438 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



2676. The thistle hoe or hoe sci/the {Jig. 337.) is an invention by Amos. " It is used," 

 he says, " for the purpose of cutting over thistles, and other injurious weeds in pasture 

 lands. In the execution of the 

 work it not only greatly re- 

 duces the expense, but executes 

 it in a much closer manner 

 than the common scythe. One 

 man and a horse are said to 

 be capable of cutting over 

 twenty acres in a day. The 

 leading share {a) is made of 

 cast steel, in tlie form of an 

 isosceles triangle, whose equal 

 sides are fourteen inches long, 

 and its base twelve inches ; 

 it is about one eighth of an 

 inch thick in the middle, 

 tapering to a very fine edge on 

 the outsides ; and the scythes 

 {bbb) are fixed to four pieces 

 of ash wood, three inches 

 square, and two feet four 

 inches long. These scythes 

 are three feet long from point 

 to point, four inches broad at 

 the widest part, and made of cast steel. The agriculture, where such a machine as this 

 is wanted, must surely be of a very rude and imperfect kind ; for even supposing the 

 machine to cut over the thistles, that operation cannot be so effectual as cutting them 

 under the collar by hand with the spade or spud. 



2677. The only essential implements of this class are those of Wilkie and Finlayson. 



Sect. II. Machines for Sowing and Planting. 



2678. Machines for sowing or planting in rows are very various, and often too compli- 

 cated. Harte says, the first drill machine was invented by a German, and presented to 

 the court of Spain in 1647 ; but it appears, from a com.munication to the Board of 

 Agriculture, that a sort of rude diill or drill plough has been in use in India from time 

 immemorial. Their use is to deposit the seed in equidistant rows, on a flat surface ; on 

 the top of a narrow ridge ; in the interval between two ridges ; or in the bottom of a 

 common furrow. Corn, when drilled, is usually sown in the first of these ways ; turnips 

 in the second ; and peas and beans in the third and fourth. The practice of drilling corn 

 does not, however, seem to be gaining ground ; and even wliere it is found of advantage 

 to have the plants rise in parallel rows, this is sometimes done by means of what is called 

 ribbing, a process more convenient in many cases than sowing with a drilling machine. 



2679. Of com diills, Cooke's improved drill and horse hoe (fg. 338.), though not the 



most fashionable, is one of the most useful 

 implements of this kind on light dry soils, on 

 even surfaces, and in drj' climates. It has been 

 much used in Norfolk and Suffolk, and many 

 other parts of England. The advantages of this 

 machine are said to consist, 1 . In the wheels 

 being so large that the machine can travel on 

 any road without trouble or danger of breaking ; 

 also from the farm to the field, &c. without 

 taking to pieces. 2. In the coulter-beam (a), 

 with all the coulters moving with great ease, 

 on the principle of the pentagraph, to the right 

 or left, so as to counteract the irregularity of 



the horses* draught, by which means the drills may be made straight ; and, where lands 

 or ridges are made four and a half, or nine and a half feet wide, the horse may always 

 go in the furrow, without setting a foot on the land, either in drilling or horse hoeing. 

 3. In the seed supplying itself regularly, without any attention, from the upper to the 

 lower boxes, as it is distributed. 4. In lifting the pin on the coulter-beam to a hook on 

 the axis of the wheels, by which means the coulters are kept out of the ground, at the end 

 of the land, without the least labour or fatigue to the person who attends the machine. 

 5. In going up or down steep hills, in the seed-box being elevated or depressed 

 accordingly, so vs to render the distribution of the seed regular; and the seed being 



