PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 251 



Alden's Horse Hoe. 



This implement is designed for performing a variety of opera- 

 tions with neatness and in a most expeditious manner, in the cul- 

 tivation of almost every kind of hoed crops. A part of this 

 implement has been in successful operation for several years past 

 as a horse hoe for working among Indian corn and potatoes ; but 

 recently some new and excellent additions have been made to it, 

 with a view of bringing out an implement that is adapted to the 

 cultivation of rice, the young cotton plants, and almost everything 

 else that is planted in check rows or drills. The implement is 

 guided by thills, the rear ends of which serve as handles for hold- 

 ing it. There are several kinds of teeth, any or all of which may 

 be removed at pleasure and others substituted, where the imple- 

 ment is employed at a different kind of work. 



In order to adjust it for weeding carrots, or clearing and pul- 

 verizing the ground between rows often nips, a double-winged 

 goose-foot steel tooth is secured to the middle of the frame of the 

 hoe, which may be run one inch, two inches or three inches deep, 

 cutting oS the roots and weeds and grass, and leaving the soil as 

 nearly level as practicable. To rig it for cultivating Indian corn, 

 broom-corn, potatoes, or any other crops in drills, two other steel 

 adjustable teeth are bolted to the frame in such a manner that the 

 earth may be turned toward or away from the rows. These teeth 

 were all removed, and a steel tooth of peculiar form, having broad 

 steel wings, was attached, after which the implement was drawn 

 along a row of celery so as to throw up a ridge of soil a foot or 

 more high, for the purpose of blanching the celery. Then all 

 these teeth were removed, and the rice-cultivating attachment 

 bolted to the frame. This consisted of eight steel teeth in the 

 form of the letter L, so arranged as to weed four rows of rice at 

 one through. The teeth can be made to run one inch deep, or 

 four inches deep, by means of gauge-wheels, which can be ele- 

 vated or lowered at pleasure. 



In order to test the efficiency of this implement for every pur- 

 pose, four rows of small stakes were set sixteen inches apart, to 

 represent rice drills, and the implement was worked back and 

 forth between the rows, pulverizing the ground most thoroughly, 

 and cutting up every weed and spire of grass within two inches 

 of the stakes. The committee handled the implement with their 

 own hands, and they desire to express their unqualified approba- 



