Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/240

212&#93; all] THR should be rounded o(T, so as to form a tangeut with each other. The ropes ought also to be fixed to the flails with a hook and eye, in order to be removed, when not at work ; for, some of the flails being conti- nually in a lifting state, their elasti- c'lty would otherwise be impaired. Lastly, such flails acquire greater power, in proportion to the extent of their length, and the height to which they are raised : they ope- rate with effect at one-tliird of their length j and consequently a flail, that is 24 feet long, will a6t with force about 8 feet on the floor ; a size which is recommended by the inventor, for thrasliing-machines worked by horses. In Mr. BoYs's General View ef the Agriculture vf the County vf Kent (8vo. 4s. Nicol), we meet vith an account of a thrashing- machine erected in a barn on his farm : — as our limits will not per- mit us to describe its mechanism, we shall only remark, that it re- quires four horses, eight men, and four boys, to remove the corn from a distant part of the barn ; to feed the mill j attend the winnowing- fan ; and stack the straw. Thus, if the corn yield abundantly, the machine will thrash out three quar- ters of wheats yb7/r of barley, or Jive of oats, tvitKin oue hour, in a cleaner manner than can be efleA- ed by the usual modej so that nearly one-half oi the expence will be saved. The latest thrashing-machine, W'hich has come to our knowledge, is that iitvented by Mr. John Pal- me?, of Maxstock, Warwickshire; for which he obtained a patent io 1799. Not having been able to procure a specification of hia pri- vilege, we can only state that the ^schine may be worliec!; eiiiicr THR by one or by two horses, as cir-* cumstances may direft ; but a larger number will, according to the pa- tentee's assertion, never be re- quired : it may also be set in motion by any other equivalent power. By this contrivance, 24 sheaves of wheat or otl.er grain, each being one yard in circumference, nwy be tlirashed out in five minutes ; the straw and grain are completely se- parated, and the former will be less injured than if the operation •were performed with a flail. Far- ther, no additional building is re- quired for the management of the machine, which may be erefted iii any barn of an ordiriary size, and can be removed to different barns^ at a xtvy trifling expence. IVIany objeftions have been start- ed against the introdu6tion of thrash- ing machines into rural economy j and it has been particu^arly urged, that the labour and earnings of ih« }X)or must necessarily decrease, and a great redundance of straw will be occasionally produced. Such inconveniences, however, may be easily obviated : for, exclusively of the grain thus secured and saved from the depredations of dishonest workmen, the latter will never be without employment in a countr)-, where ex.tensive trafts of ground lie uncultivated, and the popula- tion of which, together with the numerous persons devoted to ma- nufa6tures and navigation, as well- as the importation of corn, by whieb- the national treasury is gradually exhausted— all these circumstances impose the absolute necessity of cultivating every acre of waste land. Farther, by adopting such macliine3,tlic grain-is not onlymorc speedily separated, but it may also, in damp seasons, be thrashed oq%, clean i zti obje*^ which £0nld not be