S PI 



S P 1 



favjd by this means, where fuch a roller is at hand, and the 

 clay prepared in a manner that will anlwer the purpofe much 

 more efFe&iially. 



It may alfo be noticed, that this is a fort of tool which 

 no farm, where the land is a ftiff clay, or in the lead liable 

 to clot, Ihniild want : for befides the conltant advantat^e of 

 faving labour, and bringing land to a better condition for 

 any kind of fowing than the plough and harrow, with any 

 afliltance of the work of hands, can make it ; in favourable 

 feafons, and under certain circumllances, the lofs of the 

 whole crop, by an otherwife unavoidable delay bcvond the 

 feed-time, may be with certainty prevented. 



It has been Hated as an improvement in thi? implement, in 

 order to prevent its tearing up the ground, and the great 

 ftrefs that is upon the frame in turning, to have it divided 

 into two parts. Let the ends of each part be bound with 

 narrow, but ftrong, bands of iron, and let the fpikes at the 

 ends be placed clofe to them ; let each part have a feparate 

 frame ; but let the cheeks, in which the inward gudgeons 

 turn, be made of iron plates, about two inches wide above, 

 and four where the gudgeons enter ; the thicknefs, a com- 

 mon flat bar of iron : and thefe fixed in any firm manner to 

 two cheeks of wood, reaching down juft to the bands, and 

 of fuch a thicknefs at bottom as not to interrupt the fpikes. 

 Let the inward gudgeons be made with quite flat heads, to 

 prevent their flipping out in working, and bring the two 

 ends of the roller nearer together, which is of confequence, 

 as the fewer clots will be milted in working. 



Let the frames be joined together by four eyes, like thofe 

 of a fmall gate, tvi^o at one end, about five or fix inches 

 apart ; the two at the er.d of the other, to take place jnlt 

 within them ; an iron pin being put through all four, and 

 keyed. Let the thills be placed jull on the middle of each 

 frame, and a bar of wood jull behind the horfe to llrengthen 

 them ; the bar fawed through in the middle, and joined by 

 a ftrong flat hinge ; one fide made to hafp upon a ftaple, 

 kept down with a wooden clet. This gives the whole pro- 

 per play in working. 



The fpikes are about four inches without, and three within 

 the wood : the thicknefs of the roller and number of fpikes 

 may be determined, in fomc meafure, by the nature of the 

 foil it is to work upon. Thus formed, it will be found, it 

 is faid, next to the plough, the moft ufeful inftrument in 

 tillage, not only in reducing a (tifF foil, but, with a bu(h at 

 its tail, to cover the feed, wlien fown, much more cflettually, 

 and in a better manner, than a harrow, as it turns up the 

 earth light and fine behind it ; and, though feemingly un- 

 wieldy, will turn with eafc, and may he worked with one, 

 two, or three horfcs at moft, upon any land that is of a 

 proper drynefs to work upon. 



This implement may likewife be employed to affilt in 

 reducing the half-burnt turf of burn-baked land, which 

 requires much labour, as commonly done by hand ; but by 

 going over the land leveral times witli the fpike-roUcr, and 

 harrowing it with heavy harrows alternately, to pull up the 

 turfs, or ploughing them up, they may be reduced fine in a 

 much (liortcr time, and at a much lefs expence, than by 

 beating or breaking them by hand. The mode of con- 

 ftrufting the tool, in the common manner, has been already 

 fliewn. See Roi,l.Eil. 



Still more lately, a clod or improved roller of this kind 

 has been conftrudted by Mr. Blithe Harries of Benthall- 

 houfe, near Shitrnall, in wliich the danger of the horles 

 being injured in turning, by the fpikei, is obviated. It is 

 found very cffcftaal on ftrong foils, and well adapted for 

 breaking and reducing clods, pulverizing old turf fallows, 

 and preparing land previous to fuwing barley, and many 



other purpofes. He defcribes it in the Agricultural Maga- 

 zine as confifting of twenty-one call-iron wheels, twenty, 

 one inches and a half in diameter, the edges three inches 

 afunder ; or a fmaller pattern, confifting of fourteen wheels, 

 twenty-three inches in diameter, the edges four inches and 

 a half afunder, faftened upon an iron axle-tree, with a large 

 wheel at each end to carry it to the field. It is farther 

 ftated, that the invention is Mr. Gittin's, of the Ifle, Shrop- 

 fhire, an ingenious farmer, who had one made at Mr. 

 Onion's foundery, Brofeley ; and Mr. Harris now makes 

 them at his iron works, the price of which, in either of the 

 patterns, is lo/., exclufive of the row of fpikes to clear dirt 

 or ilones, and the ftiafts. 



In this ftate it forms a fort of cutting or bruifing imple- 

 ment of the kind, and may be of very great utihty in dif- 

 ferent cafes of ftiff", cloddy, arable land, as well as in thofe 

 of the tough, unproduftive, overrun fward kind. It is 

 capable of performing a good deal of work, in both thefe 

 cales, in a (hort fpace of time, and in the moft effeftual 

 manner. 



All implements of thefe kinds having great power and 

 difpatch, are confequently capable of very general applica- 

 tion in the bufinefs of tillage, as well as grafs huftsandry. 

 They may be conftrufted in different cheap methods, and be 

 made ufe of with much advantage in a variety of fituations, 

 where they are at prefent perhaps wholly, or in a great mea- 

 fure, unknown. 



This implement is fometimes called fpiky-roller. 

 SPIKELET, in Bolany, Sp'uula, is technically ufed for 

 the afiemblage of the florets of graifes, within the calyx ; 

 and which confifts of two florets only in A'lra and Helcus ; 

 of many in Poa, Bromus, &c. 



SPIKENARD, Bajlard French. See Naudus. 

 Spikenard, Celtic, a fpccies of ^a/fn'an ; which fee. 

 Spikexard, Falfc. See Lavandula. 

 Spiken'ARD, Ploughman's. See Baccharis. 

 Spikenard, Ploughman's, is alfo the name of a fpecies 

 of flea-bane, or conyza ; which fee. 



Spikenard, Nardus, or Spica Nardi, in the Materia 

 Medica, a kind of vegetable flioot growing even with the 

 ground, and fometimes, in part, within the ground, be- 

 longing to an Indian graily-leaved plant, of which we have 

 no particular defcription. The nard, as it is brought to us, 

 is a congeries of fmall, tough, reddifli-brown fibres, forming 

 a bunch, or fpike, about the fizc of a finger. 



The fpica nardi is ufually reckoned in the number of 

 roots. It is alfo called nardus Indica ; becaufe brought 

 from the Eail Indies. 



It is now kept in the /hops chiefly as an ingredient in the 

 mithridate and thcriaca, but was formerly employed in the 

 fame intention as the Celtic, and is faid to be ufed among 

 the Orientals as a fj)ice. It is moderately warm and 

 pungent, accompanied with a flavour not difagreeable. 

 Lewis. 



There is alfo another kind, called /pica Celtica, a fpecies 

 of valerian, growing in the Alps, from whence the lliops 

 have been generally iupplied with the dried roots, confifting 

 of a number of blaekifli fibres. This root has been recom- 

 mended as a ftomachic, carminative, and diuretic : at pre- 

 fent it is fcarccly othcrwile made ulc of, in this country, 

 than as an ingredient in mithridate and theriaca, though 

 its feiifible qualities promife fomc confidcrable medicinal 

 powers. It has a moderately ftrong fmell, of which it is 

 very retentive, and a warm, bitterifti, fubacrid tafte, re- 

 fembliiig thofe of common wild valerian. Lewis. 



SriKi NAiiD, Ointment of. See Nahdinlm Unguentum. 

 SPIKES, or, as the ieamen call them, /peeks, in a Ship, 



arc 



