Book IV 



HORSE HOES. 



405 



9661. The chain hy which this cultivator or scarifier is drawn, enables the person that 

 holds it to work it better, than if it were drawn by a beam like a plough, and occasions 

 also less draught by the power being nearer to the claws ; the machine goes more freely 

 than it would if some of the claws were in the fore bull, the sole use of that bull being to 

 draw by. When the scarifier was made in a triangular form, and with the same number 

 of claws, it was apt to go on its head, or by raising the hindmost claws out of the ground 

 to work frequently at one corner only. The claws are formed at the bottom with a point, 

 so as to push a stone out of the way before the broad part can meet with any obstruction, 

 which makes the machine cut with much greater ease. As to their width at the foot, 

 they may be made to cut all the land more clearly tlian a plough if required, where 

 thistles, fern, &c. grow, and the claw is so formed by its crooked direction as to raise 

 every obstruction to the top, rock excepted 



2662. Hayioard's cultivator (Jig. 

 328.) or, as it is called, extirpator, 

 or scalp plough, is used on land 

 already ploughed. Its hoes or 

 scalps are intended to pierce about 

 two inches at each operation ; so 

 that by repeatedly passing it over 

 the surface, the land will be stirred 

 as deep as the plough has gone. 



2663. Beatson s cultivator {Jig. 329.) is recommended by the inventor for its lightness: 



it is intended, as before observed (2650.), to effect 

 by reiterated application what is done by the 

 large Scotch cultivator at once ; by which means a 



I saving of power is obtained, but with a loss of time, 

 as is usual in all similar cases. 



2664. The only essential tillage implement of the 

 ])rong kind is Wilkie's brake, which, taking it alto- 

 gether, we consider to be one of the most perfect implements ever invented. The next 

 is Finlayson's harrow, also a most excellent implement. The other cultivators and brakes 

 are so far inferior, that they may be considered as reduced to historical merit ; and we 

 have therefore retained them chiefly for the purpose of showing the progress which has 

 been made in this department of agricultural mechanism. 



SuBSECT. 4. Tillage Implements of the Hoe Kind. 



2665. Of horse hoes there is a great variety, almost every implement-maker having 

 his favourite form. They are useful for stiiTing the soil in the intervals between rowed 

 crops, especially turnips, potatoes, and beans. Respecting the construction of horse hoes 

 it may be observed that soils of different textures will require to be hoed with shares of 

 diff*erent forms, according to their hardness, or mixture of stones, flints, or gravel. The 

 number of hoes also in hard soils requires to be diminished ; in the case of a stony clay, 

 one hoe or flat share, with or without one or two coulters or prongs, will often be all that 

 can be made to enter the ground. In using these implements, the operator should 

 always consider whether he will produce most benefit by merely cutting over or rooting 

 up the weeds, or by stirring the soil ; because the hoe suited for the one purpose is by no 

 means well adapted for the other. In the former case flat shares are to be preferred, 

 but pointed, that they may enter the soil easily ; in the latter, coulters or prongs, as in the 

 cultivators, are much more effective, as they will enter the soil and stir it to a considerable 

 depth, thus greatly benefiting the plants by the admission of air, heat, dews, and rain, 

 and by rendering it more permeable by the roots. 



2666. Wilkie's horse hoe and drill harroio {fig. 330.), is a very superior implement, 

 intended to be introduced between the drills as soon as the plants appear above ground. 



