The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-19 00:00:00

MACHINE FOR SOWING GRASS SEED.—Several machines
have been used, none of which, however, perform their work
as well and with such certainty, as the one now in use. It
consists of a seed box about ten feet long, through which a
roller the same length passes, and in which are inserted brass
taps. It is turned by a wheel and pinion from one of the
valves, in the same manner as the common corn drill, and re-
gu!ated as to quantity of seed to be sown, in the same man-
ner, by different sized wheels. In short, the principle is the
same as the corn drill : but the seed, instead of being de-
livered into spouts, as in the corn drill, is received by a large
box, from two to three inches wide, and about 18 inches deep,
and which reaches within six of the ground. In the inside,
L is crossed by numbers of' small pieces of wood, in order to
separate the seeds more effectually. It is drawn by a horse,
upon two wheels ; and from twenty to thirty acres may be
gone over in a day, by a man and a boy, and sown in the most
correct manner. It can be regulated to sow from one peck
to two and a half bushels of seed per acre.—Transactions of
Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
CONJURER'S TRICKS.—A man once waited upon the Vice-
Chancellor of the University, and the Mayor of the town of
Cambridge, requesting permission to perform as a conjuror,
in the Town Hall. Both these functionaries were dining
together with a, party of several university men, when the
artist being shown into the room where they sat at table, he
was asked if he could furnish them with an immediate spe-
cimen of his abilities. He answered yes—called for a pack
of cards, and dealt them equally smongst the gentlemen, so
that each had the same number ; then (but standing away
from the table, and thence no apparent trickery on his part
was discoverable) he desired the Vice-Chancellor to name
how many cards he wished to hold in his hands. Dr.
mentioned a higher number than he knew he had. " Count
them, sir," said the man. He did so, and found the exact
number he had requested, without being in the least able to
say how the surplus got there. No cards had been seen, ()I-
.felt, to fly from his friends' hands to his own, and yet there
they were ! The same juggler, in a manner quits as incom-
prehensible, conveyed a silver snuff-box from the pockets of
one gentleman to those of another, who, when pointed out as
the unconscious posses.or of the missing box, was excessively
annoyed. " Never mind, sir," said the artist, " the box is
yours, I dare say, therefore oblige me by returning it to your
pocket." Mr. , though unwillingly, did so. " And
now," remarked the conjuror, " I should not be surprised if
the gentleman who claims the box, and says he has lost it,
finds it again in his waistcoat pocket." The owner of the
box instantly, to his own excessive surprise and that of every
one present, produced it. How these various imperceptible
transits were made was never discovered. The clever ex-
hibitor of such and similar marvels was allowed, of course, a
public performance ; but for these particulars of his private
one the writer is indebted to a gentleman who was of the
party.