construct cylindrical bundles. This press is made entirely of iron and steel. (Fig. 89.)

Fig. 89. -Pilter's hay and straw press. Th. Pilter, Paris, France.

The Whitman forage press exhibited at the Exposition and entered at the Noisiel trials by M. Tritschler, of Limoges (HauteVienne), is represented at Fig. 90.

A machine that has attracted great attention and many complimentary notices in England and also at the late Paris Exposition is the improved broadcast distributor known as the "Strawsonizer" after the inventor, Mr. G. F. Strawson, of Newbury, Berks, England.

This machine is intended for three classes of work, first, to spray

insecticides; second, to sow seed broadcast, and, third, to distribute artificial fertilizers, such as nitrates and superphosphates.

The principle of the machine is that as the solids or liquids are fed out of a hopper or tank they are subjected to a strong blast of air. The air blast is produced by a fan which is given a velocity of 3,600 revolutions per minute by an ingenious system of multiplying gearing from one of the traveling wheels of the machine. In the distribution of dry substances, seeds, or powdered insecticides or fertilizers, the blast is further directed by a flanged plate over

which the material is blown in a fan-like form covering a width of about 23 feet. Liquid or pasty insecticides are distributed through suitable nozzles fitted in place of the dry distributor and arranged for either vertical spraying for hop vines or trees, or broadcast spraying. To do efficient work the machine must be drawn at a brisk pace, and as the draft is not heavy this may be accomplished by a single horse. Water or liquid insecticides are thrown out in a mist-like spray and powders are distributed with great uniformity. H. Ex. 410-VOL V-20

In the case of finely-slaked lime every leaf is coated as with hoar frost.

The machine was originally designed to combat insects, but it has proved valuable in many other ways. As a broadcast sower of seeds its distribution is very uniform over a width of 18 feet, and by its use it is possible to sow 30 or 40 acres per day. As a distributor of fertilizers it promises to supplant many of the older machines. Outside of agriculture it may be employed to scatter sand on slippery streets or to distribute disinfectants or deodorizers in plague-infested towns or noisome places.

This machine (Fig. 91 and Pl. xv) was tested in August, 1889, in the Exposition grounds in the presence of M. Tisserand, Director of Agriculture, and a special jury and was awarded a gold medal. The "Strawsonizer" is constructed in four sizes ranging in price from £12 to £30. The two smaller sizes are for hand work.

STRATTON'S TREE-PLANTER.

The invention of the tree-planting machine, to which reference was made in the Introduction, is, perhaps, the most important advance recently made in forest-planting; and in our Western prairie States, where the lack of forests is most strongly felt, this implement promises to be of especial service. The machine is very simple in construction and has been tested for two years, giving excellent results. A medal was awarded it at the Exposition. (See Plates LXIII, LXIV, and LXV.)

The inventor, Mr. Thomas A. Stratton, a farmer near Lincoln, Nebraska, planted with this machine in 1886, with the aid of one man, 100,000 two and three year old seedling trees in 8 days, in ground mostly unprepared. On April 22, Arbor Day, Mr. Stratton set 15,200 trees unaided, of which 95 per cent were alive and growing in October of the same year and were in 1888 in a thrifty condition. As improved the machine is estimated to be able to prepare the ground and plant in a thorough manner from 20,000 to 30,000 trees per day.

Prof. B. E. Fernow has described the working of the machine in his report to the Department of Agriculture for 1888 (Rep. U. S. Dept. Agr., 1888, p. 688), and has a further account of it in his report on Forestry in this volume (chapter XXIX).

THE DONDEY PEA-SHELLER.

The following figure (Fig. 92) represents one of the few novelties at the Paris Exposition in the line of agricultural implements. It is called l'Ecosseuse, and is a machine for shelling green peas, beans, etc. The apparatus consists of a hopper which automatically distributes the peas to be shelled onto a friction plate between two sets of conical