AGRICULTURE. 



means of a long manilla rope, running at a high 

 speed. It has obviously some important advant- 

 ages over all other systems, as the engine works 

 continuously, the movement or stoppage of the 

 implement being wholly regulated by the indi- 

 vidual having charge of it. If the farmer has 

 sufficient ground to employ a steam-apparatus for 

 a moderate length of time annually, the purchase 

 of one will not be regretted, otherwise, the best 

 plan is to hire for the deep and thorough autumn 

 cultivation of stubble-ground. 



Ploughing. 



As steam-ploughs turn all the furrows one way, 

 land is generally ploughed contrary to the way 

 last done, or across the furrows. The old method 

 of ploughing in ridges, gathering and cleaving, is 

 wholly exploded : draining enables this to be done, 

 and the reaping-machine requires it. 



Casting is now by far the most common method 

 of ploughing land by horses. The ploughman 

 proceeds to set up poles eighteen feet from the 

 side of the field. Along this line he throws out 

 two furrows right and left, returns them again, 

 and ploughs round these until thirty-six feet have 

 been gone over ; forming thus two ridges. He 

 then measures a space of fifty-four feet from the 

 last-drawn furrow, or seventy-two feet from his 

 first-drawn line ; again sets up his poles, ploughing 

 other thirty-six feet there, and leaving a space of 

 thirty-six feet between the two first-ploughed pairs. 

 This space, forming two ridges, he now proceeds 

 to wind out, turning always to the left, instead of 

 to the right as before. In this way, any breadth 

 of land may be wrought. It must be borne in 

 mind, that the longer the length of ridge, and the 

 fewer turnings, the more work can be performed ; 

 and that angular- shaped fields are expensive to 

 cultivate. 



The first and most essential property of every 

 plough is, that it shall throw the furrow cleanly off 

 the mould-board ; when earth adheres to any 

 part of it, the friction thereby causes loss of power, 

 and the furrow is imperfectly turned ; weeds are 

 not covered in, and the old surface not turned 

 down. The next is, that it shall leave the furrow 

 in that position that exposes the greatest amount 

 of soil to the action of the air ; and also, that the 

 furrow so turned over, while preserving that shape, 

 shall be so rent internally by the action of the 

 irons in cutting and raising it, that the air and 

 frost may be enabled most easily to penetrate its 

 substance. If, then, we are right in this position, 

 either very long or very short mould-boards are 

 objectionable : the last from breaking up too 

 much the shape ; and the other from polishing off 

 too smoothly the exposed surface. The action of 

 the plough on the soil is not so effectual as that of 

 the spade, from the spitfuls being all separately 

 cut But the amount of surface which a well- 

 turned furrow presents to the air is much greater 

 than what any digging can throw up ; and hence 

 the advantage of having the furrows continually 

 broken by frequent rents, and these openings not 

 plastered up by a long mould-board, as is done in 

 some of the more recent forms of plough, which 

 compress and smooth the furrow after it has been 

 fairly put in its place. 



In the construction of ploughs, strength must 

 never be sacrificed to lightness ; a stone or two 



more weight is often of use in heavy soils ; and 

 the beam, head,- and stilts must be thoroughly stiff 

 and unyielding, when under the pressure of the 

 horses and man, in the soil A well-constructed 

 plough should never be touched by the plough- 

 man, either with the screw-driver or hammer. 

 The share and coulter are the only parts he has 

 control over. 



A form of plough, known as the turn-wrest, is 

 much used in Kent, and is highly thought of by 

 the farmers there, as admirably adapted for clear- 

 ing the land from grass, &c. as well as for loosen- 

 ing the soil. It is capable of being used for a 

 variety of purposes. A view of it as improved by 

 Mr Smart of Rainham, and manufactured by 

 Ransomes and Sims of Ipswich, is given in fig. 3. 



Fig. 3. Smart's Turn-wrest Plough. 



The turn-wrest plough lays the furrows all in one 

 direction, from one side of the field to the other ; 

 this being effected by the wrest a, which acts as 

 the mould-board of the ordinary plough, and by a 

 very simple mechanism can be changed from one 

 side of the plough to the other ' so that either 

 becomes alternately the mould-board as the furrow 

 requires to be turned.' 



Grubbers 



are now much more in use than formerly, the soil 

 being more open and easily penetrated by their 

 teeth. It is often far more advantageous simply 

 to loosen up the soil than turn it over. Especially 

 since green crops have been extensively grown on 

 clays, this implement is almost essential, as thereby 

 the disadvantages of a spring-furrow are dispensed 

 with. The upper portion of the soil, loosened and 

 pulverised by the winter's frost, not being turned 

 down, still allows the drill-plough to form an 

 open, friable ridgelet for the seed. In the clean- 

 ing of land, this implement is also most advan- 

 tageous ; and we know of nothing better for this 

 purpose than an improved Secular or Kirkwood 

 grubber, with two wheels about two and a half 

 feet in diameter, and the teeth proportionally long. 

 They not only work the land most effectually, but 

 never clog, as those with wheels of smaller diam- 

 eter do ; and when tested along with the one- 

 wheeled Tennant's or Secular's, are infinitely 

 superior. On sloping land, when crossing the 

 slope, a one-wheeled instrument works very im- 

 perfectly. Much of the bad odour into which 

 Drubbing has fallen in some places, has arisen 

 from the use of imperfect implements, or from the 

 want of properly trimming them ; but it must 

 always be borne in mind that surface-weeds are 

 not removed by grubbing. Where these abound, 

 and are troublesome, there is nothing like the 

 plough for destroying them. The quantity of 

 land which a two-horse implement will go over in 

 a day, is generally four times the quantity which 



