176 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



As' a hint to inventors, I call attention to the very practical 

 ideas of Mr. C. Wren Hoskyns,* which are briefly summed up 

 as follows : — 



" It is not plowing, it is not harrowing, raking, hoeing, rolling, 

 " scarifying, clod crushing, scuffling, grubbing, ridging, casting, 

 "gathering, that we want; all these are the time-honored, time- 

 " bothered means to a certain result. That result is a seed 

 " bed ; and a seed-bed is simply described : a layer of soil from 

 *' six to twelve inches in depth, rendered fine by comminution, 

 *' and, as far as possible, inverted during the process. * * * 



" Let us suppose the picture of this formidable looking cylinder 

 " of claws to be sufficiently described for the moment — reminding 

 " one, at a distant view, of a half breed between a hay-tedding 

 " machine and a Crosskill's clod-crusher j but, unlike them, fun- 

 "damentally distinct from any and every instrument that was 

 " ever seen a-field, as doing its work, not by traction, nor by its 

 " rolling weight, but driven by its axis, as the steam-paddle, the 

 " circular saw, the driving-wheel of the locomotive, are driven, 

 " supported by its own apparatus, and abrading the soil with its 

 "armed teeth, first cutting its own trench, and then commencing 

 " its onward task, tearing down the banks (so to speak) on the 

 " advancing side, casting back the abraded soil, earth — sawdust^ 

 "comminuted, aerated, inverted^ into the trench it leaves behind." 



PLOWING WITH THREE HORSES ABREAST. 



It is generally considered that three horses working abreast 



exert as much force on a plow as four horses working in pairs, 



and such experience as I have had in the matter indicates that 



.^ r^ r r,„ thc opinlon is a correct one. 



Set of Whiffletrees and g Eveners for 3 HorscB. ^ 



There are several methods 



for gearing such teams. 



The simplest, and, I think, 



3 ' ' 2 ' ^l^g best, is by the use of 



Fig. Sg.— Set of Whiffletrees and Eveners for Three 

 Horses. 



double-trees and a single-tree, as shown in Fig. 89 



* Talpa ; or, the Chronicles of a Clay Farm. 



an evener, with a set of 



