xlviii Notices for a Young Farmer 



situations. Harrows should be constructed for the variety of 

 purposes required in good husbandry. Coulter and hoe har- 

 rows, as well as others adapted to different operations, should 

 be possessed by every good farmer : and among the less in- 

 struments, the horse rake should be better known and more 

 generally used. This saves much manual labour in gather- 

 ing hay ; and is peculiarly fitted for raking grain-fields, (the 

 borders whereof, after being reaped, should be cut with the 

 scythe, or cleared otherwise of weeds,) so that quadruply the 

 expense and labour of the operation is gained by the saving 

 ©f grain which would otherwise perish. See 3d vol. Phila- 

 delphia Memoirs, 212, 13. There are hand-rakes for this 

 purpose, wherewith one labourer will do as much work as 

 two or three with the common rake. The roller, both plain and 

 spiky, is as essential as any other instrument ; yet is not so com- 

 mon as it ought to be. Riddles and screens for cleaning our 

 grains, are highly improved of late years ; yet few farmers pos- 

 sess the best. The potato riddles are great facilities, to save 

 time and manual labour, in sizing and separating those roots 

 whilst gathering ; yet few possess them at all, and others have 

 them badly constructed. Improved cutting machines will be 

 found all essential, when the practice of chaffing hay and other 

 provender becomes duly appreciated. No pains or reasona- 

 ble expense should be spared, in substituting some effective 

 threshing machines for manual labour; and thereby overcom- 

 ing one of the greatest embarrassments in our rural affairs. 

 XXVIII. Encourage the establishment of an Agricultu- 

 ral Society, in your neighbourhood ; and contribute your 

 share of useful information. Let it be furnished with a well 

 selected, however small, library ; on subjects as well practically 

 as theoretically connected with husbandry. Avoid turning 

 it into a club for mere amusement, or topics of controversy 

 and dissension : but let the objects of its meetings be confined 

 to the improvement of its members, in the business to which 

 their lives are devoted. One of the great objects of such so- 

 cieties should be to enlighten the minds of our citizens, on 

 the subject of roads, canals, and improving the navigation of 

 rivers, bridges, and other facilities for transport AJi tlje 



