30 Implements of Hufrandry.—Thrafhing- Machines.

thrafhing forty-five quarters of grain with the flail, throughout the whole kingdom, including an equal proportion of all kinds, cannot be, it is{uppofed, eftimated at lefs than 3]. 7s. 6d. or ts. 6d. each quarter, which makes a difference of about 11d. each quarter. It is alfo farther obferved, that fince the introduGtion of thefe mills, the grain is thrafhed by the ordinary fervants on the farm, and without in any material degree obftruéting the operations in the field; farmers in general employing their men and horfes in this bufinefs in bad weather, when other operations cannot be carried on. The whole expence of conftructing a thrafhing-mill, including the building of the fhed for covering the great wheel, does not, in almoft any cafe, exceed 100l. The ordinary annual repairs may, one year with another, amount to 5]., which added to the intereft of the primé coft, makes the yearly expence tol.; a fum for which any quantity of grain, however great, that may be fuppofed to grow on one farm, can be thrafhed, and that too in a manner much{uperior to what can be done by manual labour. The expence either of erecting thefe machines, or of keeping them afterwards in repair, muf{t be confidered by every intelligent occupier of a corn- farm as a fecondary object, when compared with the advantages that are derived from them; fuch as the performing of the operation at lefs than half the ordinary price, and affording the farmer the means of fecuring his grain from being embez- zled: befides, the faving, in regard to fuperior clean thrafhing, as has been now well afcertained, is not only more than the annual expence of repairs, but fo great as, on a farm of confiderable extent, to reimburfe the farmer for the whole of his expenditure in the courfe of a few years. Therefore, confidering the increafing {carcity of labourers, and the recent great advance in the rate of labour in all the better cultivated parts of the kingdom, the introduétion of thrafhing-mills into com. mon ufe cannot but be highly beneficial. There is, however, one difficulty in the introduction of thrafhing-mills into the fouthern parts of the kingdom, which arifes from the manner of harvefting all kinds

of grain, except wheat, which cannot probably be eafilyremoved; as the corn, in order.

to be clean thrafhed, fhould be put into the machine as ftraight and regular as poffible. For while the fheaves, after being loofened and fpread on the board, foas to be eafily taken in by the feeding rollers, are paffing between them, they keep the {traw fteady, by which means the ftrokes of the beaters or feutchers operate with more force and effect in feparating the erain from the ears; whereas, if the unthrafhed corn goes in fideways or irregularly, the thrafhers can have but little power upon it. This would no doubt frequently happen in thrafhing corn which has been mowed with the feythe, and whichis harvefted in every refpect like hay, fo that unlefs the

the