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THE GENESEE FAEMEK. 



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this country it is also attracting attention, wheat being now mostly sown with planters 

 or drilling implements. The advantages claimed for it are, that the seed is deposited in 

 the earth with greater exactness in regard to depth, regularity, and proportion ; economy 

 of seed, in giving it a good hold of the gi'ound in light soils so as to protect it 

 against being drawn out by frosts or loosened by the wind when it has advanced to a 

 heavy top growth ; lastly, in admitting of hoe culture, by which the growth of the plants 

 may be stimulated and the growth of weeds prevented. It is perhaps doubtful whether 

 hoeing will ever be applied to 

 growing grain crops in this coun- 

 try to any considerable extent. 

 Where the soil is good, and well 

 prepared previous to sowing, 

 there is little chance for weeds to 

 grow and little need of culture. 

 It nuiy be otherwise ; our farmers 

 must consider it. If this system 

 be adopted, the drilling machines 

 or planters must pass over the 

 ground in straight not in zigzag 

 lines, as we generally see over 

 the country. At any rate, this 

 would be a great improvement 

 on our general culture ; for no- 

 thing can well look more slovenly 

 than curved furrows, fresh drag 

 lines, and young growing crops. 



1 abhor crooked plowing, drag- 

 ging, and every crooked, careless 

 operation on the land. A man 

 who can not run a straight fur- 

 row, or drive his harrow or plant- 

 er straight, ought to feel ashamed 

 of his awkwardness. 



But whether grain crops be 

 ever horse-hoed or not, root crops 

 will ; and as their culture is be- 

 coming extensive and important, 

 a glance at the most approved 

 English implement may not be 

 uninteresting. The best which I 

 have observed in the exhibition, 

 and one which is oflered for sale 

 in all the implement shops, and 

 generally in use, and to which a 

 prize medal has been awarded, is 



Garretfs Patent Horse-Hoe. — Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine at work, and fig, 



2 gives an end view, showing the manner in which the hoes pass between the rows. It 

 is so constructed that the shafts for the horse can be fixed upon any part of the frame, 

 and the axle-tree being moveable at both ends, it 'can be expanded or contracted at 

 pleasure to suit all lands and methods of planting. Each hoe works on a lever inde- 

 pendent of the others, and this adapts them to all inequalities of the ground, and the 

 hoes can also be set to any width from seven inches to thirty. The hoes are set to any 



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