i42 SOIL AND MANAGEMENT. 



fix irrches wide, and ten Of twelve inches 

 iQng ; CiOoked, and fome what hollow or 

 diihing. With this, which was probably 

 the original inflrument employed in the 

 operation, large chips, fliavings, or fods 

 are flruck off. It is ftill ufed in rough 

 uneven grounds, efpecially where furze or 

 the Itubs of brulhwood abound. In ufing 

 it, the workman appears^ to the eye of a 

 ftranger at {oniQ diilance, to be beating the 

 furface, as with a beetle, rather than to be 

 chipping off the fv/ard with an edge-tooL 

 This operation is termed " hand 



BEATING." 



The next Iniirument in ufe is the 

 ** SPADE," refembling the paring fpade, 

 or bread plow, of other Diilri(fls : with, 

 however, in fOme inilances at leaft, a 

 notable addition : namely a mold board ! 

 fixed in fuch a manner, as to turn the fod 

 or turf, as a plow turns the furrow llice : 

 thus becoming literally a breast plow « 

 a name which has probably been given ta 

 the Implement in this flate ; and- continued 

 to be applied to the fpade or fliare, after 

 the moldboard w^s laid afide. 



