Al LANG'S CYPRUS."—" THRASHING MACHINES FOR THE EAST."
[To THE EDITOR OP TEE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—We notice that the name of our firm is mentioned in your interesting review of " Lang's Cyprus," in the Spectator of the 15th inst. As the special thrashing machine for bruising the straw to fit it for food for cattle—for which your article states that the country is groaning, and (in despair of its being pro- duced elsewhere) suggests we may "confidently expect the Americans will prove equal to the task "--has already been manufactured for a considerable time by us, we think it right, for the credit of the British manufacturer (whose enterprise and resource are often unjustly contrasted with those of the Ameri- cans), to address you a few remarks upon straw-chopping thrashing machines.
About fifteen years ago, the attention of our firm was per- sonally drawn to the fact that the old, wasteful, and cumbrous system of treading out the corn by cattle, by which the straw is, at the same time, bruised and softened, fitting it for the cattle to eat, would never be superseded in hot countries by steam thrashing machines, until these were also provided with some arrange- ment for bruising and softening the straw in like manner. Our firm immediately gave considerable attention to the designing of such a machine, and we brought out soon after a special thrashing "machine, in which the straw, as it comes from the thrashing drum, is passed between two heavy rollers and concaves, the top roller fitted with knives, which cut it into short lengths, the bottom one with blunt projections by which it is thoroughly bruised and softened. Since that time we have supplied several hundreds of these machines for Spain, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Chili, and other hot countries, and we shall have much pleasure in referring Mr. Lang to proprietors in any or all these countries who have "wrought," not "for two whole days, separating the grain as it should be separated, and suitably preparing the straw," but for days andweeks together, in the most perfectly successful manner. We may add, with regard to the cattle eating the straw pre- pared by our machines, that they do so most readily ; and, in fact, our workmen, whom we have at various times sent out to start such machinery, inform us that the cattle will turn from the bruised straw of the country, which is always in a very dirty state, mixed with dung and other impurities, to eat the straw from the steam thrashing machine, which is, of course, perfectly clean.
We agree with your reviewer that the whole Turkish Empire is in a certain sense " groaning " for the want of such a thrashing machine, as its universal introduction would confer great bene- fits upon agriculture there, and the economy effected would be from 15 to 18 per cent. of the whole grain produce of the country, now wasted in the present system of thrashing. It is our experience that its introduction is retarded simply by the apathy of the proprietors, and the deep-rooted opposition of the native mind to anything which makes any change in their primitive but time-honoured ways of conducting their agricultural operations.
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