82 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICc LTi uK. 



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

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



Samuelson's Rotary Digger, This invention, by Mr. B. Samuelson, of Banbury, England, 

 consists of a simple frame, running on two wheels, which, in their revolution, cause a series 

 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 coine round, they 

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

 them free from earth, each circle of prongs works between a corresponding set of stationary 

 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 obviated 

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

 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 than it is possible for the plow to 

 do, is fully established. Country Gentleman. 



The Plow. An Improvement Wanted. 



IN 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 a 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 is compressed to such a degree as to leave a 

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

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

 turned over to more than one-half or three-fourths of the way ; the surface weeds are imper- 

 fectly buried, and the soil 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 a large amount of work; and like the 

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

 rable for the purposes of successful cultivation. Many implements and machines have 

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

 to realize this great desideratum ; hitherto, however, the results have not been very satisfac- 

 tory. In no form of it does the plow cultivate thoroughly ; it requires to be followed by 

 roller, or harrow, or other tools, to complete the work, which, after all, is not so well done as 

 by one operation of the spade. 



What we want is not flowing so much as cultivation, or that process of disintegrating and 

 fitting the soil which the farmer by necessity performs by three, four, or five separate opera- 

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



