42 



AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



Skeleton Plow and Horse Driller. 



rig. 21. bles, such as cab- 



bages, carrots, beets, 

 &c. It may also be 

 used for ordinary 

 furrowing by fasten- 

 ing an old shoe or 

 something equiva- 

 lent in front of the 

 curved standard or 

 shaft, so as to give 

 width to the opened 

 furrow ; or, if it be 

 used with an 'old 

 share having the corners broken off, it serves a good purpose 

 as a horse-driller in making drills for wide-rowed crops, where 

 a proper drill or corn-planter is not used. 



This and the half mouldboard plow (Fig. 19) are the most 

 marked and valuable improvements among the lighter forms 

 which have been adopted since patent plows came into use. 



A small hand-plow is found in our agricultural stores, with 

 a long, straight, stout handle, into which it is fastened by an 

 iron shank, upon which the plow proper moves, so that its 

 depth may be regulated by a screw. In light soils such" an 

 implement may often be found useful in garden culture. Its 

 present construction, however, is ridiculously wrong, since it is 

 made to draw as a common hoe, requiring the workman to walk 

 backward as he labors, making its use a task for a convict rath- 

 er than a pleasant labor for the amateur. 



Any country blacksmith can set the shank the other way in 

 a few minutes, and when thus changed to thrust instead of 

 draw, and gauged to a proper depth, the workman, by throwing 

 his weight a little forward upon the handle, and moving stead- 

 ily, will be able to make it perform satisfactorily without much 

 waste of muscle. 



HARROWS. 



The harrow, whether triangular or square, is commonly made 

 without being jointed or hinged for folding ; but the improve- 



