by hand bringing it by 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 the Rev. J. Cooke of Holborn, London, and W. Naylor of Langstock, respectively obtained patents for machines for expediting the process. at inch will cut from Bushels of fodder per hour. 10 to 12 30 to 40 40 to 50 A still smaller engine can also be had, cuttinginch lengths only, suited to gentlemen's stables and small establishments, made entirely of metal, and adapted for hot climates. This will cut from 15 to 20 bushels of fodder per hour. wheels, which in their revolution meet each other. These wheels are attached to two feeding-rollers, which convey the straw forwards to the knives. 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. Ducie in connection with Messrs. Clyburn and In the year 1797 we find Robert Salmon, of Woburn, whose inventive talent and practical experience added many and various original ideas and improvements to the then limited knowledge of agricultural mechanics, con- Passing by several, which in the course of structed a chaff-engine, which, although cum- the next fifteen years were introduced, but brous in its appearance, was effective in its which, however ingenious, were too compli operation, and furnished the original idea, cated and cumbrous for general use, in 1818 which was subsequently improved upon; first, we find a simple invention was patented by by Rowntree, and afterwards by Thos. Pass- Thomas Heppenstall, of Doncaster. It conmore of Doncaster; the latter of whom, insisted in the application of a worm to turn two 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 improved machine. Passmore's machine was a simplification and improvement on Salmon's straw-cutter. Two patents have also, within the last year In 1800 and 1801, W. Lester of Paddington or two, been taken out for considerable impatented a straw-cutter, which, with some alte-provements on this machine, one by Lord rations, 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 fly-wheel turns on a cranked spindle, which communicates motion to a ratchet-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 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 receives its motion from the cranked spindle, alternately presses down the straw previous to the cut, and rises afterwards to allow the straw free passage. The improved machine is made of different sizes, and the larger are frequently used with horse-power. This is the best modern chaff-engine; it will adjust and vary the work to the following lengths of cut:-inch, inch, and inch. Bushels of fodder Atinch it will cut from 18 to 20 Another chaff-cutter is made The only remaining machine we have to bring before the notice of our readers, is one for which a patent was obtained a few months ago by Mr. Charles May, engineer of Ipswich, a partner in the house of Ransome. We saw this among the machines exhibited at the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting at Cambridge, where it appeared to perform its work admirably. It is intended to be used by horse-power, and is so contrived that cog-wheels of different diameters may be placed on the spindle to which motion is first communicated; these, working in different movable wheels upon another spindle, will regulate the speed of the feeding-rollers, so as to vary the length of the chaff to be cut, from three-eighths of an inch to three inches. Its capabilities are estimated to cut 8 cwt. of straw per hour in half-inch lengths. A chaff-cutter is indispensable on a large farm establishment. This implement, as has been shown, is either constructed with a good deal of expensive machinery, or of very simple mechanism; it may be made up at the cost of only 11. or 11. 5s. Patent straw-cutters in great variety are to be found in the United States. They are perhaps in most general use in the Eastern States, for which reason we extract the opinions of their respective merits held by an Eastern authority of high repute, Mr. T. G. Fessenden, editor of that valuable periodical, the New Eng land Farmer. In his very instructive little volume, "The Complete Farmer," Mr. Fessenden makes the following remarks: "There is not only much saving and gain in cutting fodder when hay is low, but the animal is kept in better health, more particularly old horses, and such as may have been injured in running between Newburyport and Boston their wind. He says, The whole amount of hay purchased At twenty-five dollars per ton (the From Oct. 1, 1816, to April 1, 1817, whole amount of hay and straw Straw Hay 16 13 3 10 Cost. "It is a fact that horses will live and continue serviceable much longer when fed on cut fodder. The machine invented and manufactured by Willis, known as 'Willis's Improved Straw and Hay-Cutter,' is the most durable and best operating machine that has come to our knowledge; and, what is worthy of notice, they require but one person to work them, which is not the case with many other machines; in this respect there is a great saving in cutting feed, and likewise the fodder may be cut of any length required: the knives, being placed in front of the machine, can be at all times examined and put in good order. The feeding-rollers are so constructed, that while the machine is in the act of cutting, the rollers cease to feed, which renders the cutting operation very easy. When properly constructed, this machine works free and easy, and is not liable to get out of order. It will cut from thirty-five to Whole amount of hay used for the forty bushels per hour. Price thirty-five dollars. "Eastman's Straw-Cutter, with improved sidegearing and cylindrical knives. This machine is well calculated for large and extensive establishments. Price, fifty to sixty dollars. "The Common Dutch Hand Cutting-Machine is one of those implements in common use, and known to every practical farmer; and is considered as good a machine for a small establishment as any in use. It will cut from ten to twenty bushels per hour. "Safford's Improved and Common Straw-Cutter with side-gearing. Well approved, and is in very general use. "Green's Patent Straw-Cutter, one of the most approved machines now in use for cutting fodder: very simple in its construction, and not liable to get out of order; does the work with great ease and despatch." "Green's Patent Straw, Hay, and Stalk-Cutter," says another excellent authority, "is very simple in its construction, and being made and put together very strong, is not liable to get out of order. By the application of a mechanical principle not before applied to any implement for this purpose, the machine will cut easily two bushels per minute, requiring only the strength of a boy to work it. The knives require less sharpening than those of any other straw-cutter, owing to the peculiar manner in which they cut." $510 23 Deduct on hand April 1, 1817, by esti mation, four tons more than there Saving by the use of the straw-cut- horses of the Salem stage, twenty- At thirty dollars per ton (the lowest Whole amount consumed by the Saving in using chopped fodder five Cost. $187 80 81 00 Total saving in using the straw-cut- At Salem five months The members of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, to whom the above account was communicated by Mr. Hale, were informed by that gentleman that he used no more grain from Oct., 1816, to April, 1817, than was used from April, 1816, to Oct., 1816. At a late exhibition of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, a premium was awarded for a new chaff or straw-cutter, invented by Mr. C. T. Botts, editor of the "Southern Planter," published at Richmond, Va. The improveinent upon other machines for a similar purpose consists chiefly in shortening the knives, which are not wider than a common carpenter's plane-iron, and like them can be easily The Albany Cultivator states, on the author-ground and set. It is a self-feeder, the operator ity of an intelligent and worthy farmer, that two active men will, with this machine, by the application of manual power alone, cut five tons of hay per day! The machine called No. 2, which cuts three-fourths of an inch long, is now sold for thirty-three dollars. having nothing else to do but turn the crank. The inventor remarks, that many straw-cutters at present in use are sufficiently effective whilst in order, but from the difficulty of bringing them within the power of common management, they have generally been abandoned for the imperfect cutters made by the common blacksmiths of the country. The inventor The saving effected by the use of straw-cutters often amounts to 50 per cent. The profits and advantages accruing from cutting proven-therefore applied himself to the construction der, especially when this happens to be a high price, is strikingly demonstrated by the following statement. Mr. Benjamin Hale's account of the savings made by the use of Straw-Cutters, employed to cut hay and straw as fodder for horses. Mr. Hale is proprietor of a line of stages of an implement which, if less rapid in execution, would be more durable, and within the control of the simplest capacity. These are the strongest testimonials in favour of the excellence of Mr. Botts's straw-cutter, the cost of which varies from $25 for the smallest to $30 for the largest size. An extensive farmer residing near Phila delphia, who enjoys a high reputation for his agricultural management, and especially for his success in feeding cattle, has returned to the common old cutting-knife and box, so long used by the German farmers in Pennsylvania, an improvement of which is certainly a very efficient implement. He says that he has expended much money for what were pronounced the best patent straw-cutters, and finds it to his advantage to lay them aside and return to the old and simple machine, which costs but five or six dollars. He had not seen the machine invented by Mr. Botts. So that, when the farmer carts 41 tons of fresh lime, he conveys as much real manure to his soil as if he carried 100 tons of chalk. This must be assuredly a question of the highest importance to those farmers who have to carry the earth a considerable distance, especially if they can procure lime at a reasonable rate; which, in the large quantities required, for agricultural purposes, must in most situations be the case. Carbonate of lime is found in almost all vegetables; it is an essential food of plants. The cultivator will see, by the results of the experiments which I shall give under the head LIME, that the quantity of carbonate of lime contained in the cultivated grasses is very considerable, and still more so in trees; and that, as might be expected, the proportion increases with the quantity of this substance found in the soil. To the planter this fact offers an unanswerable reason in favour of the addition of chalk, marl, or limestone to all poor soils in CHALDRON. An English measure, containing 36 bushels, or 12 sacks of 3 bushels each. CHALK (Sax. cealc; Welsh, calck; Celtic, cal or kal). The carbonate of lime, or lime united with carbonic acid. See LIME. Carbonate of lime exists abundantly in various parts of the earth's surface in the state of chalk, limestone, and marble; and in smaller masses, as the arragonite, &c., of which between one and two hundred varieties (all car-tended for plantations, in the manner long sucbonate of lime) are known to mineralogists. For the purposes of agriculture they may be all classed under one head. Common chalk has a dull white colour, is soft, adhesive when applied to the tongue, stains the fingers, and thence is in common use for marking. In European agriculture chalk is perhaps the most extensively employed of the limestone species; it varies slightly in composition, containing usually some silica (flint), alumina (clay), and some red oxide of iron, and the remainder carbonate of lime, 100 parts of which contain, These carbonates, when burnt, form lime, for the heat drives off the carbonic acid. By exposure to the air the lime absorbs carbonic 'acid gas, and again becomes converted into carbonate of lime. A knowledge of these facts is of considerable value to the farmer even on the score of carriage, independent of the greater value of lime as a manure; for in some cases the object of the needless weight of water and carbonic acid in chalk is very material, as will be readily seen by the following analysis of the chalk of Kent, which is the variety largely employed in the county of Essex, although it has o be brought by sea nearly 70 miles, and then often carted several miles. I found by careful experiment 100 parts of chalk from Kent, in the state in which it was carted on the land in December, contained, besides some oxide of iron and silica, cessfully practised on the black heathy sands of Norfolk by Mr. Withers of Holt, and which he has shown to be equally advantageous to trees, whether planted for ornamental or prontable purposes. There is no fact more necessary to be understood by the agriculturist, than that no land can be productive which does not contain a fair proportion of carbonate of lime. It is, perhaps, even in excess much less prejudicial to any cultivated soil than either silica or alumina. But, on the other hand, no soil can be productive if it contain more than nineteen parts in twenty of chalk. The earth of the fine sandy hop gardens near Tonbridge, in Kent, contain about five per cent. of chalk. The good turnip soils near Holkham, in Norfolk, are seven-eighths sand and the remaining eighth is composed of The soil at Sheffield Place, in Sussex, which is so admirably adapted for the growth of the oak, contains three per cent. of chalk. The fine wheat soils of West Drayton, in Middlesex, contain more than ten per cent. That of Bagshot Heath contains less than one per cent. The richest soils on the banks of the Parret, in Somersetshire, contain more than seventy per Those of the valley of Evesham about six per cent. A specimen of a good soil from Tiviotdale, examined by Davy, was composed of five-sixths sand and the remainder of the following substances (Lectures, 202):— cent. weight of siliceous sand. The remainder was | course, lessen the weight of the mixture. composed of Many soils also contain a small proportion of carbonate of magnesia; but it very rarely amounts to a sufficient quantity to be worth estimating in the mode of analysis I shall presently give. It is difficult to say in what form the carbonate of lime enters the system of plants, as it is an insoluble compound: unless we can suppose that it attracts an excess of carbonic acid from the air, becoming a bicarbonate, in which state it is soluble in water. But whatever | may the cause of its being taken up by plants, its influence on soils is undoubted. When the effervescence has entirely ceased weigh the mass; every 44 grains deficient the experimenter may consider to indicate the presence of 10 grains of chalk in the soil. The agriculturist will then be able to judge, by comparing the quantity of chalk existing in the examined soils with that in other lands, the analyses of which I have given, whether his land requires the addition of chalk. In the United States chalk is nowhere found, and the lime applied to agricultural purposes, except it be in the form of gypsum or plaster of Paris, is obtained from burning limestone, marble, shells, either recent or fossil-and lastly from bones and calcareous deposits called marl. (C. W. Johnson's work On Fertilizers, p. 256; Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. iii. p. 129.) A CHAMPIGNONS (Agaricus orcades). species of mushroom, growing wild in EngInland, having a much higher flavour than the common mushroom, but tough and leathery and consequently very indigestible. They are chiefly used for making catsup, or in the form of powder to flavour sauces, &c., for all which purposes they are admirable. The mode of applying chalk as a manure. the county of Essex, where chalking is practised to a very large extent, the chalk is brought in sailing barges from the Kentish shore of the Thames, at an expense of about two shillings per ton, and afterwards carted for some miles into the country. It is applied in quantities which vary from ten to thirty tons per acre, according to the description of the soil; the poor light soils requiring a larger addition of chalk than the richer lands. It is usually applied without any preparation; the larger lumps of chalk are not even broken, and the chalk being once ploughed in, the action of the frost, the plough, and the harrow, in time sufficiently pulverizes it. It is often mixed in smaller proportions with common farm-yard manure, ditch scrapings, pond mud, &c., and suffered to remain some time before it is carried into the field. An equally excellent plan is followed by some of the best Essex farmers, who spread quantities of chalk over head lands, banks, &c., which require lowering, and then fallow those portions of land, ploughing them often, and letting the chalked earth remain as long as possible, incorporating before they carry and spread the mixed chalk and earth on to the field; by this means the effects of a few loads of chalk are diffused over a field. It is a plan admirably adapted for those situations where chalk is very expensive. CHAR. A species of lake trout found in Windermere; in length never exceeding fif teen or sixteen inches spotted like a trout, with very few bones. (Walton, p. 173.) It is also found in Loch Tay, in Scotland. CHARBON. The little black spot or mark remaining after the large spot in the cavity of the corner tooth of a horse is gone. CHARCOAL (From chark, to burn, and was formerly written charke coal). The remaining portion of wood after it has been heated to redness for some time, which dissipates all the hydrogen and oxygen of which, with carbon, it is composed. (See CARBON.) Charcoalburning is a regular trade, followed in some of the woody districts by persons who do hardly any thing else. For making gunpowder-charcoal, the lighter woods, such as the willow, dogwood, and alder answer best; and in their carbonization care should be taken to let the vapours freely escape, especially towards the end of the ope ration, for when they are re-absorbed, they greatly impair the combustibility of the char coal. By the common process of the forests, about The good effects of chalk are more perma- 18 per cent. of the weight of the wood is obnent than immediate; for, although a good tained; by the process of Foucauld about 24 dressing with chalk will remain in the soil for per cent. are obtained, with 20 of crude pyrolig. from ten to twenty years, yet, on some soils,neous acid of 10 degrees Baumé. one or even two years will elapse before the far- The charcoal of some woods contains silica, mer perceives a decided improvement. There and is therefore useful for polishing metals. is hardly any manure that answers better for Being a bad conductor of heat, charcoal is emgrass than chalk, especially on light, sandy ployed sometimes in powder to encase small soils. If, however, the soil already contains furnaces and steam-pipes. It is not affected an abundance of chalk, its addition to that by water; and hence the extremities of charland cannot constitute a manure. The culti-red stakes driven into moist grounds are not vator can easily form a rough estimate of the quantity of chalk in a soil, by taking a quantity of it from three inches beneath the surface, well drying it in an oven, and adding to, say 400 grains, 800 grains of muriatic acid; the mixture, which weighs 1200 grains, will, if it contains chalk, effervesce; and the carbonic acid of the chalk being expelled, will, of liable to decomposition. In like manner casks when charred inside preserve water much better than common casks, because they furnish no soluble matter for fermentation or for food to animalcules. Lowitz discovered that wood charcoal removes offensive smells from animal and vegetable substances, and counteracts their putrefaction. He found the odour of succinic and benzoic acids, of bugs, of empyreumatic oils, of infusions of valerian, essence of wormwood, spirits distilled from bad grain, and sulphureous substances were all absorbable by freshly calcined charcoal properly applied. A very ingenious filter has been constructed for purifying water, by passing it through strata of charcoal of different fineness. When charcoal is burned, one-third of the heat is discharged by radiation, and two-thirds by conduction. The following table of the quantity of charcoal yielded by different woods was published by Mr. Mushet, as the result of experiments carefully made upon the small scale. He says, the woods before being charred were thoroughly dried, and pieces of each kind were selected as nearly alike in every respect as possible. One hundred parts of each sort were taken, and they produced as under:Lignum Vitæ afforded 260 of charcoal of a grayish colour, resembling coke. 25 4 tinged with brown, spongy and porous. 24-5 velvet black, compact, very hard. It is observable that the quantities obtained by Messrs. Allen and Pepys are in general less than those given by Mr. Mushet, which may be owing to Mr. Mushet not having applied sufficient heat, or operated long enough, to dissipate the aqueous matter of the gaseous products. To those persons who buy charcoal by weight, it is important to purchase it as soon after it is made as possible, as it quickly absorbs a considerable portion of water from the atmosphere. Different woods, however, differ in this respect. Messrs. Allen and Pepys fourd, that by a week's exposure to the air, the charcoal of In England charcoal is prepared in two dif ferent ways. In one, billets of wood are formed into a heap, which is covered with turf, and a few small openings only left for the admission of the air requisite to maintain it in a state of low combustion after it is lighted. When the whole heap is on fire, the holes are stopped; and, after the mass has cooled, the residue is charcoal. In the other mode the wood is distilled in iron cylinders, in which case the products are pyroligneous acids, and empyreumatic oil; and what remains in the retort is charcoal. The quantity of the distilled products, as well as of the charcoal, depends on the kind of wood employed. 100 parts of dried oak yields, of The charcoal thus procured is lighter than common charcoal. Charcoal should be black, sonorous, brittle, and retain the texture of the wood. It has a powerful attraction for water, gases, and odorous and colouring principles. It is a powerful antiseptic, and well adapted for preserving animal substances from putrefaction. In fine powder it is much used as a tooth-powder, for which purpose, however, it is exceptionable, since, being insoluble, it gets between the teeth and gums and thus leads to their separation and much mischief. Ivory, or bone black, is animal charcoal, prepared in the same manner as the second kind of vegetable charcoal. It has a remarkable property of abstracting colour from many vegetable solutions, on which account it is much used by sugar refiners. Plants," says Liebig, "thrive in powdered charcoal, and may be brought to blossom and bear fruit, if exposed to the influence of the rain and the atmosphere; the charcoal may be previously heated to redness. Charcoal is the most unchangeable substance known; it may be kept for centuries without change, and is therefore not subject to decomposition. The only substances which it can yield to plants are some salts which it contains, amongst which is silicate of potash. It is known, however, to possess the power of condensing gases within its pores, and particularly carbonic acid. And it is by virtue of this power that the roots of plants are supplied in charcoal exactly as in humus, with an atmosphere of carbonic acid an air, which is renewed as quickly as it is abstracted "In charcoal powder, which had been used for this purpose by Lukas for several years, Buchner found a brown substance soluble in alkalies. This substance was evidently due |