at the York Meeting, I <S48. 
3t3 
dilTcrent purposes, to tho same kiiul of work. Thus they report 
that the cultivators of Messrs. Kirkwood and Harkes, though 
workinjr very well, had no chance on sxich very stronfi land, in 
coinpetilion with more powerful implements, such as Biddell's 
scarifier, or the Uley cultivator; on the other hand, had these 
implements been tried on free-working land, or on any land 
where the object was only to " scarify " or pare the surface, some 
of the lighter implements, which are cheaper and require less 
horse-power, would probably have done the work equally well. 
The decision of the judges was no doubt quite correct under the 
circumstances, as it is both more difficult and far more important 
to produce an implement that is capable of doing its work well 
on heavy, than on light land ; but it is nevertheless evident that 
two classes of implements were here competing for one prize. 
The Society's prize has hitherto been offered for the best 
" scarifier or grubber." " Grubber " is a Scotch word, and it 
will therefore be more intelligible to the members of the Royal 
Agricultural Society, if the English word " cultivator," which is 
perfectly synonymous with " grubber," be exclusively applied to 
that description of implement. The use of the "cultivator," in- 
stead of the plough, for breaking up stubbles, is one of the modern 
improvements in husbandry, which is fast spreading, and will 
create a rapidly increasing demand for implements of this class. 
It is therefore important that both those who make and those 
who use them, should have their attention strongly drawn to the 
purposes to which they are to be applied, and that the one may 
be cautioned against manufacturing, and the other against buying 
the hybrid machines, half-cultivalor, half-scarifier, which have 
made their ajipearance in such numbers within the last two or 
three years. These machines are evidently intended to act both 
as cultivators and scarifiers ; and to prove that they, hke other 
" Jacks of all trades," are also "masters of none," it is necessary 
briefly to point out the particular kinds of work for which culti- 
vators and scarifiers ought to be respectively adapted. 
A cultivator is intended to break up land instead of ploughing, 
or thoroughly to stir and expose to the atmosphere that which 
has been already ploughed. For these purposes it is necessary 
that the implement should work at some depth, say from three 
to five inches ; it therefore requires a strong team of horses, and 
to bear this strain it must be made substantial, and consequently 
expensive. A scai-ifier, on the other hand, is intended for clear- 
ing the surface of the land, and is especially useful in the pre- 
paration of bean, pea, or tare stubbles, which are to be sown 
with wheat. For these purposes it is not necessary to go more 
than two inches deep, as the thinner the slice it can cut, with(jut 
what is termed " slipping its work," the easier the draught, and 
the less the stubble and weeds will be encumbered with loose 
VOL. IX. 2 D 
