AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. 



427 



THE IRON ROLLER. 



The iron roller, as sometimes made, is an implement of torture to the team 

 instead of use. The mode of applying the team is the most unscientific pos- 

 sible. The draught should be from the centre of motion instead of from the top. 

 A plain board seat, 

 the entire length of 

 theroller,should be 

 placed above the 

 roller, by the use 

 of bent irons at- 

 tached to the end- 

 pieces of the frame, 

 so that the driver 

 can sit on either 

 end or in the mid- 

 dle. This will en- 

 able him to drive 

 to a line, which 

 •will be necessary 

 where a corn-plant- 

 er is used in com- 

 bination, so as to 



plant and roll the cornfields at one operation, 'which can be done at the 

 rate of fifteen acres a day. The value of the roller has been too long over- 

 looked, partly from the mode in which it has been constructed. The best 

 are now made of cast sections of a foot wide and twenty-two inches diameter, 

 weighing, including frame, about one thousand pounds, and costing some 

 fifty dollars. On our prairie soils these are of great value, and in corn-planting 

 they finely comminute the surface, and by packing the earth on the seed, al- 

 low shallower planting, which, in case of a wet, cold spell, will prevent the 



seed from rotting, ana in case of drought keeps this snallow-planted corn from 

 drying, in either case insuring a good stand. In the culture of the small 

 grains it is of equal value, encouraging a good stand and pulverizing the small 

 clods on the surface, giving the young rootlets an opportunity to make a vig- 

 orous growth. While clods reflect the sun, a smooth, thoroughly comminuted 



