AGRICULTURE. 



CULTIVATION. 



One of the principal objects of cultivation is to 

 uproot and destroy all plants but those that the 

 farmer desires to rear. No implement has been 

 found to effect this so well, and at the same time 

 so economically, as the plough, which Mr Mechi 

 has facetiously termed ' an undertaker and grave- 

 digger.' It ought to be borne in mind that it is of 

 quite as much importance to have the grasses in 

 a field of pasture completely buried, as to have 

 the land thoroughly pulverised. The pulverising 

 of the land, though it has the effect of rendering 

 it more absorbent of moisture, is chiefly useful 

 for the purpose of allowing plants readily to take 

 possession of it. In this matter, the same prin- 

 ciples in a measure apply as in manuring. The 

 smaller the seeds of vegetables, the quicker their 

 growth ; and the larger the full-grown plants, so 

 much the more careful and perfect must the pre- 

 paration of the ground be. Thus, it is well known 

 that the turnip requires a better tilth than other 

 crops. 



The plough no doubt at first sight appears a 

 very simple implement ; nevertheless, upon no 

 one has there been so much mechanical skill 

 expended, in rendering it adapted to different 

 varieties of soil. In ploughing, an important prin- 

 ciple must be steadily kept in view that clay or 

 tenacious soils should never be ploughed when 

 either too wet or too dry. In ploughing the first 

 time for fallow or green crops, it is of importance 

 to begin immediately after harvest, or as soon 

 after wheat-sowing as possible, in order that strong 

 tenacious soils may have the full benefit of the 

 frost. On wet stiff soils, frost acts as a most 

 powerful agent in pulverising the earth : it ex- 

 pands the moisture, which, requiring more space, 

 puts the particles of earth out of their place, and 

 renders the soil loose and friable. On such soils 

 there is no rule of husbandry more essential than 

 to open them as early as possible before the winter 

 frosts set in. If left till spring, clay soils may be 

 too wet for ploughing ; or if the season be dry, 

 the earth, when turned up, will be in hard clods, 

 very unfit for vegetation. Therefore, on farms 

 having a proportion of clay and of light soils, it 

 is necessary that the strong wet land should be 

 ploughed first, provided the weather will allow. 



Ploughs.* 



From the time when animal power was first 

 applied to the cultivation of the soil, an implement 

 of various forms has been used for the purposes of 

 a plough. In primitive times, it usually consisted 

 of a piece of bent wood, attached to which was a 

 broad share, either hardened in the fire, or faced 

 with iron, a single handle, and no mould-board, 

 or rest ; and in those regions where the burning 

 sun destroys the surface-matting of turf, such a 

 simple instrument may still be used. But the re- 

 quirements of modern agriculture have called forth 

 an implement of greater power and perfection of 



* For the following remarks upon ploughs, grubbers, and har- 

 rows, we are indebted to Mr Melvin, Bonmngton, Ratho, who has 

 devoted much attention to the principles upon which they are 

 constructed ; the portion on agriculture generally, is by the late 

 Mr R. Russell of Pilmuir, Fife ; and the remaining section on 

 spade husbandry and the culture of waste lands, was prepared by 

 Mr J. Clarke of Long Button, Lincolnshire. 



form. A hundred years have not elapsed since 

 the only plough in use in Scotland was rude, 

 cumbrous, unwieldy, and usually drawn by eight 

 oxen. When horses were attached to it, a lighter 

 form was required ; and after rural improvements 

 began to spread, James Small, a Scotch plough- 

 wright, had the merit of changing its form, and 

 adapting it to the wants of the time. He duly 

 proportioned the several parts, and fitted the 

 coulter and share to cut, and the mould-board to 

 raise and turn, a rectangular-shaped furrow, at a 

 much less expenditure of force, and with greater 

 precision than had ever been done before. For 

 many years, this was almost the only plough used 

 in Scotland. Wilkie of Uddingston, having 

 formed all the parts of the implement of iron, 

 made some alterations upon the set of the coulter 



Fig. I. Swing-plough. 



and share, and also on the form of the mould- 

 board, so that on thin clay soils narrower furrows 

 might be produced, with a greater shoulder or 

 apex than the rather plain flat work which char- 

 acterised Small's plough. With various slight 

 alterations by different makers, until thorough- 

 draining changed the texture of the soil, there was 

 little improvement effected upon this implement. 

 But since then, various alterations have been 

 made both in England and Scotland. Ponton in 

 West Lothian, and Sellars, Huntly, are the most 

 recent improvers of the swing-plough. The first- 

 named maker constructs his with long convex 

 mould-boards, and irons set to cut high ; Sellars, 

 again, has the long mould, but his are plain 

 cutting ploughs. Mr Finlayson, Bridge of Allan, 

 has recently attached a couple of wheels to the 

 common plough, by which all the regularity and 

 equality of the English wheel-ploughs are attained ; 

 the wheels can be detached, and the implement 

 again used as a swing- plough. In England, 

 wheels had been in use from a remote period ; 

 and there the spirit of improvement took advant- 

 age of these to construct an implement capable 

 of making excellent work, with the assistance of 

 little skill in the workman. In Scotland, most of 

 the improvements implied the existence of great 

 skill in the ploughman ; and the result has been 

 that in such hands the Scotch swing-plough is 

 able to produce any description of work, while 

 that of the English wheel-plough is always the 

 same. Ransomes of Ipswich has the merit of 

 originating several improvements on the wheel- 

 plough, and his latest form is represented, fig. 2. 

 During the last thirty years, not a few makers have 

 been keenly contesting for the merit of construct- 

 ing the implement that produces the finest work 

 at the least cost of power. Mr Howard has been 

 tolerably successful : his plough somewhat re- 

 sembles the above ; and Mr Busby of Bedale, 

 with the assistance of Mr Oathwaite, contrived 

 very beautiful mould-boards, which were held first 



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