S72 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



222 



I ^ 



22:i 



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two inches in diameter, either naturally or artificially 

 crooked. At one end is a ring, through which a cord is 



passed, and the implement tied to the waist; at the other 

 is a notch, on which the commencement of the rope is 



made. An improved tool of this sort (jig. '.'2:3. ) is now used by the best farmers ; it is held 



under the left arm, and turned with tin' right hand. 



2170. The potato-dibber is exclusively Used in 

 planting potatoes in line moulds; hut drilling is a 

 mode generally to be preferred, as providing a 

 better bed and a closer covering to the sets. 



2171. The common dibber used in agriculture has several teeth or dibbles proceeding 

 from a head, which, having a handle, is pressed into the ground, and forms several holes 



at once, according to the number of dibbles, and these are regulated by the 

 hardness of the soil. In strong clays the common garden dibber, shod with 

 iron, is often used. 



2472. The double-dibber (Jig. 224.) is chiefly used in Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 for dibblin" 1 wheat ; but the more enlightened agriculturists of the present 

 day consider that the pressing plough effects the same object, that of making 

 a firm bed for the seed, more effectually and at less expense. 



217:$. Coggins dibbling machine consists of a box fixed on wheels, to which 

 are attached two conical dibbling irons, and the whole is to be moved forward 

 by the foot of the operator. [Newton's Journal, vol. ii. p. 88. - It appears 

 to us much too intricate ever to come into use ; nor do we see the necessity 

 of dibbling by manual labour at all, since we have the pressing plough, 

 224 V which is allowed to be preferable for wheat, and various drill machines, which 

 are at least as good as the hand dibble, for beans. 



2474. The fail is a well known implement for beating out corn, now happily going 

 out of use in the most improved districts, as it would go every where, were the value of 

 the hand- threshing machine generally known. 



2475. The essential agricultural tools are the pick, spade, shovel, dung and hay-fork, 

 hay-rake, common hand-hoe, rope-twister, and besom. 



« Sect. II. Instruments. 



2476. The instruments used in agriculture may be classed as the executive and the 

 scientific ; the former are used in executing, the latter chiefly in designing and laying 

 out, operations. 



Subsect. 1. Instruments of Labour. 



2477. The instruments of labour peculiar to agriculture are few, and chiefly the scythe, 

 reaping-hook, and hay-knife ; but there are some others common to agriculture and 

 gardening, which are occasionally used, and they also shall be enumerated. 



2478. The set/the is of three kinds : one for cutting grass or herbage crops for hay, 



which consists of a thin steel blade attached at right angles to a handle of six or eight feet 



long ; the second for cutting corn, to which what is called a cradle is attached ; the 



third is of smaller dimensions, and is exclusively used for cutting corn; it is called the 



Ilaiiiault scythe. 



enn. The Hainautt sa/lhc {fig. 22.5.) lias a wooden handle an inch and a quarter in diameter, and is held 

 in the mower's right hand by the bent part (a,b) about five inches long. The u 



Straight part of the handle [e) is from Id to 22 inches long, according to the 

 height of the mower. There is a leathern loop (/>) through which the fore 

 finger is passed, and there is a knob (a) at the extremity, which would pre- 

 vent the hand slipping off, if the loop should break, or the finger slip out of 

 it. The blade foj is about 2 feet long, and 2J inches broad at the middle. 

 The handle is attached to the blade in such a manner as that its plane makes 

 an angle with that of the latter, by which means the mower is able to cut a 

 little upwards, but almost close to' the ground, without stooping, while the 

 handle inclines to the horizon about fid or 70 degrees. The line of the 

 crooked part of the handle fa, b), if produced, would nearly pass through the 

 point of the blade, which thus gives the means of controlling that point ; 

 whilst the fore finger in the loop commands the heel (e). Along with the 

 scythe a light stall'!/, f;), terminating in an iron hook (A), is used by the 

 mower. With the scythe in his right hand, beholds the hook in his left by 

 the middle, the curved part of it over the scythe in a similar position to its 

 blade, and above it, their points being exactly over each other. In working, 

 the mower moves both together, making the hook to pass behind the straw fit 

 at about the middle of its height, to separate and press it slightly down 

 towards the hit hand, while the blade follows with a motion from right to 

 left to cut off the straw at from two to four inches above the ground. A 

 great advantage of this implement is, that the operator is not required to 

 stoop by which his strength is less exhausted, and he is said to cut double 

 the quantity of corn which can he cut in the same time with the reaping- 

 hook, and with less loss of straw. The Highland Society of Scotland ma.ie 

 extraordinary exertions to introduce this instrument among the farmers of that country, in 182j, and. 

 through the assistance of the Chevalier Mast let, then the French consul at Edinburgh, and two young 

 Flemings brought over by the Highland Society, which accompanied this excellent man in a tour through 

 the country, i* "succeeded in making a great many trials. The general result, as communicated in the 



