618  Report  on  Implements  at  York. 
are  so  contrived  that  the  soil  is  drawn  away  from  the  drills 
instead  of  being,  as  is  generally  the  case,  brought  up  to  and  on  to 
the  plants.  This  is  a most  important  matter,  as  with  accurate 
drilling  the  ordinary  manual  work  of  side-hoeing,  which  is 
usually  the  first  operation  previous  to  setting  out  the  plants,  is 
dispensed  with.  This  work  costs  Is.  Gd.  to  2s.  an  acre,  and  can  be 
done  cheaper,  better,  and  more  rapidly  by  the  hoe.  The  hoe  was 
tried  in  a field  of  young  turnips  at  Bishopthorpe,  on  the  farm  of 
Mr.  A.  Lofthouse,  and  afterwards  on  an  older  crop  belonging 
to  a cottager,  which  was  in  very  dirty  condition,  so  that  its 
efficiency,  both  for  close-hoeing  in  an  early  stage  and  for  dealing 
with  strong-rooted  weeds,  was  tested  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  the  Judges,  who  were  very  favourably  impressed  with  the 
merits  of  the  implement.  Fig.  18  (p.  617)  and  Fig.  19  (below)  will 
enable  the  reader  to  understand  the  construction  of  the  machine. 
Fig.  19. — Sketch  of  Side  Hoe. 
It  will  be  seen  from  Fig.  18  that  the  hoe  is  designed  to  cover  one 
whole  interval  and  two  half  spaces,  and  thus  all  the  ground  is 
disturbed  ; and,  provided  the  drilling  is  accurate,  there  is  no  fear 
of  injury  to  the  plants.  The  outer  hoes  can  be  removed,  and 
one  space  only  hoed.  This  is  only  necessary  if  the  space 
between  the  drills  is  irregular.  The  hoe  is  equally  adapted  to 
deal  with  crops  on  the  ridge  or  on  the  flat ; and  this  is  possible, 
owing  to  the  variation  of  pitch  that  can  be  given  to  the  side 
hoes.  For  flat  work  the  front  and  side  hoes  are  set  at  one  level ; 
the  pitch  of  the  side  hoes,  to  raise  the  point  to  a proper  height 
above  the  ground,  and  so  ensure  the  soil  being  drawn  away 
from  the  drills,  is  regulated  by  the  slot  a in  the  carrying  arm  b 
(Fig.  19).  In  ridge  work  the  front  hoes  are  lowered  to  the  depth 
of  the  furrow,  and  the  side  hoes  raised  in  the  regulating  box  c, 
and  adjusted  for  pitch  in  the  slot  a,  as  before. 
The  hoes  may  be  regulated  to  suit  any  width  of  drill,  by 
