372 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



222 



Oc 



D 



5 



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 {fig. 223. ) is now used by the best farmers ; it is held 



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



2470. The polato-dibber is exclusively used in /^ 

 planting potatoes in fine moulds ; but diilling is a ^Jr 

 mode generally to be preferred, as providing a 

 better bed and a closer covering to the sets. 



2471. 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 

 c;;;! CT, at once, according to the number of dibbles, and these are regidated 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 dibbling wheat ; but the more enlightened agriculturists of tlie 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. 



247.S. Coggin's 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. j 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 plougli, 

 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 Jlail 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. 



SuBSEOT. 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 scythe 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 com ; it is called the 

 Hainault scythe. 



2479. The Hainault scythe {fig. 225.) has a wooden handle an inch and a quarter in diameter, and is held 

 in the mower's right hand by the bent part (o, b) about five inches long. ITie 

 straight part of the handle (c) is from 16 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 (o) 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 (d) is about 2 feet long, and 2f 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 60 or 70 degrees. Ihe line of the 

 crooked part of the handle {a, 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 staff (/, g), terminating in an iron hook (A), is used by the 

 mower. With the scythe in his right hand, he holds 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 o/j 

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

 towards the left 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 be cut in the same time with the reaping, 

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

 extraordinary exertions to introduce this instrument among the farmers of that country, in 1825, and> 

 through the assistance of the Chevalier Masclet, 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 

 " ' ' ' Thee * ' 



the country, it succeeded in making a great many trials. 



general result, as communicated in the 



