hereafter noticed, no other has yet been devised 

 to supersede its use, or to equal it, lor many of 

 the purposes to which it is applicable. (Q,uart. 

 Jour.of Af(r. vol. i. p. 503.) 



Important as is the operation of han'owing, 

 and second only to that of plowing, it has often 

 appeared to nie that these implements have 

 scarcely obtained the attention which is their 

 due. I here speak less with reference to the im- 

 provements which have been carried into effect, 

 than to the selection which appears generally 

 to have been made. The operation is in many 

 neighborhoods so performed as to exhibit a 

 prominent defect, either in the management of 

 the farm, or in the construction of the imple- 

 ment. 



Perhaps the blame may here be fairly 

 shared. It is admitted bj' all acquainted with 

 the subject, that harrowing, especially on heavy 

 soils, is the most laborious operation on the farm; 

 not so much, perhaps, on account of the quan- 

 tum of power requisite for the draught (though 

 this is sometimes considerable), as for the speed 

 with which the operation is. or ought to be, ac- 

 companied ; and yet it is frequently left to the 

 charge of mere boys, and sometimes performed 

 by the worst horses on the farm. 



If we examine a field, one-half of which has 

 been haiTowed with weak, inefficient horses, 

 and whose pace was consequently sluggish — the 

 other half with an adequate strength and .swift- 

 ness of animal power — we shall find the former 



will be rough and unfinished ; the latter com- 

 paratively firm and level, and completed in what 

 would be called a husbandry-like manner. — 

 Scarcely anything in farming is more unsightly 

 than the wavy, serpentine traces of inefficient 

 harrowing. The generality of harrows appear 

 too heavy and clumsy to admit of that dispatch 

 without which the work cannot be well done ; 

 and, though it is evident that different soils de- 

 mand implements of proportionate weight and 

 power, yet, for the most part. haiTOws have been 

 rather over than under weighted, particularly 

 when employed after a drill, or to bury seeds 

 of any kind. 



Harrowing has been so long regarded as an 

 operation which must be attended with consid- 

 erable honse-labor. that attention does not appear 

 to have been sufficiently turned to the inquiry 

 Vthether this labor might not be greatly reduced 

 by lightening the instruments with which it is 

 performed. Many would be surjirised at the 

 amount of reduction of which seed harrows, at 

 least, are capable ; and, where land is clean, to 

 see how effectively a gang of very light, small- 

 toothed harrows may be used. 



Having noticed, in some parts of Norfolk, the 

 perfect manner in which seed-corn is covered 

 lay a common rake with wooden teeth, a friend 

 of mine constructed a gang of harrows on the 

 following plan, and he states that it proved the 

 most popular and useful implement of the kind 

 to the farm. 



GANG OF LIGHT SEED HARROWS. 



The frames are of ash, and as light as possi- 

 ble, with iron teeth being but three inches long, 

 exclusive of the part which enters the wood- 

 work. They screw into the balks in the man- 

 ner shown in the annexed figure. 



It should be observed that the above four har- 

 rows are amply sufficient to cover a twelve- 

 fnrrow^ stetch or ridge of 108 inches, but three 

 will he wide enough for a three-furrow stetch 

 of 90 inches, excluisive of a small portion of the 

 furrows. If for some purposes the teeth be 

 found too thick, eveiy alternate tooth may be 

 taken out ; but for general purpo.ses this will 

 hardly be necessary. The two horses require, 

 on this plan, to be kept quite level ; for, if one 

 be suffered to go in advance of the other, a diag- 

 onal line is produced, by which the teeth will 



^ (la.-is) 



be made to follow each other, instead of cutting 

 fresh ground. I am aware that, by the usual 

 construction of harrows, a diaaronal line of 

 draught is required, in order to throw the teeth 

 into a proper working position ; but I am strong- 

 ly inclined to the opinion that the correct work- 

 ing of the implement ought to depend on its 

 construction, and not on any particular mode of 

 working it. Besides, the system of keeping one 



