30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



soil simply in the process of turning, something farther has 

 always been required, and the harrow has been used for this 

 purpose, to follow the plough, from time immemorial. With 

 the early settlers this implement, like most others, was made 

 of wood, of simple bars and cross-bars, furnished with 

 wooden teeth. It was usually home-made, rude and clumsy 

 enough. The first improvement was the substitution of iron 

 for wooden teeth, which were afterward pointed with steel, 

 when it was made lighter, so as to admit of being moved 

 more rapidly through the soil. 



The changes and improvements of this implement came very 

 slowly, and it is scarcely twenty years since it can be said to 

 have approached perfection. It has now assumed a more 

 compact form and greater flexibility, certain parts of the 

 frame-work being hinged together, so that any part can be 

 lifted or raised without disturbing the working of the rest, 

 while particular forms have been made for special purposes, 

 like the Shares and the Nishwitz, admirably adapted to mel- 

 lowing the surface of newly broken land without tearing up 

 the inverted sod. The rotary and the smoothing harrow 

 may be mentioned, also, as a vast improvement upon the old 

 styles. These and many other patterns, after which the 

 harrow is made, seem to leave little to desire in the form and 

 efficiency of this most important implement. 



SMALLER FARM TOOLS. 



A large class of the most valuable labor-saving implements * 

 may be mentioned which are almost entirely due to modern 

 ingenuity, such as the cultivators, the horse-hoes, the grubbers, 

 the drills and seed-sowers, and others of a similar character. 

 By means of the horse-hoe and the cultivator the soil can be 

 frequently stirred among growing crops, at a slight expense, 

 thus enabling them to withstand the efiects of drought, giving 

 us, practically, a greater control over the seasons. Many 

 of these smaller machines are wonderfully perfect and well 

 adapted to the purpose for which they were constructed. 

 And while mechanical invention has been active in this direc- 

 tion, our shovels, spades, hoes and forks have been vastly 

 improved and made more effective, till, for lightness and 

 finish, in combination with strength and durability, they are 



