1921.] 



The " Buckeye " Ditcher. 



319 



the drainer is reasonably careful, the work of " bottoming " 

 before laying the tiles is negligible, so that further economy 

 may result here. On the other hand, if the operator is care- 

 less, the cost of " bottoming " as compared with hand digging, 

 may be excessive. 



One other advantage is to be claimed for the " Buckeye " 

 Drainer, namely, speed of work. The rate at which draining 

 can be done by hand is phenomenally slow. A man can 

 scarcely excavate 2 chains of 2 ft. 6 in. trench in a day of 

 8 hours, while the " Buckeye " can do it in dry clay in about] 

 20 minutes. Lastly, hand draining is very heavy work which 

 few labourers relish. 



Further Developments. — The trial showed that the friction 

 produced by the revolution of the digging wheel in moist clay 

 greatly retarded the speed of w^ork and raised the cost. This 

 friction was chiefly between the outside rims of the wheel, to 

 which the clay adhered, and the sides of the trench; it wasi 

 necessary frequently to stop and attempt to clear the rims. If 

 scrapers could be fixed to the framework and adjusted to 

 remove the adhering clay from the sides of the wheel, much 

 of the friction would be obviated and increased economy of 

 working obtained. 



The digging w^heel is designed to be fitted with digging 

 buckets of two sizes; the small size excavates a trench 

 llj in. wide and the large size one of 14J in. In 

 the trials at Croxton the small-sized buckets were used 

 throughout for both mains and minor drains. For main, 

 drains, if men must work in them to adjust grades in cases 

 of error in digging, 11 J in. is the smallest practicable size, but 

 for shallow drains 11 in. is extravagant. If the digging 

 wheel were smaller, so as to dig a maximum drain of 11 in. 

 and a minor of 8 in., considerable economy of fuel might be 

 expected, and, consequently, greater speed of work. 



Not only is the " Buckeye " suitable for displacing hand 

 labour in digging drains for " thorough " draining, but it is 

 also suitable for digging the mains in co-operation with the 

 mole plough, especially on land with a slight fall or irrogular 

 surface, where frequent mains are essential. 



The success of the " Buckeye " at Croxton warrants a more 

 extensive use of the implement under commercial conditions, 

 but the capital involved is too great to justify its purchase by 

 farmers unless they are farming on a very extensive scale. 

 It is an implement which may well be purchased by a land- 



