Book IV. 



HORSE HOES. 



363 



2536. The chain by which this cuhivator or scarifier is drawn', enables the person that holds 

 it to work it better, than if it were drawn by a beam like a plough, and occasions also less 

 draught by the power being nearer to the claws ; the machine goes more freely than it 

 would if some of the claws were in the fore bull, the sole use of that bull being to draw by. 

 When the scarifier was made in a triangular form and with the same number of claws, 

 it was apt to go on its head, or by raising the hindmost claws out of the ground to work 

 frequently at one corner only. The claws are formed at the bottom with a point, so as 

 to push a stone out of the way before the broad part can meet with any obstruction, 

 which makes the machine cut with much greater ease. As to their width at the foot, 

 they may be made to cut all the land more clearly than a plough if required, where 

 thistles, fern, &c. grow, and the claw is so formed by its croooked direction as to raise 

 every obstruction to the top, rock excepted. 



2537. Hay warcC s cultivator (fig. 302 f- <-i i \' 'C 



302. ) or, as it is called, extirpator 



or scalp plough, is used on land 



already ploughed. Its hoes or 



scalps are intended to pierce about 



two inches at each operation, so* 



that by repeatedly passing it over 



the surface, the land will be stirred 



as deep as tlie plough has gone. "* 



2538. Beatson^s cultivator {fig. 303.) is recommended by the inventor for its lightness : 

 ^ ^ - p jl 303 it is intended, as before observed (2532.), to effect 



"T^^^^^C..^^^ by reiterated application what is done by the 



'^ ' ^^^"^""'"^^ZZIII large Scotch cultivator at once; by which means a 

 _ f'l"'.'* '"iM saving of power is obtained, but a loss of time, as is 

 " "^ * usual in all similar cases. 



SuBSECT. 4. Of Tillage Implements of the Hoe Kind. 



2539. Of horse hoes there is a great variety, almost every implement-maker having 

 his favorite form. They are useful for stirring the soil in the intervals between rowed 

 crops, especially turnips, potatoes, and beans. Respecting the construction of horse hoes 

 it may be observed that soils of different textures will require to be hoed with shares of 

 different forms, according to their hardness, or mixture of stones, flints, or gravel. The 

 number of hoes also in hard soils requires to be diminished ; in the case of a stony clay, 

 one hoe or flat share, with or without one or two coulters or prongs, will often be all that 

 can be made to enter the ground. In using these implements, the operator 

 should always consider whether he will produce most benefit by merely cutting over or 

 rooting up the weeds, or stirring the soil ; because the hoe suited for the one purpose is 

 by no means well adapted for the other. In the former case flat shares are to be preferred, 

 but pointed, that they may enter the soil easily ; in the latter coulters or prongs, as in the 

 cultivators, are much more effective, as they will enter the soil^and stir it to a considerable 

 depth, thus greatly benefiting the plants by the admission of air, heat, dews, and rain, 

 and by rendering it more permeable by the roots. 



2540. The Scotch horse-hoe 

 {fig. 304.) has three hoes or 

 shares, and is drawn by a single 

 horse. By means of the wheel 

 it can be set to go to any depth, 

 and in hard surfaces, one 'or 

 more of the shares can be taken 

 out, and coulters or bent prongs, 

 as in the cultivator {fig. 300.), 

 substituted. 



2541. The Northumberland 

 horse-hoe (see Report, &c. p. 

 43.) is of a triangular form, 

 and contains three coulters and 

 three hoes, or six hoes, accord- 

 ing to the state of the soil. In 

 hoeing between drills of turnips, the two side coulters are used of a curved form. A 

 hoe of the same kind is sometimes attached to a small roller, and employed between rows 

 of wheat and barley, from nine to twelve inches distant ; it is also used in place of a cul- 

 tivator, in preparing bean stubbles for wheat in autumn, and in pulverising lands for 

 barley in spring. 



