Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/164

142] S T O be made to pass through the basket, and be so firmly attached to its in- ner surface, as to support its rotary motion. The receiver described by the letters i, m, k ; t, m, h; consists of a thick woovicntKjttom, to which are fasteued (by means of nails re- presented by black dots) the iron bars, of which all its sides are com- posed. These bars extend in an <*lique direction to the bottom j •o that the diameter of the outer periphery, h, k, is double to that of the bottom : they are equal in length to the diariieter k, A j at which part they arc fastened to a strong iron hoop. The original basket delineated in our ngurc, is nearly two Paris feet indiaaieter; and all the other parts are construded accordingly ; tl:e size of the machine may, however, be enhrged, or diminished, as occa- sion requires. But, as the spaces be- tween such bars would be dispro- portionally wide, in case the latter were thruughuutofan equal size, or breadth, these are made somewhat round towards the letters i, i ; be- coming gradually broader as they approach lo k, h; so that the spaces between the bars do not increase in proportion to the width of the basket. . Lastly, in case such bars be not •afficiently strong, they may be supported by fixing another iron hoop round them, at m m. And, if tins machine be designed to sift sand or gravel, as well as to clear land from stones, a sieve of iron wire may be fastened around it j and the interstices of which may be enlarged or diminislied, accord- lag to circuixistances. In employing this rciachine, it must be placed at one end of the £dd; two men> furoisbed with STO spades, should place themselves in the front, and throw the earth dug up into the basket, which may be turned rotmd by a boy, or any other person. The soil and stones strike against the wooden bottom, and fail upon the bars, being whirled round by the rotary motion of the receiver. During such revolution, the sand, small stones, and earth, fall through the interstices of the bars on the ground, while such as are larger will be thrown to a cer- tain distance from the basket into a trench, made for their reception. When the labourers are so far ad- vanced that they cannot, without difficulty, supply the basket, it will be necessary to spread the sifted parts regularly on the surface, and to remove the machine by means cf the handles b, 1-, so as to be exactly over the stones already separated. Tlaus, the work may be continued in a similar progression, till the land be projierly cleared. The most favourable time for this agricultural labour, will be during temperate we:ither; when the ground is neither so moist as to adhere between the interstices, nnd consequently to diminish the utility of the machine ; nor so dry and dusty as to be troublesome to the labourers. In such seasons, stony land may be gready improved ; as the stones will be buried in those spots to which the roots of annual plants do not extend ; and in which neither trees nor shrubs will pros- per. STONE-CROP, or Sedum, U a genus of pereunial plants, com- prising 31 species, Q being indige- nous; of which the following are the most remarkable : 1. The Telephium, or Orpine Stone-crop. See Ohfiaz, the Coaimoa. 2. The