450 O F H O R S E - H O E S. Part IV. 



to a great depth, into the earth that was laid there by the laft hoeing 

 before winter : and as the horfes advance, that great ridge of earth 

 will he divided into two parts, which will be turned over into, and 

 will fill up the furrows that were made before winter on each 

 fide of the alley, clofe to the beds. Thus, the great furrow in the 

 middle of the alley \\''ill be opened, and the whole operation 

 performed by one turn of the cultivator. The earth fo turned over 

 will be thoroughly ftirred ; and fo much time and labour will be 

 faved by this method, that the farmer may eafily afiford one or two 

 flirrings more in the fummer, which will always be of great 

 fervice. 



I have found fo much benefit from making the furrow in the 

 middle of the alley very deep, that I have fometimes given it a fe- 

 cond plowing with the cultivator with two mould-boards, eight or 

 ten days after the firft; by which means I have cut it fo deep, that 

 I have been fure of having a depth of fifteen or eighteen inches of 

 well loofened mould under the middle of my next year's beds. 



My lands have been brought to fo fine a tilth by the plowings of 

 former years, that I have not had any occafion for a coulter to my 

 cultivators: however, it may be proper to ufe one, where the ground 

 has not been fufiiciently loofened by the preceding culture. 



To fhew to what degree of pulverifation my lands have been 

 brought and how extremely light they now are, I fhall only mention 

 the following fadl. I ufed only one and the fame cultivator with two 

 mould boards during the whole courfe of the years 1753 and 1754, 

 and never had occafion even once to have the Ihare new pointed. The 

 fricSion and refiflance of the earth were fo little in my grounds, that 

 the point of my fhare was not worn at all, whilil, in the fame years, 

 my neighbours were obliged to have the fhares of their common 

 plough new pointed almoft every day. 



SECT. V. 



Defcription of M. de Villiers'j Cultivator. 



^TpHIS inftrument is compofed of a {hare, Plate Y\. Jig. iZ, the 

 -^ tv/o fins of which are eight inches and a half wide at their ex- 

 tremities a, b. The focket c, which is between the two fins, projefts 

 fome inches,, and the hollow in it is three inches long, and one inch 

 wide. It does not defcend fo low down as the fins, to prevent 

 its touching the earth. The length of this fhare, from the point ^, 



to 



