AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



orchard-grass (dactylis glomnrata), for dry land, foul- 

 meadow-grass (agrostis stricta), for very wet land; 

 herds-grass or timotfiy (pkleum pratense), for stiff, 

 clayey soils, c. 6. The substitution of fallow crops 

 (or such crops as require cultivation and stirring of 

 the ground while the plants are growing), in the 

 place of naked fallows, in which the land is allowed 

 to remain without yielding any profitable product, 

 in order to renew its fertility. Fields may be so 

 foul with weeds as to require a fallow. " In Eng- 

 land, when a tanner is compelled to fallow a field, 

 he lets the weeds grow into blossom, and then 

 turns them down ; in America, a fallow means a 

 field where the produce is a crop of weeds running 

 to seed, instead of a crop of grain." 7. The art of 

 breeding the best animals and the best vegetables, 

 -by a judicious selection of individuals to propagate 

 from. These improvements, with others too numer- 

 ous to be here specified, have rendered the agricul- 

 ture of the present period very different from that of 

 the middle ages, when it had sunk far below the de- 

 gree of perfection which it liad readied among the 

 Romans. 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. Under this head we 

 shall notice the more essential implements used 

 for the cultivation of the ground, with the modern 

 improvements that liave been made on them. The 

 first in importance is THE PLOUGH. The plough was 

 originally contrived to do the work of a spade, and 

 was probably invented after the introduction of til- 

 lage, properly so called. In some wann climates, 

 the plough is not used, the fertility of the earth 

 being so exuberant, that merely scratching the sur- 

 face is a sufficient preparation for crops. Of ploughs, 

 there are many varieties of form, suited to different 

 soils, and modes of culture. The most obvious gene- 

 ral distinction among ploughs is, their being con- 

 structed with or without wheels : and each ot these 

 kinds may be again distinguished by other circum- 

 stances such as the form of the mould-board and 

 share ; their operation in making one or more fur- 

 rows at a time ; their size ; and the depth at which 

 they are calculated to work, as in trench-ploughing. 

 It is not very satisfactorily known what sort of 

 ploughs the ancients used ; they were probably of 

 various kinds, suited to different countries, and 

 altered with different ages. The following cut repre- 

 sents au ancient Roman plough, taken from a brass 

 figure in the Jesuits' college at Rome, and answer- 

 ing in the principal part of it (the shaft) to Virgil's 

 description, (Georgics, i. 163 175) of the " heavy- 

 timbered plough." It affords some proof that early 

 ploughs were constructed to tear up the soil, but 

 were not adapted to turn it over. 



Tn plate II. representations will be found of ihe 

 Rotheratn or Swing-Plough, the Wheel or Norfolk 

 Plough, and Finlayson's Improved Plough. The 

 siring-plough, with a feathered sock or share, and a 

 curved mould-board, is almost the only one used in 

 Scotland, and throughout a considerable part of 

 England. The old Scottish plough, with a spear- 



sock, has been laid aside, except in a few of tin- least 

 improved counties, where it is still fotuid useful when 

 the soil is encumbered by roots and stones. The 

 swing-plough is drawn with less power than wheel- 

 ploughs, the friction not being so great ; and it pro 

 bably admits of greater variations in regard to the 

 breadth and depth of the furrow-slice. This plough 

 is sometimes made in such a manner that the mould- 

 board may be shifted from one side to the other when 

 working on hilly grounds ; and it is then called a 

 turn-wrest plough. The present improved swing- 

 plough was little known in Scotland till about the 

 year 1764, when Small's method of constructing it 

 began to excite attention. This ingenious mechanic 

 formed the mould-board upon distinct and intelligi- 

 ble principles, and afterwards made it of cast-iron 

 His appendage of a chain for strengthening the 

 beam has since been laid aside. It lias been dis- 

 puted whether he took the Rotheram or the old 

 Scottish plough for the basis of his improvements. 

 The swing-plough has been since varied a little from 

 Small's form, for the purpose of adapting it more 

 completely to particular situations and circumstances. 

 Of late, it has been made entirely of iron. The 

 Argyleshire plough is a simple swing-plough, which 

 acts without a coulter; instead ot the coulter, a ( 

 large flat plate is fixed to the share, in a vertical 

 plane, corresponding with the land-side of the 

 plough ; and the advanced edge of this is sharpened 

 to cut the ground. The object of this change is to 

 remove the resistance necessary to make the verti- 

 cal incision farther back from the point of draft than 

 if a coulter were used ; and also to avoid the chok- 

 ing of the plough by weeds and rubbish, which 

 sometimes lodge before the coulter, beneath the 

 beam. The Argyleshire plough has a rod of iron in 

 place of the chain of the chain-plough, to strengthen 

 the beam ; it is attached at one end to the middle of 

 the beam, and connected at the other with the rack 

 from which the horses draw. In some ploughs two 

 iron rods are used, and they extend quite to the end 

 of the beam, and are attached to a hook near the 

 liandles. Wheel-ploughs, in a great variety of 

 forms, are used in many parts of England. They 

 require less skill in the ploughman to manage, but 

 they are more expensive, more heavy in the draught, 

 and more liable to be put out of order than the 

 swing-ploughs. In plate II. will be found a repre- 

 sentation of the Wheel or Improved Norfolk Plough. 

 The share is united to the beam by a plate of cast- 

 iron ; and the coulter is wedged into an iron socket 

 at the side of the beam, without weakening the beam 

 by a mortise. At the top of the uprights of the car- 

 riage are eyes to conduct the reins by which the 

 ploughman guides the horses. In the same plate 

 will be founti a representation of Finlayson's Patent 

 Self-cleaning plough. This is the construction of 

 Mr John Finlayson, farmer at Muirkirk, and is found 

 well adapted to coarse old swards. It clears itself 

 from obstructions without often requiring the aid of 

 the ploughman, and it turns over the furrow in a 

 complete and workman-like manner, in situations 

 where the common plough fails. It does not, how- 

 ever, seem to possess any advantages over the com- 

 mon plough upon land under a regular course of cul- 

 tivation. Two- furrow ploughs are used in a few places, 

 but are not likely ever to become genera?. They an- 

 constructed either with or without wheels. A plough 

 of this kind was strongly recommended by lord Som- 

 erville, and used by his lordship and others appa- 

 rently with some advantage. Various other imple- 

 ments have been used for stirring the soil such as 

 the Miner, for following in the furrow of a common 

 plough, and loosening the ground to a greater depth, 

 without bringing up the subsoil ; the raring 

 i K 2 



