364 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



inches long, and the blades faced with plate iron made rough by 

 cross channels or indentations. 



2395. The besoms used in farming are commonly small fag- 

 gots with handles, formed of birch spray for the stal)les and cattle- 

 houses, and of broom, heath, straw, &c. for the barns. 



2396. The straw rope twister or twisting crook, is used for 

 twisting straw ropes, and consists of a stick or rod from two to three 

 feet long, and from one to two inches diameter, either naturally 

 or artificially crooked. At one end is a ring through which a cord 

 is, passed, and the implement tied to the waist ; at the other is sn 

 notch on which the commencement of the rope is made. 



2397. The jmtatoe dibber is exclusively used in planting potatoes 

 in fine moulds ; but drilling is a mode generally to be preferred, 

 as providing a better bed and a closer covering to the sets. 



2398. The common dibber VL?,eA. in agriculture, has several teeth or dibbles proceeding 

 from a head, which having a handle, is pressed into the ground, and forms several holes 

 at once, according to the number of dibbles, and these are regulated by the hardness of 

 the soil. In strong clays the common garden dibber, shod with iron, is often used. 



2399. The Jlail is a well known implement for beating out corn, now happily going 

 out of use in the most improved districts, as it would every where, were the value of the 

 hand threshing machine generally known. 



2400. The essential agricultural tools are the pick, the spade, shovel, dung and hay- 

 fork, hay-rake, common hand hoe, and besom. 



Sect. II. Instruments. 



2401. The instruments used in agriculture maybe classed as the common and the 

 scientific ; the former are used in executing, the latter chiefly in designing and laying 

 out operations. 



SuBSECT. 1. Instruments of Labor. 



2402. The instruments of labor peculiar to agriculture are few, and chiefly the scythe, 

 reaping hook, and hay knife ; but there are some others common to agriculture 

 and gardening, which are occasionally used, and they also shall be enumerated. 



2403. The scythe is of three kinds ; one for cutting grass or herbage crops for hay, 

 which consists of a thin steel blade attached at right angles to a handle of six or eight feet 

 long ; and the other for cutting corn, to which what is called a cradle is attached ; 

 the third is of smaller dimensions, and is exclusively used for cutting corn ; it is called 

 the Hainault scythe. 



2404. The Hainault scythe {fig. 255.) has a wooden handle an inch and a quarter in diameter, and is held 

 in the mower's right hand by the bent part (a, b) about five inches long. The 

 straight part of the handle(c) is from 16 to 22 inches long, according to the height 

 of the mower. There is a leathern loop (6) through which the fore finger is 

 passed, and there is a knob {a) at the extremity, which would prevent the 

 hand slipping off, if the loop should break, or the finger slip out of it. The 

 blade (d) is about 2 feet long, and 2f inches broad at the middle. The handle 

 is attached to the blade in such a manner, as that its plane makes an angle 

 with that of the latter, by which means the mower is able to cut a little 

 upwards, but almost close to the ground without stooping, while the handle 

 inclines to the horizon about 60 or 70 degrees. The line of the crooked part 

 of the handle (a, b) if produced, would nearly pass through the point of the 

 blade, which thus gives the means of controUing that point; whilst the fore 

 finger in the loop commands the heel {e). Along with the scythe a light staff 

 (/>^) terminating in an iron hook {h), is used by the mower. With the scythe 

 in his right hand, he holds the hook in his left by the middle, the curved 

 part of it over the scythe in a similar position to its blade, and above it, 

 their points being exactly above each other. In working, the mower moves ^ 

 both together, making the hook to pass behind the straw at about the mid- 

 dle of its height, to separate and press it slightly down towards the left hand, 

 while the blade follows with a motion from right to left to cut off the straw 

 at from two to four inches above the ground. A great advantage of this im- 

 plenaent is, that the operator is not required to stoop, by which his strength is 

 less ^hausted, and he is said to cut double the quantity of corn which can 

 be cut in the same time with the reaping-hook, and with less loss of straw. 



256 rt 2405. TAe cmrfZescy^/ie (^g. 256.) is variously constructed : 



sometimes the cradle or receptacle into which the corn is 

 gathered is of net-work, and at other times it consists of 

 woven laths or wicker work. (See 398.) 



2406. The reaping hook is a curved blade of steel, fixed in 

 a short wooden handle ; it is of two kinds ; one serrated like 

 a fine saw, which is used in cutting corn by handfulls, and 

 is called a sickle hook ; the other smooth and sharp like a 

 scythe, which is used to hack the corn over in the peculiar 

 manner called bagging, and is called a cutting hook. 



2407. Huttons improved reaping hook is serrated from the 

 point through half its length like a sickle, and the remainder 



The advantage is, that the straws are not cut in entering the hook, 



is snioolh and sharp. 



