MACHINERY 



MACHINERY 



1949 



kept in good condition. They should scour the same 

 as the moldboard-plow and should, therefore, not be 

 permitted to become rusty. They are usually soft- 

 centered with hard smooth face. 



Conclusion. 



It has been attempted in the above to describe only 

 those tillage implements which have long been in 

 common use on progressive farms and have undergone 

 a steady development, and to illustrate examples of 

 common types, not to recommend any of them. 



The actual construction of the different types is 

 touched on but briefly, but it is hoped that the discus- 

 sion will be 

 sufficient to 

 give one at 

 least a gen- 

 eral idea as to 

 the common 

 types of tillage 

 tools and their 

 operation. As 

 regards main- 

 tenance, it has 

 long been 

 known that 

 tillage imple- 

 ments will not 

 operate satis- 

 factorily if not 

 well taken care 

 of. They should 

 b e protected 



from the weather and bearings should be well oiled 

 both when in use and when not in use. Scouring sur- 

 faces should be protected from rust. And lastly, in the 

 choice of tillage implements, considerable judgment 

 should be exercised. Only strongly built machines 

 should be selected. Bearings should be boxed to pro- 

 tect them from dust and dirt. Convenient and easy 

 adjustment and operation may well be considered. It is 

 also often true that a dollar spent on a good machine 

 is worth several spent on a poor cheap one. 



It is thought that a certain amount of study and 

 investigation along the line of tillage machinery will be 

 advantageous to any prospective farmer and may be a 

 source of additional information to the old experienced 

 farmer. ROBERT W. TRULLINGER. 



Tools for the orchardist. 



Orchard tools may well be classified into three 

 groups, cultural, pruning, and harvesting implements. 

 The first group comprises, with a few exceptions, the 

 usual agricultural tools commonly used in a region 

 for soil culture and probably require only a brief dis- 

 cussion. The implements used in pruning and in har- 



2273. Surface cultivator. 



vesting have been developed for a more specialized 

 type of work and should be considered more in detail. 

 No particular brand or make of tools will be recom- 

 mended in this article but the writer will endeavor in 

 some cases to point out the defects or the good points, 

 as the case may be, of different types or 

 classes of implements. 



Cultural implements. 



An ancient and favorable tool is the 

 plow, in the long 

 deve lopment of 

 which extended 

 engineering 

 skill has been ex- 

 pended. It might 

 be supposed that 

 in its development 

 a highly special- 

 ized type would 

 have been evolved 

 for the rather 

 exclusive use of 

 the specialized in- 

 dustry of the fruit-grower. Such, however, is not 

 the case. In the huge mountain orchards of the 

 Appalachian range, one still finds the old shovel-plow 

 used extensively and doing efficient service. Many of 

 the orchards have been planted on newly cleared land 

 and about the only implement which can successfully 

 dodge stumps and tear up the root-bound soil is a strong 

 oak -beamed narrow-pointed shovel-plow. For working 

 the ground close to the tree, a long-beamed shovel- 

 plow is used, so constructed that the plow sets off to 

 one side, enabling both horse and driver to walk well 

 away from the row. Between this crude tool and the 

 heavy three- four- or six-bottom gangs hauled by a 

 tractor, are all kinds of deep-tillage implements used in 

 the orchard. The average fruit-grower with a moderate- 

 sized orchard, carrying a good cover-crop to be worked 



2275. "Go-devil" corn-cultivator. 



2274. Disc-cultivator. 



2276. Double-row disc- and shovel-cultivator. 



up each spring, will still cling to the modern two-horse 

 plow. In light soils a cover-crop may be satisfactorily 

 incorporated into the soil with a disc-harrow or a light 

 three-bottom gang-plow. 



A tool well adapted for this work is the cutaway type 

 of the disc-harrow. This machine will chop up and 

 work into the soil a heavy cover-crop and put the sur- 

 face into a fine tilth at the same time. In old sod 

 orchards where the roots are so near the surface that 

 plowing is difficult, the cutaway will often work up 

 the surface inte a sufficiently good condition to act as 

 a mulch. It is not advisable to use less than an 18- or 

 20-inch disc, as the large size is a comfort when heavy 

 work is to be done and the draft for light work is not 

 appreciably greater than in the smaller sizes. For cul- 

 tivating trees, the reversible extension type is to be 

 preferred, as it enables one to throw earth either toward 

 the trees or away from them. 



The greatest advance in cultural implements for the 

 orchard is found in the harrows, cultivators, and the 

 like, used for shallow cultivation to maintain a dust 

 mulch. The advent of low-headed trees brought about 

 the extension harrow adapted for working under low- 



