1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



205 



THE HORSE HOE, OR ROTARY SPADER. 

 During the last summer, we had an opportunity of witnessing the 

 operation of this machine at three different times. Once upon a deep, 

 mellow loam — once upon a tough, inverted sward, free of stones, and 

 once upon a pasture sward, full of cobhles and fast rocks, and in each 

 place it did excellent work, but especially so upon the land where 

 there were few stones. The op- 

 eration is as follows : 



When power is applied, the 

 machine is drawn forward, and 

 the spokes of the perpendicular 

 wheel penetrate the soil and set 

 the horizontal shaft revolving. 

 The result is : 



1. The plough lifts and dis- 

 places the soil in the centre be- 

 tween the rows of plants, to any 

 depth desired, not exceeding six 

 or eight inches. 



2. The spokes of the perpendicular wheel pen- 

 etrate the soil on each side of the furrow made by 

 the plough, and lift that up, also, so that a space 

 equal to the whole width of the machine is actu- 

 ally displaced, — and then, as the machine advan- 

 ces, the arms of the horizontal shaft throw up and 

 strike the particles of soil, dashing the lumps to 

 pieces, if there are any, and shaking the fine earth 

 out from among the roots of witch or other grass- 

 es ! The result of these combined motions is 

 wonderful. 



1. The soil is made loose. 



2. It is made fine, or pulverized. 



3. Much of the grass roots and weeds are thrown 

 up by the teeth on the shaft, and left on the sur- 

 face. 



4. The land is left flat or level. 



5. By changing the perpendicular wheels to the 

 inside of the shaft — which can be done in three 

 minutes — the soil is thrown into hills. 



We saw the operation of this machine on a field 

 that was in sward in the spring, and which was 

 ploughed only six or seven inches deep. It was 

 planted with corn, and the bills laid in squares. 

 The machine was run through both ways. Over 

 a portion of the field, the work was left flat, and 

 then the wheels changed so as to throw up hills, 

 and wherever the machine had been there was, 

 literally, no work left for the hoe ' 



Dr. D. Colby, of Claremont, N. H., is the in- 

 ventor of the Horse Hoe. The proprietors are J. 

 P. Upham & Co., of the same place, to whom any 

 inquiries may be addressed. 



For the New England Farmer. 



sheep husbandry-no. 3. 



Another cause for the falling off in the value 

 of wool, exists in the fact that farmers are so anx- 

 ious to obtain a large quantity of lambs that they 

 allow their young ewes to come in at a year old, 

 and I have known ewes mothers at eleven months. 

 This is a serious evil ; this is hastening the stock 

 rapidly back to the wild state. Long wooled 

 ewes should always be two years and merinos 

 three years old before coming in with lamb ; they 

 will have heavier and better fleeces, with longer 

 and stronger staples, a softer and more pliable 

 fibre, less coarse wool on the hind leg, freer from 

 what is termed jar, or coarse hairs running through 

 the staples, and less liable to kemp than if bred 

 from earlier. They will also be longer in run- 

 ning out, or if fatted at a proper time, will fat 

 quicker and at a less cost. 



In selecting a buck, great care should be taken 



not to select from run out stock. Do not take 



one, whatever the recommendations of breed may 



be, from a flock in which indiscriminate breeding 



The surface j in-and-in has been practiced. 



was left mellow and even, the grass torn up, and i Never select a twin lamb Th}s ;§ a f|>uit _ 



just enough of the damp, light soil thrown in ful cause of want of success in sh husbandry, 

 among the stalks of corn to give the whole work | Although in some cases you may obtain an ex cel- 



the most beautiful and finished appearance. Any 

 boy, or girl, old enough to go along and pull an 

 occasional weed from among the spears of corn, 

 would have finished the work of the field ! This 

 was accomplished on sward land, in shallow plough- 

 ing, and without disturbing the sod in any objec- 

 tionable degree. 



As to draft we did not see that it was harder 

 to draw than the common cultivator. This ma- 

 chine is moved upon wheels, while the cultivator is 

 moved by a dead pull or drag. 



lent twin buck or ewe, yet it would be the excep- 

 tion and not the rule. I met, the other day, with 

 a gentleman who had succeeded in obtaining, he 

 said, a fine Oxford Down buck, a twin. - He was 

 an intelligent farmer, and said he should never 

 think of breeding from a twin bull or stallion, but 

 thought the same law did not apply to sheep — a 

 mistake which many fall into. The fleece of this 

 yearling ram only weighed six and a half pounds 

 of unwashed wool ; it should have weighed at 



least eight pounds of washed wool, for that breed 

 We call attention to trn\s new machine now, at ' produces heavy fleeces. And for stock purposes, 



a long wooled buck with a lighter fleece of good 

 washed wool should not be chosen. 



Another prolific source of degeneracy in sheep 



the commencement of the hoeing season, so that 

 persons interested may have time to test its pow- 

 ers among all crops that require hoeing, and upon 

 all kinds of land. 



is in the practice of keeping the twin ewes that 

 the butcher will not buy ; and some go further 



