The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-24 00:00:00

ARTIFICIAL HAY-DRYING. "":-

The following leiter has been sent to The Times for publi-
cation :

Sir,—MA-Gibbs has now brought his apparatus for
the artificial drying of cereals to as near perfection as
can be desired, and the object of this letter is to advise
agriculturists to go down to Gillwell-park and see for
themselves. There they will find the various models
which testify to the labours and perseverance of fifteen
years, and they will have ocular demonstration of what
has been arrived at.

The problem to be solved was how to expose wet
hay or corn to the action of a continuous stream of
hot air, and at the same time to toss it lightly,
as by the oommon hay-fork, so as not to bruise or
hurt the tender fibres. The apparatus itself resembles
in shape the ordinary fire-escape, mounted on wheels,
with which we are familiar, but it is made of
iron and is shorter and broader. A portable stove
with a blast fan forces heated air beneath this semi-
tube, which is itself subjected to oscillation by an
ingenious contrivance, and the hay, thrown in at one
end from the cart, is tossed along continuously by forks,
resembling exactly in their action the movement of the
human arm and elbow joints, and comes out at the
other end dry and fit for stacking. A small portable
steam-engine, or a water-wheel, keeps the apparatus
going, so that it can be taken from field to field, or be
fixed permanently near the hay-sheds. The process is
not intended to supersede the sun and winds' but to aid
when4occasion requires in the final and most important
stage of hay-drying. Foul and sodden hay dried in
this way, and mixed with a small proportion of frag-
rant herbage, comes out raised to a very respectable
quality and much increased in market value.
Every One who reads these lines will next'inquire,
What about the oo3t of the process, and the expense
simplicity, and non-liability of the apparatus to get
out of order? On these points my personal opinion
will carry no weight, but I have no hesitation in re-
peating the opinion expressed by eminent mechani-
cians and agriculturists' that the apparatus, as it is
now finally constructed, will come into extensive use
and save an incalculable sum to the farmers of the
world.

In conclusion, let me say that I have no personal
interest in the matter, and write on public grounds
only. For the general information I may add that
Gil'well-park is in Epping Forest, two miles from
Chingford, to which place trains run in 30 minutes, at
intervals of an hour, from Liverpool-street Station.—l
am, Sir, your obedient servant,
MITCHELL HENRY.
Stratheden-house, July 16.

In connection with the foregoing, the following has also
been sent to The Times for publication : -

Sir,—You have kindly allowed others to speak of my
process; will you also permit me to say a few words
about it, not in exaggeration of its merits, but rather
in deprecation of the extravagant expectations which
have in some way got abroad concerning it? In the
first place, it is not intended to rival sun and wind, or
to dispense with shill and care in the "field "manage-
ment of our harvests; neither is it reasonable to
expect that one small machine, no bigger than a
farm waggon, can deal with hundreds of acres of
grass fresh from the scythe, containing 60 to
70 per cent, of water, or with broad fields full of
sodden, saturated hay which, by careless management,
has been left outspread and spoiling in the rain for
days and weeks ; but when grass had been left on the
swathe during the doubtful or wet days, and turned
once at the first few dry hours, and then once shaken
out by the hay tedder and leftfor two hours to the action
of a gleam of sunshine, the writer had it then carted up
without further field labour and dried in the machine
at the rate of a load an hour. Again, when hay
is skilfully managed in the field, advantage
being taken of the dryer intervals to forward and
wither it thoroughly, and is then carted up (instead of
being cocked) in that frequent but most tantalizing
condition of only wanting a couple of hours of sun and
wind to finish it, then it is that an artificial aid is of
great value, because in that condition it can be passed
through the dryer and finished for the stack at the
rate of two loads an hour. These two instances will,
perhaps, just indicate some of the ways in which Art
can aid Nature without pretending to supersede her.
Where, however, the climate is so very unpro-
pitious for harvest operations, as in the western and
south-western half of England and Scotland and in
the whole of Ireland and Wales, there an extension
of the system will render this part of farming opera-
tions wholly independent of the weather. Mr. Mitchell
Henry, who was present at our working last week,
fully .understands this and looks upon the first
machine which I am having constructed for him as
merely the pioneer for a battery of three or four similar
ones (to be driven by water power), and with which he
will be able to clear two or three hundred acres of grass
land in the four weeks of harvest without attempting
to deal with it in, the.field. The expense of doing this
by water-power will in all probability not exceed 30s.
to 35e. per load, inclusive of interest on the machinery
and all other expenses.—Yours, W. A. Gums.
Gillwell-park, Sewardstone, Essex, July 19. •