Itl 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



142 



the purposes for which land is ploughed, and to the nature of the soil, 

 will readily reconcile these apparently contradictory opinions. A deep, 

 rich, and stiff soil can never be moved too much nor too deep : deep 

 ploughing brings up rich earth, admits the air and water readily, and 

 gives room for the roots to shoot ; while the rich compact soil affords 

 moisture and nourishment. Wherever trees are to be planted, the 

 ground should be stirred as deep as possible, even ill a poor soil ; for 

 grass and corn, this is not, however, in ordinary practice found prudent ; 

 though their roots descend below the cultivated ' staple,' yet these 

 crops are found in general to succeed best when the subsoil is left 

 tmloogenad, 



The great object in ploughing land is to divide it, expose every part 



of it to the influence of the elements, and destroy every plant or weed 



but those which are sown in it. To do this perfectly requires several 



ploughing!), with certain intervals, and during that time no crop can be 



11)1011 the land. This is the real use of fallows, and not, as was once 



..!, to allow the land to rest; on the contrary, it ought then to 



t lie least repose. 



11'nfmn. Referring to the article PLOUGH for an account of the 

 improvements in that important implement, we proceed to 

 notice the other implements in connection with the processes of arable 

 culture. 



After the harvest, the plough is set to work, and the stubble ploughed 



in. The winter's frost and snow mellow it, while the stubble and 



rot below. In spring, as soon as the weather permits, it is 



ploughed again, to complete the decomposition of the roots and weeds. 



The harrow is then, in most eases, employed, to stir the ground and 



tear up the remaining roote. The bush-harrow consists of a row of 



twigs or branches, fixed to a frame, and drawn over the surface of the 



id. But this is intended rather for covering the seed with a light 



layer of earth, than to prepare the ground for sowing. The ordinary 



n li ;ue several rows of iron teeth or tines, which dig into the 



ground, and assist in comminuting the clods of earth. Until recently, 



the harrow was made with bars set square, and with teeth one behind 



another on each bar; to prevent the teeth, therefore, from dragging 



after each other in the channels, it was necessary to draw the harrow 



in .-in awkward way from the corner. In Williams's patent harrow the 



bars are set diagonally, at such an angle that every tooth, when the 



liarrow is drawn square, may mark out a furrow for itself. In Howard's 



' , the diagonal arrangement is combined with a zig-zag framing, 



having a somewhat similar object in view. In Coleman's expanding 



. , the bars at every point of crossing are united by a loose pin 



instead of a screw ; the effect of this is, that the width of the harrow 



increased or diminished, and the teeth can be brought nearer 



or farther apart, so as to suit the state of the land. This harrow has 



mill wheels, which can be let down while it has to be 



conveyed from one field to another. 



/iliers ; Cultivators. Various instruments have been 

 invented to stir and mix the earth, without so often using the plough 

 as was necessary in the old mode of farming, and also to loosen and 

 separate root* and weeds. The scarifiers, grubbers, and cultivators 

 now in DM are all examples of this kind of implement. One of the 

 was IM.-nty's scarifier, which acted as if a large number of very 

 small plough.-* WITC working at once in one frame, each digging only to 

 a small depth into the ground. The teeth, shares, or tines, were easily 

 ible, so as to be replaced by others of different size or shape, 

 I ing to the state of the soil ; and when inserted they could be 

 or lowered at pleasure, as a means of making a shallow or a deep 

 n. Tliis implement divided tin! noil, but did not turn it over ; 

 it was well riili nlated to destroy roots and weeds, and to let in the air, 

 but it was only adapted to tolerably loose and mellow soils, free from 

 large stones. Kinlayson's harrow or cultivator rakes the weeds out of 

 round, and throws them on the surface without clogging the 

 instrument. Farmers value the varic ms kinds of cultivators and scarifiers 

 "hii'lly on tin' following grovind; in a four-course system (if husKuidry, 

 there are frequently ^.-vt-n ploughings in the four years ; butbytheuse 

 iitn at certain seasons, working many tines or shares at 

 uly to a small depth, the regular ploughings may be 

 reduced in number, and the total result produced by one-half the 

 ordinary lalxmr of man and horse. The implement-makers have vied 

 with each other in ingenious modes of insuring these results. Cole- 

 man's scarifier, with six horses, is adapted for very hard ground. 

 , made by Messrs. Ransome, is suitable for deeper incisions 

 ,'>er ground. Kilby and Bentall's paring-ploughs are midway in 

 (ween ordinary ploughs and scarifiers, and are useful for a 

 irface of land. Cotgreave's plough is a cultivator, in which 

 processes are combined in rather a curious way ; it first ploughs 

 ins a furrow five inches in depth ; then it digs another five-inch 

 furrow, inverts the soil, and deposits it on the top of the first; and 

 a mib.pulvrri.-er loosens the soil to a further depth of three or 

 four ii irli'ik's p:it"iit, plough and subsoiler may be likened 



in plough with an Archimedian screw attached, which 

 ttom of tin- furrow, thus ploughing and snbsoiling at 

 the same time. At the Smithfirld Cattle Show in 1858, one of the 

 xhibitfd was Romanic's cultivator or digger, which takes 

 up ami tnin- 1 OMT larger masses of earth than in customary with other 

 implements of the kind. A digging action is effected by Owen's potnto- 

 ".'\i, exhibited on the same occasion; with this machine, 



two horses and one man can dig potatoes as rapidly as twenty persons 

 can pick them up. 



Rollers ; Clod-crushers. When the soil turned up by the plough is 

 in large hard lumps, a roller, sometimes with spikes on its surface, is 

 drawn over the land to break the clods, or mallets are used to break 

 them by hand ; but this is seldom necessary, except where very stiff 

 soils have been ploughed when too wet, and the ridges have dried, 

 and been ploughed again in dry weather. Deep wet clay soils require 

 watching, to determine the proper time for ploughing ; frost is the 

 best pulveriser ; and if they be kept from wet by careful draining in 

 autumn, they will be loose and friable in spring. On light soils the 

 plain roller is used with advantage to produce firmness, and to hinder 

 a too rapid evaporation of moisture. Farm-rollers, like other agricultural 

 implements, have undergone many improvements. " Not many years 

 ago," said Mr. Philip Pusey, one of the most enlightened eucouragers 

 of scientific agriculture, " the landlord was often asked by his tenant 

 for some old tree to convert into a roller ; the tree-roller, when manu- 

 factured, had its framework loaded with rough materials to give it 

 weight ; but it soon wore and cracked, so as to become in a year a 

 most ungainly implement." Iron rollers of excellent construction have 

 since been introduced. For rendering the soil fine, however, the 

 regular cylindrical form has one disadvantage, seeing that it passes 

 so easily over small clods as to press without crushing them. Hence 

 the invention of various kinds of Clod-crushers. M. Claes, of Belgium, 

 has invented a roller intended for narrow round ridges, but also 

 fitted to produce the crushing instead of the pressing action. It 

 consists of four rings or partial rollers, so adjusted on one axis as to 

 have independent and irregular movements. The best machine now in 

 use in England for this purpose is Crosskill's clod-crusher. It is a 

 roller of which the surface is jagged by iron teeth. Ite principal use 

 is in breaking down turnip land which has been fed off by sheep in wet 

 weather, and afterwards baked by the heat of the sun ; but it is also 

 usefully employed as a presser for young wheat in March, when the 

 soil has been swollen and the roots thrown out by alternating frosts 

 and thaws. According to the competent testimony of Mr. Pusey, by 

 using this implement on barley-land at the proper time, the necessity 

 is avoided of sowing on cloddy ground, or of delaying the sowing for 

 three weeks in either case ensuring an additional quarter of barley 

 per acre, and thus paying for the implement in the very first season. 

 Another kind of clod-crusher, Gibson's, is adapted for a moist state of 

 the soil ; it is formed of two rows of very narrow wheels, alternating 

 one with another. Patterson's self-cleaning clod-crusher contains n 

 series of eccentrics upon an axle, which, in revolving, rub and clean 

 each other. Crosskill's Norwegian harrow differs from his clod-crusher 

 in having very long and fine teeth ; it does not clog between the teeth, 

 nor does it knead the soil. It is evident that each kind of clod-crusher 

 is suitable for a particular state of the ground. 



Many of the implements employed in the preparation of the ground 

 for culture are now tested by dynamometers, or power-measurers, which 

 show in what ratio the power employed is made to] render useful 

 service. At the Newton Abbot meeting of the Bath and West of 

 England Agricultural Society, in 1857, several such instruments were 

 submitted to trial. One showed the draught of ploughs and cultivators, 

 from one to nix-horse power ; another ascertained the power consumed 

 by horse-gear, independently of the machines to which it may be 

 attached ; while another tested the power of threshing and other 

 rotary machines. 



IMPLEMENTS OF CULTIVATION. 



ftiiriiiy ; the Dibble. When the soil has been prepared by means of 

 the implements above described, the processes of cultivation follow, 

 including the sowing of the seed and the treatment of the growing 

 crops. In arable land, the most common method is to sow the seed 

 after the last ploughing, and draw the harrow over to cover it ; the 

 seed, if the land has been well ploughed, will mostly fall into the small 

 furrows made by two adjoining ridges, and rise in regular rows. A 

 more careful method, however, is that of dibbling, adopted in some of 

 the eastern counties. The dibble is a rod about 30 inches long, having 

 an oval ring for a handle at one end, and at the other a cone-shaped 

 projection. With two of these dibbles, one in each hand, the sower 

 makes small holes 4 or 6 inches apart, in rows 9 to 12 inches 

 asunder; he pushes and turns the dibbles, to make clear holes, walking 

 I Kick wards along the furrows. Two or more children follow, and drop 

 three or more grains in each hole ; a bush-harrow is drawn over the 

 ground, and fills the holes with loose earth. Great improvements have 

 been made in the construction of hand dibbles, by which several holes 

 are made and seed deposited in them by one operation. A dibble 

 manufactured by Mr. Powell is one of the best of this class. 



thill*. I'roiul-cast and dibble sowing have, however, been almost 

 abandoned in modern English farming. One half of the horse power 

 formerly expended in harrowing is saved by the adoption of some of 

 the mcidern drills or seed-sowing machines; a saving of seed is also 

 effected ; and there is also an avoidance of the necessity for that 

 previous harrowing into ridges at a particular angle, which was formerly 

 deemed necessary as a preliminary to hand-sowing. The drill is, in 

 fact, the key to a whole system of husbandry ; for, in addition to the 

 advantages just enumerated, this machine is applicable to the use of many 

 artificial manures, distributing them beneath the ground by means of 



