474 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



gangs of three, four, or five, as may be required to suit the lands 

 on which they are used, and may be made to any weight re 

 quired.&quot;* No intelligent farmer, however, will ever think of 

 harrowing his land, unless it be of the lightest description, in a 

 wet state. It has been by some persons deemed an improve 

 ment to make the front tines of a harrow shorter than the back 

 ones ; but no advantage comes from this. By many the practice 

 and in my opinion with reason is condemned, as the instrument, 

 in such case, unless brought too near the horses, will be found to 

 dip in front, by which means the draught is considerably in 

 creased. Teeth of a uniform length throughout are to be pre 

 ferred. The flexibility given to a harrow, by a hinge in the 

 centre, is a great improvement. In many cases, one harrow is 

 attached to another so as to follow it, but so far removed to one 

 side or the other, that the teeth follow in different lines. In 

 such case, it is obvious that the draught must be very much 

 increased, both from the distance of the last harrow from the 

 moving power, and from its lying flat and dead upon the ground, 

 and having no advantage of the lift which is given to the for 

 ward harrow by the chain which attaches it to the horses, and 

 which it would have, if it were set in the same frame. 



There are several varieties of harrows, but, excepting the frame 

 being made of iron instead of wood, and their being connected 

 by hinges, so as that the frame becomes, so to speak, flexible, I. 

 see no prominent excellence to be pointed out. &quot; In an experi 

 ment made between a pair of wooden harrows and a pair of iron 

 ones constructed on the same plan, and having the same number, 

 and precisely the same disposition, of the teeth and frames, 

 although those of iron were found to be 20 pounds lighter than 

 those of wood, yet the former worked decidedly better and 

 steadier than the latter ; in fact, the iron harrows cut into the 

 land, while those made of wood rode, or rather danced, upon the 

 surface.&quot; 



A harrow, called a web or chain brush harrow, invented by 

 Mr. Smith, of Deanston, I have seen, but not in operation ; and 

 its effect must be to reduce the surface to a very fine tilth, but it 

 is not its object to penetrate the soil. If we take a number of 

 small iron circular plates, perhaps three inches in diameter, with 



* Ransome. 



