In witness whereof, we have hereunto added our signa

tures,

JOHN WADMAN.

JAMES WADMAN.

JOHN BAKER.

JOHN PINNEY.

JOHN CHAFFEY.

SIR,

hemp seed,

THE machine, of which a model was sent to the Society Machine for sɔme months ago, must be used with eight flails, two on each arm, for beating out hemp seed.

When required to be used for beating out flax seed, the For flax seed. above eight flails must be taken out, and four beaters put

in their place.

The height of the machine from the floor to the top of Dimensions. the board on which the flax or hemp is laid, is two feet; the breadth, two feet ten inches, the length of the board, four feet four inches; the length of each of the arms, from the axis of the machine, is three feet two inches; the flails for the hemp seed, two feet two inches long; the heights of the uprights, seven feet two inches; the beaters for the flax seeds, are each one foot three inches long, and seven inches broad.

The machine will thrash, in one day, as much hemp as Work pergrows on an acre of land, and other crops in proportion; formed by it. and the work is done with less than half the expense of

thrashing in the usual way.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

EZEKIEL CLEALL.

Reference to the Engraving of Mr. Cleall's Machine for beating out Hemp Seeds and Flax Seeds. Pl. II. Fig. 1, 2.

Fig. 1. Represents the machine for beating out hemp Explanation of seeds, in which A is the table or board on which the hemp the plate. is to be placed; B the axis in which the four arms CCCC are fixed; DDDD, eight single flails, moving upon four pins near the extremities of the four arms; these flails diverge from the pins on which they move, so that, two of VOL. XXIII-MAY, 1809.

C

them

Method of

chine.

them united on each arm are nearly in the form of the letter V. E is the winch or handle by which the machine is put in motion; F F, two upright pieces of wood to sustain the axle of the machine; G, an upper cross piece, to secure the uprights firm; HH, the two bottom pieces or sills, in which the two uprights are mortised, also the two smaller uprights which support the board or table A; II, two lower cross pieces to secure the machine firmly; K K, two levers on which the table A rests, and by which it may be raised or lowered, as thought necessary, by iron pins, at KK, passing through these levers and the two uprights.

When the machine is used, the hemp must be laid on the using the ma- table A, and moved about in different directions by the person who holds it, whilst another person turns the machine by the handle E; the flails D of the machine fall in succession on the hemp; as the axis moves round they beat out the seeds as different surfaces of the hemp are exposed on the table, and when the seeds are all beaten out from one parcel of hemp, a fresh quantity is applied upon the table.

Flax machine.

Fig. 2. Represents one of the flax beaters, which is made of a solid piece of wood, one of which is attached instead of the two flails, to every arm, when the machine is employed for beating out flax seeds, as they require more force to separate them from the flax plant.

IV.

Observations on the Culture of Hemp, and other useful Information, relative to Improvements in Canada. By WIL LIAM BOND, Esq., of Canada*.

Observations on the culture of hemp.

Culture of THE culture of hemp in Upper Canada is no doubt ont hemp in Canada of the most desirable objects with every person of discern

desirable.

Trans. of Soc. of Arts, vol. XXV, p. 147. The silver medal wa voted to Mr. Bond for this communication.

men

ment settled there, and more particularly so with those of this description in our mother country; and though there are so many millions of acres so well calculated to the growth of this highly valuable article, yet 1 do not expect much progress therein for some time, for the following rea

sons.

introduction.

The part of the country the best calculated for the Obstacles to its growth of hemp is so lately and in so small a degree occupied, that few have begun to use the plough, but depend upon raising a sufficiency of grain by harrowing only; in this they are not disappointed for two or three crops;-in the mean time they clear away fresh fields from the woods, many of them to a large extent, which take up so much time in fencing and dressing, that few of the farmers have been able to raise more than needful for their own families' consumption, and for the use of their neighbours; indeed they are ignorant as to the growth and management of hemp, and in general so poor, that they cannot afford to raise any thing for sale that will not bring them ready money as soon as brought to market; and grain brings such a high price in cash, that few farmers are inclined to turn their attention to any other article. Another obstacle is, there being no person or persons appointed to buy small quantities of hemp, and pay ready money for the same. The tract of rich hemp land in Upper Canada is that Tract of rich hemp land. part west of Yonge Street*, and north of Dundas Street †, and partly enclosed by lakes Ontario, St. Clair, Huron, and Simcoe, and to the east and north-east almost as far as Grand or Ottaway River, and to within a few miles of the south and south-east side of lake Huron. I have not failed to make annually from one to three journeys through this tract; I have crossed it in all directions with Indian guides, great part of which no white man, except myself, has ever set foot in; and I find, that the chief of the interior part consists of a rich deep black soil, which I am well convinced, when well inhabited with farmers, will become one

• A street leading from York, the seat of government, to the naviga ble waters of Lake Simcoe.

But lately be. gun to be cleared,

of the finest countries in all his Majesty's territories for the growth of hemp.

It is only about five years since this valuable tract began to be occupied at all, and though by industrious farmers, yet by such as have brought little to the country. A few cows and sheep, a pair of plough oxen, one or two horses, a small stock of farming tools, such as two or three axes, as many hoes and iron wedges, one or two ox chains, being the most that a new settler (generally speaking) possesses on his arrival; with these they make a shift to clear away the woods, and divide and fence the land with split timber into fields, and they are greatly encouraged to continue clearing away the forest, in consequence of the high price given for the ashes by the potash makers: this eventually will be vastly in their favour, in future, when hemp becomes the object, as it gives time for the roots and stumps of trees to rot, and their stock of horses and oxen to increase, which is essentially necessary before the farmer can expect to be successful in the growth of hemp. It is in this progressive manner, that this fine country will be settled; the nature of things demands the pursuit; and the first settlers are in a situation capable of putting the same in practice; their stock of horses and oxen are sufficiently strong to work the ground a second time over, tear up the stumps and roots, Hemp requires plough and pulverize the soil; and until the ground is a soil well pul- brought to this state, it is not fit for hemp, as hemp, in its nature, depends chiefly upon a tap root, and when this root is interrupted in its progress downwards, it will throw out horizontal ones, which produce horizontal branches also, and the open spaces round the stumps of the trees admitting so much air, permits these branches to grow to such a length and strength às greatly to injure the bark or hemp of the stem. Such hemp, when it comes to the hackle, breaks off, and drags away at the knobs of the branches, so as to leave it short, and make a very great waste. Notwithstanding, if there was a sure market for as small a quantity as 50lb., there are few farmers but would try the experiment; and if one was more successful than the rest, his neighbour would endeavour to find out the reasons why it was so. Thus, step by step, the knowledge in the manage

verized.

ment

ment of hemp would be greatly extended, the farmer would generally be in possession of fresh seed, and when grain becomes less an object, he would feel no fear in turning his attention to the culture of hemp upon a large scale; and, in order to encourage the farmer, it would prove highly advantageous to take in any quantity, great or small, of sound hemp, assorted perhaps into four or five qualities, according to its length, which will vary for some years to come, for the reasons before given.

grain.

The high price of labour, owing in some measure to the High price of high price of grain, is such, that hemp, agreeable to the labour and of present regulations, is not an object with the farnier; if an addition of about a third of the present price was given, it would be an inducement for the farmers to cultivate their old fields in a more spirited manner; which bounty might be taken off again, when grain becomes less an object than it is at present, which will soon be the case in time of peace, and no doubt will affect the price of hemp in proportion in the English market.

In all new countries where labourers are scarce, we find Contrivances for diminishing many contrivances calculated for the purpose of reducing labour. labour, more for the sake of expedition than ease; such, for instance, as the saw mill, the hoe ploughs, scythe and cradle for cutting and gathering grain, the wooden machine (drawn round by one horse) for thrashing grain, the iron shod shovel, drawn by oxen, and held by two handles, as a plough, for the purpose of levelling the roads, &c. Nor are the Americans, or other settlers in this country, fond of any work that needs violent exercise of the body; which the breaking of hemp in the old way certainly occasions, in Disadvantage consequence of requiring a cross motion of the arm, which of breaking hemp in the makes the breakers complain of a pain about the short ribs old way. on the side they hold the hemp; and on the opposite side a little under the shoulders, so that breaking of hemp in the old way is a great obstacle to its increased culture. render labour, therefore, somewhat more easy and expeditious, is an object worthy the first attention, and I consider it practicable at a small expense, and have sent to the Society a model of a machine for this purpose.

To

I have observed among the clothiers' and fullers' ma- Dash wheels chinery,