New Seed-cleaning Machine.

Otago Witness, Issue 1582, 18 March 1882, Page 23

New Seed-cleaning Machine.

Messrs Nimmo and Blair, of Princes' street, have at work on their premises a new'seedcleaning machine, made by Drummond, of Ayrshire. The machine is specially adapted for cleaning ryegrass, and the manner in which it performs its work is simply perfect. The seed passes from a hopper on the ground floor to a " rea " or oscillating oblong box containing ,tivo sieves—the first of sufficient size to retain straw and such other matter as may have been mixed ujj with the seed; while the second sieve retains the ryegrass, removing all sorrel and clover seeds. After leaving the rea the seed passes into the feeder of a fan; and thiß, by means of various sets of sieves, effectually separates from the best 'the second and third-rate seeds. The first-class seed is then raised by an elevator, and run on to a large sieve arranged like the _ steps of a staircase, and to this a violent vertical action is given by means of a crank, with the effect that the smallest foreign seeds are thoroughly removed, leaving a clean and beautiful sample of ryegrass. One result of the use of the machine is that a well-known fine, hairy seed, which is considered by the grazier a' worse enemy than sorrel, is entirely removed, and no other machine has been found to do the work nearly so well or successfully. Of course the price of the seed thus dressed is considerably increased, but the results attending its use are much more satisfactory than in a case where impure seed, obtained at a lower price, is sown. The perfect manner in which the machine does its work should render it a welcome innovation to the farmer and the grazier, who have hitherto been pestered by finding their fields— which should otherwise have been fine grass lands— producing little more than a mass of weeds difficult to exterminate. The machine requires only to be known to attain general favour, and already one has been forwarded to Timaru to the order of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company by Messrs Nimmo and Blair, who are the sole agents for the Colony. Two orders have also been received from Invercargill for the supply of the machine.