96 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



when properly made and chill-hardened, as is the case with 

 those portions of the plow most liable to wear, they are un- 

 doubtedly the most economical and best. They are rarely 

 made of wrought iron, but more frequently of steel. 



They are of various sizes, slightly differing in construc- 

 tion, and are of great utility in stirxing the surface of the 

 ground and destroying weeds. By an expanding attachment, 

 they are capable of being adapted to any width of row. 



THE CORNPLANTER AND DRILL BARROW 



Are useful for dibbling in seeds, and when the surface is 

 mellow, they will open the furrows for the reception of the 

 seed, which it drops, covers, and then rolls the earth firmly 

 over it. The small drills are trundled along like a wheel- 

 barrow, by hand ; and the larger, for field sowing, having 

 several fixtures for drilling, are drawn by a horse. These 

 are suited to the smaller seeds. Cornpla liters are made to plant 

 corn, beans and peas, which they do at the rate of ten acres 

 per day, and with entire uniformity as to quantity of seed 

 in a hill, depth of covering and distance. 



SURFACE OR SHOVEL PLOWS. 



These are a cheap and light instrument, much used in 

 England, and to some extent in this country, for paring the 

 stubble and grass roots on the surfaces of old meadows. 

 These are raked together into heaps, and with whatever 

 addition there may be of earth or clay, are burnt, and the 

 ashes and roasted earth scattered over the soil. There is 

 an apparent objection to this practice, from the expulsion of 

 the carbon and nitrogen stored up in the plants ; and from the 

 waste of the coarse material of the decaying vegetables, 

 which is so useful in effecting the proper mechanical divi- 

 sions of clay soils. But by a reference to what has been 

 said, on the efficiency of burnt clay or broken bricks, their 

 great utility as fertilizers will be seen. This and the ash 

 of the plants remain ; and both are useful in quickening the 

 action of soils, and accelerating those changes, so beneficial 

 to vegetation ; and even the re-absorption of the atmosphe- 

 ric gases, it is probable, will more than compensate for those 

 expelled in burning. The effect is further salutary, in de- 

 stroying grubs, insects and their larvae, and the seeds of 

 noxious weeds. 



