INVENTIONS AND APPLIANCES OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 61

INVENTIONS AND APPLIANCES OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURE.

C. J. Lynde, Macdonald College, Quebec, Canada.

ELECTRICAL TREATMENT OF SEEDS. It has been shown by experiments in England that seed electrically treated before planting yields larger crops than the same seed .not so treated. The method used by Dr Fry is as follows: The seed, placed in a wooden tank, is covered with a 2 per cent, sodium chloride solution, ans then

subjected to a current of i ampere per bushel for the following time: wheat, 3 hours; oats and barley, 4 hours; corn and cotton, 5 hours. Those interested should send 5 cents, to Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C., for U.S. patent paper 1,218,850. H. E. Fry, Godmanstone, Dorset, England. (U.S. Paper, 1,218,850.)

PLOUGH ADJUSTMENT

This plough has one lever which adjusts tho relation between the furrow wheel and the land wheel, and thus adjusts tho depth of the furrow; and a second lever which

lifts the ploughs out of the ground without altering the depth adjustment. Vulcan Plough Company, Evansville, Ind. '{U.S. Patent, 1,217,864.)

WHEELED PLOUGH

The new features claimed for this plough are : First, that it levels itself and. that the operator needs only to _ regulate the depth; second, that the point is always

below the . heel except when out of the ground; and third, that the plough can give when it strikes an obstruction. Janesville Machine Company, Janesville, Wis. (U.S. Patent, 1,215,818.)

DISK HARROW.

whioh controls the up and down movement of the inner end of the gang relative to the frame. International Harvester' Company, Auburn, New York. (U.S. Patent, 1,221,230.)

FERTILISER SOWER

The new device here is the agitator which shakes down the fertiliser. It swings lengthwise in the hopper ajid is operated by means of an eccentric on

the axle of the ground wheels. American Seeding Machine Company. Springfield Ohio. (U.S. Patent, 1,276,047.)

DEHORNING CATTLE

Methods of dehorning and castrating cattle are described in Farmers' Bulletin 949, "Dehorning and Castrating Cattle" issued

by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Write for it to Division of Publicationsj U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.