Or, Figures and Description* of the Veget- able Remains found in a Fossil State in this Country. By JOHH LINDLEY, Ph. D., which is added, the Monthly Operation usual for the Flower Garden, Shrubbery, and Green-house. The whole arranged on a plan different from any work hitherto published. By THOMAS WILLATS, Esq., Amateur Cul- tivator. F.R.3. L.8. and G.S., ice., 4tc., and WIL- LIAM Hun-ox, F.G.S., cc. LX. PERSONAL SAFETY FROM LIGHTNING, &c. Is. Directions for ensuring Personal Safety during storms of Thunder and Lightning; and for the right application of Conductors to Houses and other Buildings. By JOHN LEIOII, Jan., Esq. Third Edition. "The whole of the little tract being of that plain, sensible, and accurate character, us particu- larly * enlighten nut only the ignorant peasant, but the public in general, a* to the best ascer- tained iiirnns of escaping destruction, or dumage, from thunder storms/' Monthly Review, May 1. Third Edition, with a Plate and two Diagrams. Is. or Is. Od. bound and gilt, LXL WHAT IS A COMET, PAPA? Or, a Familiar Description of Comets ; more I Heavenly Bodies. By RosiKA MARIA particularly Halley's Comet. To which is I ZORXLIX. prefixed a Concise Account of the other j Also, by the same Author, LXIL THE SOLAR ECLIPSE ; Or, The Two Almanacs ; containing more Inquiries in Astronomy. Plate and Diagram*, Is., or la. 6d. bound and coloured. LX1II. THE SPEECHES OF THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING, The late Right Hon. W. Hiiskisjon, in a Letter to the Editor, alluding to the Work, says, " It is a Work which is destined to convey to posterity the remains or hii splendid talents as an orator to exhibit his principle* us a statesman nd to show with what energy and success he carried ito execution as a Minister of Corrected and revised by himself, with Me- moirs of his Life ; illustrated by a fine Por- trait, Fac-similies of his Hand Writing, a Plato exhibit ive of his mode of correcting :ind revising his speeches, &c., in two im- jxirtant passages in the celebrated one on Portugal. Ovols.Svo. 3rd Edition. 3 12s. LXIV.-LORD COLLINGWOOD'S MEMOIRS AND CORRES- PONDENCE, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. By G. L. XLWXHAM COLUNOWOOD, Esq., F.R.S. Fifth Edition. 2 vols. 12mo., with Additional Letters. those principles i the Crown.' 1 " The portrait of one English worthy more is now secuml to posterity." Quarterly Review. " We do not know when we have met with no delightful a book as this, or one with which we are so well pleased with ourselves for being de- lighted. Its attraction consists almost entirely in its moral beauty." Edinburgh Review. "Having thus referred to Lord Collingwnod's Life, I may be allowed to sny, that the publica- tion of that volume is indeed a national good; it ought to be in every offin-r's eakin, und in every statesman's cabinet." Souther's Life of Lerd Nelson, New Edition, . til. 12 Important Works on Agriculture, Sfc. LXV. AN ATTEMPT TO ESTIMATE THE EFFECTS OF PRO- TECTING DUTIES ON THE PROFITS OF AGRICULTURE. By JOHN MORTON, F.G.S., JOSHUA TIMMBR, F.O.S. Price 2s. ; and Supplement, Is. LXVL MANUAL OF FIELD GARDENING; OR BELGIAN AGRICULTURE EXPLAINED ; Describing the General Routine of Field Garden Operations. Price 2s. LXVII. WARNES ON THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX. THE FATTENING OF CATTLE WITH NATIVE PRODUCE; BOX-FEEDING ; ON SUMMER GRAZING. Second Edition. 7s. Od. LXVIIL A LECTURE ON THE APPLICATION OF CHEMIS- TRY TO THE DETAILS OF PRACTICAL FARMING. By ALBERT JAMES BEIINAYS, Member of the Chemical Society. Price Is. Cd. LXIX. THE HOP FARMER : A Complete Account of Hop Culture, em- bracing its History, Laws, &c., Sec., with an Improved Method of Culture; to which are added Useful Tables and Calculations. By E. J. LANCE. Price Us. LXX. FARMER'S ACCOUNT BOOKS. Swiuborue Swinborne's Field Register Book for Thirty Fields 5 Warren's Account Book 7 Freeman's Account Book . 5 Elliott's Account Book 16 Beasley's Account Book 15 s. d. Crumpton's Account Book 1) Taylor's Account Book 7 Amery's Account Book C Parkinson's Account Book ... U C Harding's Account Book 21 Webb's Account Book THE NEW PARLIAMENT. Price 8s. LXXI. THE PARLIAMENTARY MANUAL FOR THE YEAR 1848: Containing the present and last Parliaments, authentic results of the various Polls in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland ; and a Summary of the Act 2 William IV., cap. 45, To Amend tho Representation of the People in England and Wales: with Forms of Lists and Notices, applicable to Counties, Cities, Boroughs, &c. To which are prefixed a List of the Present and Past Parliaments. Also, a List of the Changes in Administration, from the Coinnitnencu- ment of the present Century ; a Summary Account of the Duties of the great Officers of State ; a Table of the Duration of the several Parliaments, from Henry VIII. to the P. esent Time ; a List of those places which formerly sent Members to Parliament ; and a complete Abstract of the Election Laws. New Edition, in 4 vols. Price 2 2s. LXXII. THE SPEECHES OF THE HONOURABLE THOMAS ERSKINE, (AFTERWARDS LORD ERSKINE), When at the Bir, on Subjects connected with the Liberty of the Vrete, and against Constructive Treason. 4 vols. 8vo. With a Portrait aixl Preface by the Right Hon. Lord Brougham. "We take the opinion of the country and of every part of the world, where the lanfritn^r i understood, to be that of the most unl>mm