134 APPENDIX. 



[N.] 

 Rack Heath Plough. 



The Rack Heath Plough. " Tlie plate introduces to public notice, 

 what in my humble estimation promises to be one of the most useful 

 inventions ever exhibited to the farmer, whether of sharp clays or stiff 

 gravels; and when I say this, I do not mean in the slightest degree to 

 disparage the subsoil plough of Mr. Smith. I would rather include 

 his implement in my encomium; because the objects of each being the 

 same, viz., loosening not turning up the subsoil, I do not see why each 

 invention should not have occurred simultaneously, without either of 

 the authors being chargeable with plagiarism. The one is a foot, the 

 other a lohecl plough. The public must decide which is best. 



" Sir Edward Stracey says, he invented his plough in the year 1833. 

 He adds, I have broken up nearly 500 acres of heath land with this 

 plough ; my crops have been nearly doubled ; the wheat produced on 

 the land so broken up has been fine plump grain, weighing about <)3J 

 lbs. to the imperial bushel ; and it has fetched the best price in the 

 market, when before the deep ploughing the land scarcely produced 

 the seed; the wheat was poor and shrivelled; and as I had no manure 

 to lay on the ground I can ascribe the goodness of the crop to nothing 

 but the deep ploughing." 



" For planting trees this plough far exceeds digging, as, by proper 

 management, the soil may be broken two feet deep all around ; instead 

 of the young trees being crammed into a little hole, where they have 

 no room to breathe ; and the whole may be done at a fourth of the ex- 

 pense of trenching. Some of my neighbors are getting these ploughs 

 for the express purpose of planting." {British Farmer's 3Iagazine 

 for July 1837. 



