82 TIIE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



partly of cast and partly of malleable iron, and furnished with a simple but most iugeit 

 apparatus for regulating the depth of its working in the soil. 



Samuelson't Rotary Bigger. — This invention, by Mr. B. Samuelson, of Banbury, England, 

 consists of a simple frame, running on two wheels, which, in their revolution, can-.- a -cries 

 of forks or prongs to loosen and pulverize the earth to a depth of eight or ten inches, and 

 over a width of three feet. Five or six horses, according to the state of the soil, attended by 

 two men, are able to work over five or six acres a day. As the prongs come round, they 

 bring up the soil and let it fall backward in a well-pulverized and mixed state ; and to keep 

 them tree from earth, each circle of prongs works between a corresponding set of Btationary 

 clearing-teeth on the frame. This machine has been extensively introduced into Scotland ; and 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England awarded it a silver medal after a thorough trial at 

 Gloucester. The depth of entrance of the prongs is adjusted by a handle, geared to a pinion, 

 working in a segmental tooth-rack on the framework. It will be readily apparent that this 

 machine will pulverize the soil more effectually than the plow and the harrow. The only 

 objection to it is the great amount of power necessary to operate it; but this may be obvii 

 by reducing the width of the machine or simplifying the machinery. It will undoubtedly bo 

 many years before an implement of this sort will supersede the time-honored plow; but the 

 principle of digging the soil and reducing it to a finer tilth thau it is possible lor the plow to 

 do, is fully established. — Country Gentleman. 



The Plow.— An Improvement Wanted. 



Is the report of a lecture by the Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, 

 we find the following remarks, which contain a suggestion well deserving of consideration. 

 To indicate and point attention to a want is, at all events, one of the most likely ways of ob- 

 taining a supply. 



Although the necessities of man compel him to use the plow in preference to the spade, it 

 is admitted by all that the work done by the two implements is of a very different character — 

 the plow leaving the soil in a condition far less suited to the purposes of vegetation than the 

 spade. This is more prominent on heavy soils than on light. By the operation of the spade 

 the soil is left loose, the original surface with its weeds and exhausted mould being completely 

 buried, and B fresh surface exposed. But the plow is a tool of a rougher nature. It is. in 

 reality, a wedge forcibly dragged through the soil at a certain depth, lifting up that portion 

 which is above it, at the expense of making that which is below it more compact, this latter 

 receiving virtually all the force required for the separation. The consequence is, that more 

 or less, according to the soil, this lower surface lb compressed to such a degree be to Leave a 

 dense and compart surface, through which the roots of plants must find it difficult or im- 

 possible to penetrate. The furrow-Mice, too, instead of being completely inverted, is not 



turned Over to more than one-half or three-fourths Of the way; the surface wee.ls are imper- 



. buried, and the Boil is not changed to the same extent as by the spade. 

 The great desideratum in practical agriculture Is, therefore, to obtain an implement that 

 shall have, like the plow, the capability of doing B large amount of work; and like the 

 spade, of doing it in such a manner as to sati-fy those conditions which we consider desi- 

 rable tor the purposei of successful cultivation. .Many implements and machines I 

 been constructed, and much skill and ingenuity from time to time expended in the endeavor 

 to realise this great desideratum ; hitherto, however, the results have not been rery 

 t-.ry. In do form of it doe- the ]dow cultivate thoroughly; it requires to be followed by 



roller, or harrow, OT other tools, to complete tho work, which, alter all, is not BO well doni 

 by "',. operation of the spade. 



What we want i- not jilmring so much as cultivation, or th.it process of d i s in te g rating and 

 fitting the Mil which the farmer by necessity performs by three, tour, or five separate oj 

 tions, and then not so effectually ai the gardener accomplishes in one.— Country Gentleman, 



