HOKSE-KAKES.] 



IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINEKT 



VllOESE-EAKES. 



inches apart, and hoeing all the ground be- 

 tween the rows at the same operation.— 

 Another, of a similar description, is made by 

 the same manufacturer. A man and cob horse, 

 -with these implements, will bunch-out and hoe 

 from three to four acres per day, requiring 

 only children, or inexperienced persons, to 

 follow after the cut plants are withered, leav- 

 ing the best and single plant— thus expe- 

 ditiously often saving the whole crop.— Another 

 implement enables the operator to miss the 

 plants in thin places, by simply raising the 

 handles, and thus avoid cutting-up one plant 

 that ought to be left growing, the flat hoes 

 remaining in work as before. These imple- 

 ments can be used as ordinary horse-hoes, 

 by simply taking off the revolving frame. — 

 Another implement can regulate the size of 

 the bunches left, according to the state of 

 the soil or superabundance of the plants 

 growing, by putting on longer or shorter re- 

 volving hoes. Extra hoes for the purpose 

 at 5s. per set. The price of each of these 

 machines is £6 Gs. 



HORSE -RAKES. 

 These implements very materially diminish 

 the labour, and, in consequence, are very ex- 

 tensively adopted. In most of them, the tines 

 are made to act separately, so as to yield to 

 any inequality of surface. The leverage has 

 been latelymuch improved, the action beingvery 

 light. The Messrs. Howard have patented a 

 horse-rake, which has carried all the first prizes, 

 for some years past, awarded by the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England for this imple- 

 ment. It is used for collecting hay, corn, 

 stubbles, twitch grass, and leaves ; for drag- 

 ging meadows after a flood, raking in clover 

 and grass seeds, and as a weed extirpator on 

 corn crops in the spring. A guide is fixed to 

 all the rakes, to prevent the lever from being 

 strained by careless usage ; the end of the 

 guide forms loops, through which a pair of 

 reins can be passed. Extreme width, 7^ feet. 

 Price, £8 5s. ; if fitted with twenty-eight steel 

 teeth, £8 12s. (Jd. — Another, invented and 

 manufactured by the same makers, gained the 

 first, and only prize, as the best horse-rake at 

 the Leeds meeting of the Eoyal Agricultural 

 Society of England, in 1861. The teeth of the 

 rakes are formed so as to collect no rubbish 

 912 



with the corn, and, by a new arrangement, 

 are allowed greater freedom to adapt them- 

 selves to the irregularities of the surface. 

 The raising bar is placed above the heads of the 

 teeth ; so that when the lever is put into 

 action, the raising bar, pressing upon the heads, 

 brings the teeth out of work. Price, £8 15s. ; 

 if fitted with thirty-two steel teeth, £9 2s. Qd. 

 — Another, with movable shafts and wheels, is 

 on the same principle as the former, but made 

 so that the shafts can readily be moved to the 

 end of the rake, by which means the implement 

 can be drawn endwise through any gateway, or 

 along very narrow roads. It is well adapted 

 for "Wales, and other mountainous districts, 

 where the roads are too narrow for the ordi- 

 nary horse-rake. Price, £9 10s. — Messrs. 

 Smith and Brothers, of Thrapston, North- 

 amptonshire, have a steel-toothed horse-rake, 

 which took a prize at the Eoyal Society's 

 Show, at Salisbury ; also a special prize at the 

 Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Show, 

 at Wigan. The beams are made of tubular 

 iron ; the teeth of spring steel ; which makes 

 it light, strong, and durable. It has a lever 

 behind to raise the teeth when the rake is full. 

 It is mounted on wrought iron wheels, which 

 are capped to prevent the hay from winding 

 round the axles. Price, £7 15s. — A patent 

 balance horse-rake, invented by C Woods, 

 of Ipswich, improved and manufactured by 

 Messrs. Eansome and Sons, is made on an 

 entirely new principle. The man rides, and, 

 by his weight, partly counterbalances the 

 teeth ; so that the work of discharging the 

 load, which is done by his foot, is greatly 

 lessened. The wheels are of wrought iron, 

 and very high, so that the draught is light. 

 This rake is especially useful when large tracts 

 of land must be covered in a short time, both 

 at home and abroad. •. It covers 10 ft. in work. 

 Price, £17 10s. — The same firm has also 

 invented and improved a lever horse-drag rake. 

 This light and effective implement rakes the 

 laud quite clean, and is unloaded without 

 stopping the horse. The form of the teeth is 

 so constructed as to enable them to carry a 

 great load. By means of a sliding-rod, each 

 alternate tooth may be raised out of work — a 

 desirable arrangement for raking twitch, &c. 

 It is fitted with side levers, by which the 

 teeth can be heightened or lowered at plea- 



