182 



HAR 



HAR 



when, the soil requires to be pul- 

 verized as well as the seed cover- 

 ed, especially when they are per- 

 mitted to move irregularly, and in 

 a lateral direction. Where the 

 soil is already tine, as it ought al- 

 ways to be before grass seeds are 

 sown, lighter harrows are used, 

 which are so constructed that all 

 the ruts are equidistant. Supple- 

 ment to the Encyclopaedia Britanni- 

 ca, p. 115. 



Sir John Sinclair gives the fol- 

 lowing principal rules regarding 

 the formation of harrows : 1. That 

 not any two of the teeth should 

 move in one tract. 2. That 

 the tracts should be at equal dis- 

 tances from each other. And, 3, 

 That the teeth, should either be 

 round, or perhaps with a sharp 

 edge bent forward, like so many 

 coulters, as they make themselves 

 cleaner than when they are square, 

 or of any other shape, and work 

 easier after the horses. The teeth 

 of harrows are generally of unequal 

 lengths, the front row being about 

 half an inch shorter than the sec- 

 ond, and the third row being about 

 one inch shorter than the first ; so 

 that each row backwards, is about 

 one half inch shorter than the one 

 which precedes it. Where crops 

 are drilled, an instrument called 

 " the dr 11 harrow," is foimd a very 

 great improvement. It thorough- 

 ly cuts the weeds in the intervals, 

 and harrows them up to the top in 

 a very complete manner. 



HARROWING, working the 

 soil with a harrow. A team that 

 travels quick, is best for harrowing, 

 unless the land be too full of obsta- 

 cles. Horses, therefore, are bet- 



ter for this work than oxen,because 

 their motion is quicker. The fast- 

 er the harrow moves, and the more 

 it jumps, the more the hard clods 

 are broken, and (he turfs torn. — 

 The teeth will also keep cleaner 

 and go deeper ; so that the land 

 will be more n^ixed and mellowed. 

 But clayey land is so apt to be 

 cloddy, that it is often necessar) to 

 follow the harrow with a maul, or 

 a hoe, to break the remaining 

 clods. 



Besides pulverizing the soil, 

 covering seeds, and drawing out 

 the roots of weeds, the designs of 

 harrowing are to make the, land 

 level, or smooth ; and, on fallows, 

 to cause the seeds of some weeds 

 to vegetate by exposing (hem to 

 the air, in order that they may be 

 destroyed by after operations, ei- 

 ther with the plough or the har- 

 row. 



When land is wet and poachy ,or 

 at all muddy, it can be of no ser- 

 vice to harrow it. It will rather 

 do damage, as it will make it more 

 compact and stiflf. 



Land that is too light and puffy, 

 as drained swamps often are. can- 

 not easily be too much harrowed. 

 The more it is harrowed, (he more 

 compact it will be ; and this is 

 what it wants. 



The harrowing of new ground 

 for feeding, without ploughing, 

 may be performed in almost any 

 weather, if the ground be only dry 

 enough to be mellowed by the har- 

 row. And the sooner, afterburn- 

 ing, this work is done, so much the 

 better, as it will prevent the ashes 

 being blown away by high winds, 

 and as it will spread it more equal- 



