HARROWING, CULTIVATING 149 



then raise, turn and pulverise it, doing the work of 

 a plow on a small scale. It has been stated 

 that the plow makes the best mulch to prevent the 

 escape or soil water. The great efficiency of the 

 Acme and similar harrows rests upon their appli- 

 cation of the cutting, raising and pulverising action 

 of a plow. In the judgment of many people the 

 Acme harrow will give satisfaction over a wider 

 range of conditions than any other type. It will 

 work from one to four inches deep, as is desired. 

 Following the plow it breaks up the furrows as 

 well as any other tool unless the land is rocky or 

 the sod tough, in which case a disk or spring-tooth 

 harrow is better. It leaves the soil nearly as level 

 and mellow as a smoothing harrow. 



Rolling Harrows. Harrows of this class have one 

 or more revolving shafts to which are attached 

 a number of disks, which are either entire, 

 as in the common disk harrow, or notched, 

 as in the spading and cutaway harrows. These 

 harrows work deeper than harrows of any other 

 class. They are especially valuable for working 

 heavy soil, tough sod and intractable land of any 

 sort. Two things decrease their value for estab- 

 lishing a soil mulch they leave the soil in rather 

 high ridges, which evaporate much moisture; and, 

 if not adjusted properly, the disks do not stir all the 

 surface, but leave a triangle or cone of unstirred 

 soil. The ridges may be levelled by dragging a 

 section of a smoothing harrow or a heavy joist be- 

 hind, but the draft on harrows of this type is heavy 

 enough without this additional burden; it is some- 

 what greater than a plow, in most soils. 



Usually the disk, cutaway and spading harrows 

 should be used only to do the rough work of fitting 



