other woman, in this case, tramps the straw-mow in the straw-barn. It is the duty of one of the women in the corn-barn to see that the chaff does not accumulate upon the end of the mill-fanners, and fall down into the rough spout. To ascertain the state of the chaff easily, a small sliding shut should be made in the wooden partition between the corn-barn and chaff-house, on opening and looking through which, the state of the chaff will at once be seen. When water or steam is employed, women either take away the straw from the machine, independent of those in the barns, or men do it, such as the hedger or cattle-man, and at times the shepherd. In all cases, a woman should spread the straw and tramp it in mows in the straw-barn, as it comes from the mill, and form one mow after another. 1749. A chaff-sheet for carrying oatchaff or riddlings, or other refuse from the barns, consists of thin sacking or cotton bagging-and there should at least be two of them in the corn-barn. From 5 to 5 feet square makes a convenient size of chaff-sheet. 1750. Every thing being thus prepared, (and every preparation ought to be completed before the mill is moved,) the mill is ordered by the steward to be set a-going by the engine-man or driver-and which is best done by means of ringing a bell, hung in the engine-room or horse-course, when the power is steam or horses, and he himself lets on the water to the wheel when the power is water. The power should be applied gently at first, and no corn should be presented until the mill has acquired its proper momentum-the thrashing-motion, as it is termed. When this has been attained, in a very few seconds, and which a little experience will teach the ear to recognise instantly, the steward-the feeder-in-takes a portion of a sheaf in both his hands, and, letting its corn end fall before him on the feedingin board, spreads it with a shaking and disengaging motion across the width of the board. His great care is, that no more is fed in than the mill can thrash cleverly; that none of the corn is presented sideways, or with the straw end foremost. He thus proceeds with a small quantity of corn for a few minutes, until he ascertains the capacity of the mill for work at the particular time, which is much affected by many circumstances, and then the requisite quantity is fed in; but on no account should the feed exceed one sheaf at a time, however fast they may have to be supplied in succession. If 1751. The ascertainment of the capacity of the mill is necessary every time the mill is used; for however well acquainted the feeder-in may be with it generally, and whatever power may be employed, it is not alike effective under all circumstances. For example, the water may flow quicker or slower; the horses move slower and duller or brisker ; and the steam be more or less easily raised, and retain its elasticity longer or shorter one day than in another. water is flowing freely into the supplydam while the thrashing is going on, it will come more quickly towards the wheel, and consequently maintain the thrashing pace of the mill for a longer time than when it flows from a full dam until it is emptied, when the power becomes less by degrees. So with horses: the state of the weather will oppress them one day, and they will work with languor and irregularity, do what the driver can to induce them; while in another day, they will work with an active pace throughout the yoking. I presume less of this variation will be felt with steam than with any of the other powers, but still the state of the atmosphere must have some effect on its elasticity. The direction and strength of the wind affects the progress of thrashing. When it blows in the direction of the straws passing through the mill, the thrashing will proceed briskly. So powerfully have I seen this exemplified, that the upper barn door had to be kept shut, to moderate the effect of the wind. On the other hand, when the wind blows against the straw through the mill, the thrashing may proceed so slowly as that the doors of the straw-barn are obliged to be closedand then some of the corn will pass along with the straw. 1752. Acquainted with all these promotive and retarding circumstances, suppose that the feeder-in d, fig. 145, is ready to proceed. He takes the sheaves from the feeder-in board e, supplied by the FEEDING IN CORN INTO THE THRASHING-MACHINE IN THE UPPER BARN. other woman g, brings forward the sheaves from the mow a, and places them in a convenient position before the other woman f, and even loosens a band occasionally in assistance. 1753. There are certain circumstances which greatly affect the action of the mill in the cleanness of its thrashing. One depends on the driving of the horses, in which a considerable difference is felt by the feeder-in when one man keeps the horses at a regular pace, whilst another drives them by fits and starts. The regular motion is attained by the driver walking round the course in the contrary direction to the horses, in which he meets every horse at least twice in the course of a revolution, and which keeps all the horses upon their mettle, every horse expecting to be spoken to when he meets the driver. The irregular motion is produced by his walking in the same direction with the horses, when the horse next him makes the greatest exertion until he outstrips the man, when he slackens his pace; and then the horse following him, on coming up to the man, exerts himself until he also passes him; and so on in succession, one horse after another. The man always walks slower than the horses; and when he gives a crack of the whip the horses give a start, and strain the machine; but immediately after this they relapse into the irregular motion, caused as above described. In such a style of driving a willing horse is sure to get more to do, and a lazy one less than he should, as horsewheels are usually constructed. The gangway, which is sometimes made for the driver to walk in within the stays of the wheel, serves only to encourage his indolence. I have seen a fellow fast asleep while leaning against one of these stays, on being carried round on the gangway. The horses receive a breathing of 15 or 20 minutes at mid-yoking in the mill. 1754. Another cause of foul thrashing is cutting the bands of the sheaves with a knife, instead of loosening the band and corn-knot. The cutting is a quick mode of assisting the woman who hands the sheaves to the feeder-in, but the knot, in passing sideways with the sheaf, almost escapes the drum. Every band should be loosened, its corn-knot untied, and laid along the sheaf to which it belongs, when it will have the chance of being thrashed clean. If one woman is unable to loosen the bands fast enough, on account of the shortness of the sheaves, the other woman should assist her by laying loosened sheaves before her; but if a third woman is found requisite for the work, let her be engaged rather than the straw be not thrashed clean. 1755. Too slow or too fast a motion of the mill, and the permission of portions of sheaves going broadside on, or butt end foremost, to the feeding-rollers, will cause foul thrashing, and consequent loss of corn. 1756. There are several incidental inconveniences attending the act of thrashing under particular circumstances-as, when the sheaves are very long, the feeding-rollers take a long time to pass them through, even after the fast motion has been given them. In a very quick motion, the beaters of the drum are apt to chop the straw in pieces. On the other hand, very short sheaves are taken in so quickly as almost to elude the drum, even when the feeding-rollers are put on the slow motion. It is a laborious task to feed in short sheaves of any sort, and especially of oats, so as to keep the mill steadily thrashing; and it is loss both of time and power to allow the feeding-rollers to be idle, even for a moment. I was once very hard worked, as were the women who loosened the sheaves and riddled the corn, in feeding-in a stack of ordinary dimensions of Blainslie oats of very short straw, when the sheaves disappeared through the feeding-rollers in an instant, though on the slowest motion. The stack took about 6 hours to thrash with horses, and during this time 64 bolls, or 384 bushels, of clean corn passed through the mill-nearly 10 bolls or 60 bushels an hour. Another cause besides short straw may cause great labour in feeding-in, -namely, inordinate application of the moving power. Wind is the power which is most likely to elude the control of man. I remember of a windmill which ran off, and could not be stopped by the brake, in consequence of a sudden gale pressing more forcibly upon the sails than it was in the power of the apparatus to furl them; and such a velocity did the mill attain that two men were required to feed in, and horses and men to bring in corn to the machinery, until the wind should abate a little-which it did not at all until three large stacks of oats had been thrashed, at the rate of 16 bolls, or 96 bushels, per hour. When the straw is long and supple, it is apt to wind round the upper feedingroller-and, when it does, no more corn should be fed in, as it will be drawn in instantly by the drum. In some mills a reverse motion is given to the feedingrollers, to obviate the accident by unwinding the straw; but it does not always serve the purpose intended. Indeed, I never saw a good instance of unwinding by the rollers. A much better plan is, to cut the straw with a stout knife, while the rollers are moving in their usual course. The most convenient form of knife is that of a razor set dead in a stout wooden handle. It should be always at hand within a leathern strap nailed on the inside of the post of the drum-framing, near the right hand of the feeder-in. Long oat-straw is liable to warp at all times, especially when damp, and brought direct from the field. Some mills are closed in with boarding above the drum-cover, to conceal the first rake from view; but in close muggy weather, or with the straw not completely dry, the straw is apt to linger about the rakeand, to notice this inconvenience, the board has to be raised up very often. Such a board is useful when wheat is thrashing, when its grains, striking against the surface of the rake, are thrown back with great force upon the face of the feeder-in. So painfully have I felt the pellets of wheat strike my face, in the absence of such a board, that a sack had to be nailed up to ward off the grain. The inconvenience of the straw collecting in front of the first shaker I have seen most frequently occur when seed-wheat was thrashing in autumn, before the straw was completely won; and wheat-straw, in that state, will even wind round the rollers. 1757. When the sheaves are about all thrashed, one of the women takes the rake b, fig. 145, and pushes with its inverted head all the loose corn along the floor, as about c, that has come out from the straw, into a heap at the feeding-in board, upon which it is placed by the other woman with the wecht h. While the feeder-in is putting this loose corn towards the rollers with a stout stick, kept in the barn for the purpose, the woman who had raked it in now sweeps the entire floor towards the board, with the besom i. The mill is then stopped for a few minutes, until all the corn, chaff, and straw belonging to the particular stack thrashed are swept away from the drum-gudgeons, and elsewhere, and placed on the feeding-in board, that no remains of the corn in hand may be left to mingle with perhaps a very different sort of grain in the stack that will be thrashed next. While all this is proceeding, the women in the corn-barn are not idle. One has riddled the tail of the corn-bin, and shovelled the bin close against a convenient part of the barn-wall; while the other has taken up to the upper barn the remaining refuse, to be passed again through the mill, and swept the barn floor clean, and hung up the riddles against the walls, and put the other implements into their proper places. 1758. When barley is thrashed, the roughs are not riddled as it comes from the spout, but reserved to be put through the mill after the sheaves have all been thrashed. The hatchway a, fig. 127, forms a convenient means of communication betwixt the corn and upper barns, and through it the roughs are handed up in wechts, and placed on the feeding-in board, from which the feeder-in supplies the mill in small quantities with the stick, so as the roughs may have time to be thoroughly beaten by the drum; for, with the exception of the fanners to blow away the awny refuse into the chaff-house, the rest of the machinery of the mill is of little value in this operation. The use of the stick for this and the operation mentioned above, is to save the hands of the feeder-in being seized by the feeding-rollers, when feeding in so short a substance as roughs. Few mills have elevators, and therefore the barley-roughs are usually treated as now described. 1759. Any portion of the straw that happens to be damp, which it is very likely to be immediately after harvest, will probably not be thrashed clean, and it is advisable to put it again through the mill. The opening in the wall at b, fig. 137, betwixt the upper and straw barns, permits the damp straw to be forked up from the straw-barn into the upper barn. 1760. After the mill has been used for every purpose, the sluice of the dam is immediately let down, the horses taken out of the mill-course, or the steam let off, the hatchway and opening are closed, and the door of the upper barn is locked. 1761. The feeding-in of oats is similar to that of wheat, but only the straw is not so easily separated in the sheaf. 1762. The bean being easily separated from its pod, the fast motion. of the thrashing-machine should be put on when it is thrashed; but, the straw being brittle, the best plan to avoid its being much broken with the fast motion is to feed the sheaves thin sideways, instead of lengthways, into the feeding-rollers. The pods being covered with down, it becomes black on the crop being won, which the thrashing throws off like a thick black impalpable dust, which, on entering the mouth and nostrils, and blackening the clothes, makes the thrashing of beans à disagreeable process; and the noise occasioned by their impinging against the iron lining of the drum-case, is most deafening, and overpowers the human voice. thrashing peas, the feeding-rollers are put on the fast motion, and the sheaf is allowed to be taken in by them, while the feeder holds on by the sheaf, and pulls it thinner and thinner. Peas are as easily thrashed out as beans; but the process does not create so offensive a dust, though the noise attending it is very great. Peas are riddled with the oat riddle, the refuse generally being small clods of earth and shrivelled grains, which are left in the riddle, and given to the pigeons. In The 1763. I have said that the straw, as it is thrashed, is mowed up in the straw-barn, and it is done in this manner:-Two persons are required to take away the straw when the thrashing-mill is in motion. The straw is received, as it falls continuously down the straw-screen o', fig. 136, upon the strongly boarded part of the floor of the straw-barn below it, and is thence taken up in forkfuls, with a large straw fork, fig. 110, and carried to the part of the straw-barn where it is intended to be mowed up, and where a field-worker is ready to receive it and mow it up. mowing consists of spreading the straw in a line, across the end or along one side of the straw-barn, in breadths or mows of 5 or 6 feet, and trampling it firmly with the feet; and, when one mow has reached such a height as the roofing of the barn will easily allow, another one is made upon the floor beside it, and so on in succession, one mow after another, in parallel order, until the stack is thrashed or the barn filled. The advantage of putting up straw in the barn in mows, in preference to building it over a large portion of the barn-floor, is-that a mow receives the straw in forkfuls, which re quire to be only spread a very little before being tramped firm; whereas over a broad space the forkfuls would have to be carried to the farthest end and sides a task which no single field-worker could do as fast as the men fork it. And when the straw is taken away, each mow is easily removed by force of the arms alone, whereas straw is very difficult to be pulled asunder when built up and tramped in broad spaces. 1764. When a stack of litter straw is being thrashed, the cattle-man may be saved a good deal of trouble in carrying the litter to the courts and hammels, should they require to be littered. To effect this, the straw is carried in back-loads from the straw-screen in short ropes, one end of which is hooked on to the bottom of the screen, and the other end is held in one hand of the person who is to carry the load, while the other hand guides the straw into the rope. Those who carry assist each other on with the load in the barn. The carriers litter one court after another methodically, and not at random, in which they are assisted and directed by the cattle-man, and by the field-worker who would have had to mow the straw in the barn. 1765. For the convenience of this process, as well as for many others, it is better to have the end of the straw-screen cut off about 3 feet above the floor of the straw-barn, instead of allowing it to slope down to the floor, because, when it is so prolonged, its end is in the way upon the floor, and very apt to become injured by the prongs of the large forks striking against it when removing the straw; and it much interferes with the convenience of bundling straw directly from the mill, either for the purpose of litter, fodder, or thatching stacks. In some mills there is no straw-screen at all, the straw falling on the floor direct from the apron of the second shaker. Besides the inconvenience of the straw thus falling directly upon the persons taking it away, the want of a screen prevents the stray grains of corn being separated from the straw, and are therefore carried away in it. 1766. The next process in connexion with corn is the winnowing- that is, making it clean for the market-and this The process is conducted in the corn-barn. The first thing to be done towards preparing the thrashed heap of corn for the market, is passing the roughs of wheat or oats through the blower. This machine is set with its tail at the barn-door, that the chaff may be blown away from it. steward drives the fanners, one woman fills the hopper with the roughs; and as they do not pass easily through the hopper, another woman stands upon the stool belonging to the barn, fig. 164, and pushes them with her hand towards the feeding-roller; while the other two women riddle the corn upon the new-thrashed heap. The riddlings of the roughs, and all the light corn, may be put past for the fowls. 1767. Before proceeding to describe particularly the winnowing of corn, it is necessary to give you some idea of the machines by which the corn is made clean for market, such as the winnowing machines, or fanners—so named in the latter sense because they blow away the filth from the corn by means of fans. When cleaning fanners are fixed to one spot, and are connected with elevators, they are generally of large dimensions, and of more complicated construction than when made to be moved about in the barn. Fig. 146 is the elevation of the fixed fanner, which is in dimensions 6 feet 9 inches in length, 4 feet 9 inches in height, and 1 foot 9 inches in breadth, and where a is the fore framing, made in halves, and bolted together, for the convenience of removing the outward half of the fan-case; b is the back frame made single; c c is the side boarding; d is a crank on the end of the spindle of the fan, the arms of which are seen traversing the spaces e, which are the air-ports by which the air finds access to the fans, and upon which are placed sliding panels ff, by which the admission of the air, and ultimately the force of the blast, can be regulated; the crank d is attached to the connecting rod g, which communicates motion to the double or bell-crank spindle h, whose office it is to move the riddle-frame. The hopper i receives the undressed grain, and the spouts k l m deliver respectively the first, second, and light grain, after separation in the machine; but, as it would be inconvenient to deliver all these at one side, there are corresponding sliders, k' l' m'; and each side being provided with |