148 OPERATIONS OF TILLAGE. 



§4. The Roller. 



The roller is made of iron, stone, or wood, according 

 to convenience, or for the purposes for which it was in- 

 tended. In American husbandry, w^e have no reason to 

 expect, or perhaps desire, any but such as are made of 

 wood, and such as any farmer, who has a moderate de- 

 gree of mechanical skill, and the carpenters' tools which 

 every farmer ought to keep, may readily construct. A 

 sound oak log, with the frame and sliafts or tongue ap- 

 pended, will make a good roller. Rollers are made of dif- 

 ferent lengths and sizes, varying from 15 to 30 inches in 

 diameter, their length from five to ten feet, and their weight 

 should be from 12 to 20 cwt. — the heavier soils requir- 

 ing the heavier, and the lighter soils the lighter one. The 

 weight can readily be increased by stones, or other heavy 

 substances, deposited in a box to be placed upon a frame. 

 The lighter kinds are made in one piece ; but the larger 

 and heavier kinds are made in two pieces, with a washer 

 between them, and an iron rod passing through the centre 

 of both, which forms the axis upon which they revolve. 

 English farmers construct on the model indicated in fig. 

 35, upon the frame of w^hich a box may be attached, either 



Fig. 35. 



to contain stones to add to the pressure of the roller, or 

 to receive small stones and rubbish, gathered by the team- 

 ster as he progresses, and which are to be carried off. 

 The objection to the English roller is, that the power 

 is not advantageously applied. We think the model delin- 

 eated in fig. 36, and which is the kind generally used in the 

 United States, is preferable to the other, because the draught 

 is nearly in a right fine from the point of draught at the col- 

 lar or yoke, to the point of resistance. This may be done 

 and the advantages of the box retained. It is stated by 

 Low, that, comparing together tw^o rollers with cylinders 



