492 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



THE LEADING FEATURES OF THE IMPLEMENT DEPARTMENT 

 OF THE CANTERBURY SHOW. 



All attempts to introduce a substitute for the plough 

 as an implement for the preparation of the seed-bed are, 

 to use a sporting phrase, forcible if not elegant, no- 

 where. Rotary cultivation has, with one or two ex- 

 ceptions, been confined as yet to the region of specula- 

 tion. When we name Usher, Romaine, and Ricketts 

 we exhaust the catalogue of those who have made per- 

 sistent eflForts at substituting a new for the old system 

 of preparing the soil for the seed. It is not, however, 

 treating the subject philosophically to say that because 

 hitherto no great steps have been taken in advance, that 

 henceforth will none be made. While accepting the 

 plough as the recognised implement for effecting the 

 preliminary operations of culture, and gladly acknow- 

 ledging the rare merits which it possesses, we need not 

 nevertheless shut our eyes to its acknowledged defects ; 

 and although we may not coincide with the opinion of 

 the author of the most elegantly written epigrammatic 

 work on agriculture, that the "plough has sentence of 

 death written upon it," still we may learn something in 

 the art of progress, if we admit that the implement may 

 be greatly improved. Deep culture is now acknow- 

 ledged nearly by all thinking men to be a sine qua non, 

 and the accomplishment of which, so as to secure a finer 

 pulverization of the seed-bed, in our wide variety of 

 soils will greatly increase their practice. Yet it is re- 

 markable how slowly this deep cultivation and fine pul- 

 verization of the soil works its way, notwithstanding 

 our belief in their virtues, and the practical exemplifi- 

 cation we have of them in market-gardens, where every 

 pains are taken to secure them. True the spade in these 

 cases is the implement of culture ; but there are practical 

 authorities amongst us, who think that an implement, 

 horse or power worked, can be made, by which all, or 

 nearly all the advantages of spade culture could be ob- 

 tained. Although it is not by any means a generally 

 received notion, yet an examination of the working of 

 the Kentish turn-wrest plough, which we described in 

 our last paper, will, we think, show that it brings about 

 a state of the soil more resembling that effected by the 

 spade, than that effected by any other plough in general 

 use. Yet hear what an authority says on the subject : 

 " The work of the latter (ordinary plough) is done en- 

 tirely by the cutting of the share and coulter, which 

 leave a solid or continuous wedge or brick, impervious 

 to the atmosphere until surface-scratched by the har- 

 rows, and a hard-pan underneath, affording only a 

 shallow bed for the corn to root on ; while the turn- 

 rest plough penetrates and breaks up the ground with 

 the action of a peak or fork, and as it turns the soil 

 over, crumbles it to pieces, sifting several inches of the 

 finer crumbs to the bottom, bringing the larger lumps 

 to be acted on by the harrow and roller; and all this is 

 done without forming a hard under-pan to confine the 



roots to within five or six inches of the surface. * * 

 In my experience I have met with every description of 

 plough used in England, and although I freely admit 

 the advantage of having the two-horse ploughs of the 

 lighter description on every farm for ordinary work, 

 still I believe no farm will be well cultivated without 

 occasionally having recourse to a heavier and different 

 description of implement, for the purpose of trenching 

 and breaking up the pan that is formed by the continu* 

 ous use of the ordinary ploughs : and I have never yet 

 met with one so effectual, to deeply stir and pulverize 

 the soil, as the much-abused, old-fashioned Kentish 

 turn-wrest plough." With this view of the matter it 

 seems a ten-fold pity that the comparative trials 

 which ought to have been instituted at Canterbury were 

 not so. A grand opportunity has been lost of ascer* 

 taining results of no mean interest to agriculture. Let 

 us hope that the very absurdities eliminated from the 

 trial, or the attempt made to carry out trials, will so 

 direct the attention of the agricultural world to the sub- 

 ject, that some future and early opportunity may be made 

 to put this question at rest. 



As a contribution to the cultural implements so much 

 required to bring about a deep and well pulverized seed- 

 bed, we draw attention to the " pulverizer-plough" in- 

 vented by Rlr. Hancock, and exhibited by him at Can- 

 terbury. All agree to the fact that admirable work was 

 shown by this implement. As this has been already de- 

 scribed in the columns of this journal, we pass on to 

 the consideration of other departments of the show- 

 yard. 



In glancing at those of the mowing and reaping ma^ 

 chines, we have to notice the improvement — or rather, 

 we shall content ourselves at present by saying, the 

 mechanism — introduced into the " combined reaper 

 and mower" of Wood (W. M. Cranston agent. King 

 William-street, London), by which a self-acting, or 

 raking, movement is obtained, which delivers the grain 

 in a sheaf at the side. The following describes the ar- 

 rangement of the mechanism : A square or rhomboidal 

 table, forming the platform on which the grain is de- 

 livered by the reel from the cutters, has a groove or 

 slot running all round it, below and coincident with 

 which is extended an endless linked chain, passing over 

 pulleys at the corner, and one of which, by means of 

 bevel-gearing, receives motion from the main driving 

 wheel. To one link, or part, of this chain a stem, or 

 pin, is connected, this being connected with the handle 

 of a rake, one extremity of which is jointed to a pin 

 supported at the side of the machine ; the other ex- 

 tremity being supplied with a rake, which sweeps over 

 the platform as the chain passes under the groove. By 

 means of a small clutch, this collecting apparatus can 

 be thrown instantly out of gear. 



