SPECIAL SUBSOILERS. 97 



SPECIAL SUBSOILERS. 



We will study in this chapter a certain number of special 

 machines, which cannot he classed in the foregoing groups. 



In 1857 Chateau, a solicitor at Fontaine- Guyon (Eure-et- 

 Loir), constructed what he termed a subsoiling car.* The 

 machine resembled the frame of a dray, with two large wheels. 

 The axle was fastened by two iron rods to a rectangular 

 cast-iron block, provided with three stout teeth or tines 

 13f in. in length. At the end of each furrow the block, which 

 weighed 176 Ibs., could be lifted inside the frame by the aid 

 of a rope and small windlass. In course of work, the 

 vehicle was hauled by a team behind a plough, and, if neces- 

 sary, the driver could sit upon the block and increase the 

 weight, which would then reach 3*30 Ibs., each tooth bearing 

 a weight of 110 Ibs. With a team of three horses the 

 machine subsoiled to a depth of 15J inches, "dragging out 

 stones larger than a man's head."f In certain cases a disc 

 for the distribution of fertilizers was fixed in front of the 

 frame, the manure falling in front of the subsoiling teeth, 

 which mixed it with the subsoil. In 1885, A. Derome applied 

 the same idea to his manuring subsoiler. The Royal Society 

 of Agriculture in England, awarded a first prize in 1850, at 

 Exeter, in 1853 at Gloucester, and in 1854 at Lincoln, for a 

 special machine constructed by Fowler, known as the steam 

 mole-plough, the principle of which is similar to that of 

 Reed-Slight's subsoiler. This mole-plough, which was ex- 

 hibited aud worked at the Agricultural Show at Moulins in 

 1869, is still in use in England, as shown in Fig. 61. It is 

 constructed of a beam articulated in front, and provided at 

 the rear with a handle ; gearing wheels allow the beam to be 

 raised at the end of each furrow. The working piece (Fig. 

 62) consists of a mole, kept at the required depth by a brace 

 with cogs, held in position by a cotter ; the inclination of the 

 mole is given by another brace at the rear, bearing a thread 

 and nut. A pivot is fixed in front of the beam, round which 

 a loose pulley revolves, over which the traction cable passes 

 hauled by a steam-winding drum. In stiff soils one of the 

 extremities of the cable is fastened to one of the wheels of 



* Journal d 1 Agriculture Pratique, 1859, vol. 2, p. 402. 

 t This depth of 15 inches is evidently counted from the surface of 

 the soil, including the depth of the preliminary ploughing. (Trans.) 



