Book IV. 



IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 



367 



2427. Themeamring^chain,7neasurmg-Tod, pocket. rvJe, Vo\^ ''^''"'"it^lnTtS 

 stakes for driving in at fixed points, and a variety of other instruments, and their 



lines ; 



effects 





:>/! 



b 



fi 



i 



appendages are occasionally required by the agriculturist who lays out estates 

 territorial improvements : but these not being strictly agncultural implements do not re- 

 quire to be described. 



2428. The borer {Jig. 261 .) is an instrument invented tor 



the purpose of searching or exploring the nature of soils. 



It is composed of two rods of iron (a,/, and 6, g\ each six 



feet long, and an inch in diameter. The end of one screws 



into the end of the other, after taking out the stopper (c), 



the use of which is to hinder either dirt or dust from 



getting into the screw. The screw is an inch and a half 



long, and three quarters of an inch in diameter: there is a 



steel point somewhat blunt (/ ) , to pierce the earth or any 



substance it may meet with. It should be about three 



inches long, and made with either three, four, or more 



sides, as may be thought most convenient. It is screwed 



into the rod (a) in the same manner, and with a screw of 



the same size as is used in screwing the rods together. It 



has a groove six inches long, a third of an inch wide, and 



three quarters of an inch deep, rounded in the bottom, and 



intended to bring up part of each different layer through 



which it passes. When springs are sought for, a bit of 



sponge is put into the groove. At the end of the rod (g), 



is a screw to fix into another rod of the same kind, if it be 



found necessary to lengthen the instrument ; and this may be repeated, by the addition 



of more rods, to any depth desired. The handle of this instrument {h, i), is two feet and 



a half long : this handle is fastened to the rod by means of a clasp ik, I) lined with steel, 



fixed at one end by a hinge, and at the other by a screw (I), so that it may be placed at 



any height. A lever handle (m) serves to stop the borer when bringing it up from a 



considerable depth, and also to screw and unscrew the several bars or joints as occasion 



requires, and to put on or take off the steel point at the bottom. The other handle (i, h) 



is that by which the rod is held, and worked into the earth, either by turning it round, 



especially at first, or, after it has penetrated to some depth, by lifting it up, and letting 



it fall again, which it does with such force as to pierce even the hardest rocks ; especially 



if it work at any considerable depth, and has of course been lengthened accordingly ; for 



every foot of this rod weighs three pounds. Two men will easily sound the depth of 



twelve feet in less than a quarter of an hour, if they do not meet with many stones. When 



the rod becomes too heavy to be properly managed by hand, it may be raised by a rope 



fastened at one end to the handle, and at the other to a roller, or kind of windlass, erected 



at a proper height, perpendicularly over the hole, and turned with either one or two handles : 



when let go, it will fall with such weight as to strike each time very deep into the earth. 



2429. For making 'this instrument, the toughest iron is the best : it should be well 

 hammered, till its surface is quite smooth and even ; for the least roughness and inequality 

 would occasion a friction, which would greatly retard its working. For the same reason, 

 and also to increase the force of its fall, it is necessary that it should be perfectly straight ; 

 Kor should it ever be struck with a mallet, hammer, &c. to force it down, because a blow 

 might bend it, and it would easily break afterwards. The female screw must be turned 

 like that in the breech of a gun-barrel, in a separate piece of iron, cross- ways to the 

 grain ; and this piece must be afterwards well soldered on to one of the ends of the rod. 

 The reason forthisis, that if the female screw were bored only at the end of the rod, it would, 

 by being hammered out in the same direction with the grain, be stringy and porous, and 

 consequently so weak as to give way, or burst, in the working of the rod ; whereas, when 

 made of a separate piece, taken cross-ways of the grain, the threads of the screw will run 

 with the grain of the iron, and be thence considerably strengthened. A bit, like that of an 

 auger, proportioned to the thickness of the rod, may at any time, when necessary, 262 

 l)e substituted instead of the steel point, to draw up a sample of the substance from 

 the very bottom of the sounding. If the only thing wanted be to know the na- 

 ture of the under soil and layers of earth, so far as they may effect the vegetation 

 of plants, it will be quite suflScient to bore eight or ten feet deep. A greater 

 depth is only requisite when water, marl, ore, &c. is sought for. 



2430. The peat-borer {Jig. 262.), is a larger sort of borer, employed in peaty 

 soils that are boggy, for the purpose of removing wetness. It has been used 

 with advantage in some peat-mosses in Lancashire, by Eccleston. 



2431. The draining auger, blasting auger, timber measurer, and other scientific 

 instruments, not in general use in agriculture, will be best described in treating of 

 the departments in which they are applied. 



