thin blades of iron, inclining backward, so as to prevent clogging with roots, weeds, or other rubbish, or from being caught by any obstructions, and facilitating easy draught. At the same time they gave a side motion to the earth like the mold-board of a plow, and turned and pulverized it. The teeth, from their peculiar form, were well fitted for reducing the surface of inverted grass-sod by riding over and slicing up the soil without tearing up the inverted grass. By the use of machines for depositing seed in the prepared soil important advantages are gained. When used instead of broadcast sowing by hand, they place the seed more evenly and at more uniform depth. A smaller quantity of seed is required, as every grain has an equal chance, and the crop is heavier. For sowing in drills or rows the saving

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In

shallow pulverization, frequently performed, is essential. a good cultivator the points of the teeth, projecting nearly horizontally forward and being made of hard steel, enter the soil with great ease, the loosened earth being then gradually raised by the curve in the teeth.-The severe labor required to cut grass and standing grain by hand caused many attempts at lessening this labor by machinery. During the early part of the present c. many experiments were tried, but the Amer. machines were the first which were made with sufficient strength, lightness, power, and efficiency, combined with durability, to fit them for general use throughout the

01 abor is great, dropping from the hand and covering with the hoe being slow and laborious, while machines do the work with many times greater rapidity. The best graindrills now made will last a life-time, and will distribute the seed constantly and uniformly on level and on sidehill land, and they are therefore termed "forced" dischargers. The rapidity of discharge is perfectly controlled by means of contrivances variously adopted by different manufacturers. There are many grain-drills now made in different States, performing the work in the best manner, and ali having much similarity in external appearance. Among them is that represented in Fig. 3. When desired it is furnished with a fertilizer attachment, spring hoes, corn-planter, or grass-seeder. It will sow phosphate or guano, whether dry or damp. The corn-planting apparatus wi! sow three drills at a time.-Corn-planters are made by using two, and sometimes three, tubes of any grain-drill, thus planting in

Fig. 5.-Mower at Work.

world. In the U. S. alone more than 10,000 skilled work. men are employed in their manufacture, turning out annually more than 150,000 machines, which sell for $15,000,000.In the mower the simple unobstructed cutter-blade passes through the grass; in the reaper a platform is required to collect the falling grain and straw; as soon as enough accumulates the bundie is swept off with the hand-rake, in the former hand-rake machine, or with the seif-raker in those of more recent construction, and it is bound into neat bundles and cast off by the machine itself from the self-binder. The hand-rake requires one man to drive and another to cast off the gavels; the self-raker and self-binder need a driver only. Twine is now used instead of wire for binding the

úrills many acres in a day. In clean land, well cultivated and not infested with weeds, drills yield on an average 20 per cent. more corn and a greater amount of fodder than hills. Most farmers, however, prefer planting in hills, to admit of horse-cultivation both ways; and in the W. where extensive fields are devoted to this crop, planting-machines are employed which will drop two rows at a time at right angles. Single or one-horse cultivators are now used on farms of moderate size, and when the rows of drills are straight and parallel they not only save a great deal of labor in hand-hoeing, but by frequently pulverizing and stirring the soil, even if entirely free from weeds, add largely to the growth of the crop. Early in the season, before the roots of hoed crops have extended far, deep-running cultivators to loosen and mellow the soil are of much benefit; and afterward a more

Fig. 6.-Reaper at Work.

sheaves. Of the machines using cord all accomplish the same end by unlike machinery. By adjusting a screw the binder can be set to bind a bundle of any desired size. The tension can be altered so as to bind as tightly as can be wished. Every bundle delivered from the machine will be of the size set by the operator, and all will be bound equally tight.-The making of self-raking, self-binding machines is a very extensive industry in the U. S. One firm, at Auburn, N. Y., employs about 1,400 hands in the busy season and makes 18,000 machines annually; another, at Hoosick Falls, N. Y., makes 40,000 a yr., counting mowers, reapers, and binders. In an article with the caption "How the Self

Fig. 8.-Hay-tedder.

a main factor in the export of grain with the returning import of gold on which we resumed specie payment? By that single improvement the cost of wheat was reduced not less than 6 per cent. and in some places 10 per cent."-The use of hay-tedders for stirring up, turning over, and facilitating the drying of newly cut hay is of comparatively recent intro

Fig. 11.-Stacking Hay.

desired spot. With this contrivance a man on the load of hay, with a boy to drive the horse, can unload a ton of hay in five minutes. The carrier may be placed outside the barn if desired, and it is also used to great advantage in building large stacks. The attaching grapple will grasp a timber from two to nine in. with one change of pin, and with it pulleys may be put up without climbing, and quickly changed when desired. It will sustain over a ton. Fig. 11 shows the method of using the fork in stacking by employing stacking

Fig. 9.-Grappling Hay-fork and Railway Hay-conveyer. duction into this country. They have been long known in England, and a few were brought to this country many yrs. ago. But they were heavy and cumbersome, and were cast aside. The mowing-machine cuts and drops the hay in a parallel mass, to which the sun and air have not ready access, and the hay is slow in drying. The tedder tosses it up lightly, leaving its fibers crossed in every direction

Fig. 12.-Hay-loader.

irons with ropes, pulleys, and grapples. The elevator first lifts its load from the wagon, (or ground,) and then carries it along the rope till the man on the load drops it by a jerk of the cord. Before the use of machinery the cost of making hay cut with the scythe, raked with the hand-rake, and pitched and unloaded by hand was reckoned equal to half the value of the hay; and it was not uncommon for farmers

to let the making of hay to laborers on shares, each taking half. If hay was worth $10 a ton it was reckoned worth $5 a ton to cut, dry, and draw it in, taking all the risk of showers of rain. It is not likely that men could now be found who would do the required work with the old tools at that rate, while with modern machinery it is easily performed for less than $1 a ton. This machinery consists of the mowing-machine, the hay-tedder, the horse-rake, the haysweep for short drawing, the hay-loader for lifting the hay from the ground to the wagon for longer conveyance, and the horse-fork and the hay-carrier.-Since the wide introduction of hand lawn-mowers many country homes have become greatly improved in the beauty of the lawns which surround them. These efficient little machines will not only work with four or five times the rapidity of the former lawn-scythe, but also do the work more perfectly, without the required skill, and with greater ease to the operator. Although quite different in the form of the cutting part from the large mowing-machine, the cutting is performed on a principle very similar, namely, that of the shears. In the large mowing-machine the vibrating knives perform the shearing operation with the fingers through which they play; in the lawn-mower the revolving cutting edge becomes a pair of shears with the fixed blade against which it glides in its operation. The hand-mowers are made to cut from 10 to 18 in. w.; the larger ones, drawn by a horse, for parks and large open grounds, cut from 2 to 3 ft. w. Most of the Amer. lawn-mowers allow the grass to fall on the ground as it is cut, and, sinking between the short blades of grass, it serves as a mulching. Most of the English machines have a pocket or reservoir for retaining the grass and carrying it off from the ground. Before the invention of the threshing-machine grain was separated from the straw by the hand-flail and by the tread of horses. These modes have now nearly passed away, and the work is done with machinery. There are three modes in common use for applying power to drive threshing-machines-tread-powers, lever powers, and steam-engines. The tread-powers are usually

51

ing-machines, introduced more than half a century ago, consisted simply of a spiked cylinder running in a spiked concave bed, driven with great velocity by a lever horse-power.

There were no facilities for feeding the machine or for clearing away and separating the straw, chaff, and grain; and for an eight-horse machine at least 12 men were required, while it was running, in raking the straw from the grain and in storing the straw and chaff. This work is now all done with machinery, the straw being taken away and deposited by the straw-carrier on the stack or mow without the labor of handpitching. See the article on REAPING, also that on the SILO. Agricult'ural Soci'eties, for the purpose of promoting the science and practice of agriculture, were established in the N. of Italy in the beginning of the last century. As early as 1723 a "Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agricult ure in Scotland" was instituted. It was formed in 1841, and has greatly assisted in advancing the agriculture of the coun

try, especially by introducing improved breeds of cattle. Most of the countries of continental Europe have agricultural associations of various kinds. In our Northern States, where the land is mostly owned by those who farm it, A. S. have sprung up in great numbers. Every State has its central society, which in its turn fosters a number of local associations. Indeed, in all the chief grain-producing districts each county boasts of its own society. These being all partly supported by State money, useful information is collected, published, and sold at a cheap rate in reports. Canada follows in the wake of her enterprising neighbors, and supports by grants of money a provincial show in each province, while the county societies are numerous and supply materials for the reports of the Boards of Agriculture at Toronto and Montreal. In Canada and the U. S. the agricultural exhibitions are of a highly popular character. Prizes are given, not only for animals, implements, and dairy produce, but also for fruits. Being of a general nature, combining agriculture, horticulture, and domestic economy, such exhibitions are frequented by all classes. They are usually denominated "fairs."

Agriculture, (Lat. ager, "a field," cultura, "to till,") is the art of rearing those plants and animals that are best suited to supply the wants of man. Man has selected a great variety of plants for culti vation to afford him food and clothing. In northern latitudes wheat, barley, oats, rye, and the potato the chief plants from which he derives subsistence. These crops are most productive when grown in summer in the temperate climates of the earth. Their geographical limits, however, are greatly extended by growing them as winter crops on the borders of, and even within, the tropics. In these regions, however, rice, maize, millet, and other grain become far more productive of food than the already mentioned cereals are in high latitudes, as they flourish during the heats of summer. Where heat and moisture are almost perennial, in the tropics, the banana, the breadfruit tree, and other herbaceous plants and trees are most productive of human food. The Scriptures are full of allu sions to the operations of the husbandman in Palestine. The valleys were well watered and afforded pasture for numer. ous flocks. In the more prosperous regions of the Orient a favorite mode of irrigation is by digging small canals, by which water is conveyed around every plot and even to every

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of antiquity. She was married to Cæsar Germanicus, whom she accompanied in all his campaigns. She openly accused Tiberius before the Senate of having hired the murderers of her husband, and the tyrant, who hated her for her virtues and the esteem in which she was held by the people, banished her to the island of Pandataria, near Naples, where she voluntarily d. of hunger, 33 A.D. The Antiquarian Museum at Dresden possesses four excellent busts of her.

Ag'riculture, Depart'ment of, first established by Congress as a bureau in 1862, diffuses information and purchases, propagates, and distributes seeds and plants with a view to introducing those new and useful into our country. Its head-quarters consist of a fine building, surrounded by gardens, and containing a library, museum, and chemical laboratory, and since 1889 has been under the care of a Secretary of Agriculture, with a seat in the Cabinet, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Agrigen’tum, (Gr. Akragas,) the modern Girgenti, a Gre- | cian town on the S. coast of Sicily, founded by a colony from Gela, (582 B.C.,) and, in the earlier ages, one of the most important places in the island. In its palmy days it is said to have contained 200,000 inhabitants. The modern city contains 22,027 inhabitants, is the cap. of the prov. of the same name, and exhibits numerous and splendid ruins. Among the best preserved of these is the Temple of Concord, of which only the roof and part of the front are wanting. The most extensive of the temples was that of Jupiter, 340 ft. 1., 120 ft. h., and 160 ft. w. Only the basement and some fragments remain.

Agʻrimony, (Agrimonia,) a genus of plants of the natural order Rosacea, sub-order Potentille. It has an upright habit, attains a h. of two ft. or more, and has interruptedly pinnate leaves, with the leaflets serrate and downy beneath. The flowers are small and yellow, in close racemes. The whole plant has a pleasant, slightly aromatic smell, and is bitter and styptic. A decoction of it is used as a gargle, the dried leaves form a kind of herb tea, and the root has celebrity as a vermifuge.

Agrip'pa, (CORNELIUS HENRY,) a remarkable character of the 16th c., distinguished as writer, philosopher, and physician, who united great ability and extensive acquirements with quackery; b. at Cologne 1486, d. 1535. He led an adventurous and unsettled life, quite in the spirit of his times, and became famous as a magician and alchemist.

Agrip'pa I., (HEROD,) son of Aristobulus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great. After the banishment of Herod Antipas he received his tetrarchy. His government was mild toward the Jews, but he severely persecuted the Christians. He caused James, the brother of John, and the head of the Church at Jerusalem, to be beheaded, and Peter to be thrown into prison. He d. of a peculiarly loathsome disease at Cæsarea, in Palestine, 44 A.D.

Agrip'pa II., (HEROD,) son of A. I., was at Rome when his father died, and only 17 yrs. of age. In 53 A.D. he left Rome and received from the emperor nearly the whole of his paternal possessions, which were subsequently enlarged by Nero. He spent great sums in adorning Jerusalem, Berytus, and other cities, but he failed to secure the good-will of the Jews. He did all in his power to dissuade them from rebelling against the Romans, but when he found his advice neglected he joined the imperial troops. When Jerusalem was taken he went with his sister to live at Rome, where he was made pretor, and where he d. in the 70th yr. of his age, the last of the Herods. It was before him Paul made his memorable defense.

Agrip'pa, (MARCUS VIPSANIUS,) 63-12 B.C., a Roman who rose to an exalted position. He was generous, upright, and a friend to the arts. Rome owed to him the restoration and construction of several aqueducts and of the Pantheon, besides other public works of ornament and utility. Agrippi'na, the daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa, by

Ag'telek, Cavern of, (Hungarian Baradlo, i. e., “suffocating place,") one of the largest and most remarkable stalactitic caverns of Europe, is situated near the village of Agtelek, not far from Pesth.

A'gua, Volcan de, a volcanic mountain in Cent. Am., noted for emitting torrents of water, which have twice destroyed the town of Guatemala; h. 15,000 ft.

Agua'do, (ALEXANDRE MARIA,) Marquis de Las Marismas del Guadalquiver, one of the wealthiest Jewish bankers of modern times; b. at Seville 1784, d. 1842. A'guas Calien'tes, a Mexican state, area 2,895 m., pop. 140,180.

A'guas Calien'tes, a town in Mexico, 6,000 ft. above the sea-level, and on a stream of the same name, which is tributary to the Rio Grande de Santiago; pop. 32,355. The environs abound in hot springs, from which the town takes its name. It is the cap. of the State of the same name.

Aʼgue (Febris intermittens) is the common name for an intermitting fever, accompanied by paroxysms or fits. Each fit is composed of three stages-the cold, the hot, and the sweating. These paroxysms recur at regular intervals. The interval between them is called an “intermission." When they occur every day the patient has quotidian A.; every second day, tertian; and when they are absent for two days, quartan. The exciting causes of this disease are invisible effluvia from the surface of the earth, (marsh miasma.) A certain degree of temperature seems necessary-higher than 60° Fahr.-for the production of the poison. It also requires moisture. James I. and Oliver Cromwell d. of A. contracted in London. The Pontine Marshes to the S. of Rome have long been notorious as a source of aguish fevers. Peat-bog or moss is not productive of malaria. Neither is A. ever seen among the inhabitants of the Dismal Swamp-a moist tract of 15,000 acres on the frontiers of Va. and N. C. The treatment of aguish fever consists generally in calomel given in purgative doses, followed by preparations of cinchona-bark, and in applying, during the paroxysm, external warmth to the body.

A'gue Cake, a form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system. Agues'seau, d', (HENRY FRANÇOIS,) a distinguished lawyer and chancellor of France, b. 1668 A.D. As a steady defender of the rights of the people and of the Gallican Church he successfully opposed the decrees of Louis XIV. and the Chancellor Voisin in favor of the papal bull Unigenitus; d. 1751.

Aguilar, (GRACE,) b. in London 1816, author of several able works of fiction; she was by descent a Spanish Jewess; d. 1847.

Aguilar' de la Fronte'ra, a town of Spain, on the river Cabra, 22 m. S.-S.-E. of Cordova. Here is a dismantled Moorish castle; pop. 12,300.

Agulhas, Cape, ("Needles,") the most southern point of Africa, lies about 100 m. E.-S.-E. of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1849 a light-house was erected on it at an elevation of 52 ft. above h. water.

Agur', a town of India, in the territory of Gwalior; pop. about 30,000.

Agusti'na, ("the Maid of Saragossa,") attained fame and a lieutenancy in the Spanish army by her services in defense of Saragossa when that city was besieged by the French; d. 1857.

Agyn'ians, (Gr. a, “negation," and yuvn, “a woman,”) ascetic Gnostics of the 7th c. who condemned marriage and the use of certain kinds of meat.

A'hab, the son and successor of Omri, was King of Israel from 918-897 B.C. He married Jezebel, through whose injurious influence the Phenician worship of Baal was introduced, the king himself turning to idolatry and the priests and prophets of Jehovah being cruelly persecuted. A. prosecuted three wars, with various success, against Benhadad, King of Syria; but in the last campaign he was killed by an arrow. His whole family was afterward extirpated under King Jehu.

Ahan'ta, one of the healthiest, richest, and most civilized