398 
Horse-hoe. 
line  of  seed  enough  water,  which  serves  also  as  a vehicle  for  ma- 
nure, such  as  superphosphate,  to  start  the  young  plant  in  readi- 
ness for  the  coming  change  of  the  weather.  It  is  used  extensively 
by  practical  farmers  in  Wiltshire,  and  bids  fair  to  remove  for  the 
root-crop  one  of  the  farmer's  peculiar  obstacles— uncertainty  ; 
to  remove  which,  if  there  be  a leading  object  of  improvement  in 
agriculture,  is  the  main  object.  There  is  another  implement, 
however,  for  turnips,  the  most  beautiful,  I should  say,  in  its  work 
of  all  the  new  implements — I mean  Garrett’s  liorse-boe.  It  is  a 
good  plan  in  the  south  of  England  to  sow  the  seed  in  four  rows  at 
once,  with  a corn-drill,  which  covers  6 feet  in  width.  But  when 
the  turnips  are  up,  the  difficulty  often  is  to  get  them  hoed,  the 
hands  being  busy  with  harvest.  This  horse-hoe  is  made  to  cover 
the  same  width,  so  as  to  follow  any  swerving  of  the  drill,  each  of 
the  hoeing-knives  works  independently  ; the  holder,  by  help  of 
a steerage,  drives  fearlessly  through  the  surface  of  foliage,  though 
the  leaves  almost  meet,  and  you  may  afterwards  see  the  green 
surface  lying  in  bands  of  dark  green  or  of  grey,  as  the  leaves  have 
been  laid  from  the  spectator  or  towards  him.  The  same  imple- 
ment will  even  hoe  wheat,  though  the  lines  of  plant  be  but  7 
inches  apart,  and  the  row  of  knives  passing  along  threaten  total 
destruction.  For  a field  operation,  it  is  as  delicate  as  the  action 
of  the  revolving  knives  with  which  the  loose  threads  are  shorn 
from  the  surface  of  broadcloth  at  Leeds.  I have  had  Garrett’s 
horse-hoe  long,  and  wonder  that  any  south  country  farmer  who 
knows  it  should  be  without  it.  It  must  be  made  to  fit  the  width 
of  the  drill.  It  is  marked,  I see,  at  18Z.  only.  These  new  im- 
plements wrould  not  all  together  cost  the  difference  between  the 
price  of  one-horse  carts  and  of  the  waggons,  in  buying  which  we 
purchase  the  privilege  of  using  ten  horses  where  five  would  do 
better.  Again,  why  is  the  horse-rake,  a cheap  implement,  used 
generally  to  dispatch  the  harvest  in  one  county,  unknown  or  dis- 
liked in  another  ? A good  paring  plough  has  long  been  wanted 
to  scarify  the  stubbles  in  September.  We  have  now  a perfect  one, 
Kilby’s,  which  won  the  prize  at  Norwich  and  Exeter,  costs  but 
5/.,  and  pares  the  land  as  true  as  a breastplough,  twice  the  width 
of  a common  plough,  yet  drawn  by  two  horses  only.  Such 
are  a few  of  our  principal  field-implements.  In  yard-machines, 
too,  mechanical  science  has  helped  us  greatly.  Without  tres- 
passing on  our  excellent  Implement  Reports,  I may  cite  the 
moveable  steam-engine,  which  has  this  great  advantage  over  a 
fixed  engine,  that  the  fixed  engine  requires  all  the  corn  to  be 
brought  home  to  one  central  yard,  be  the  farm  ever  so  large 
or  ever  so  irregular  in  its  form  ; now  two  miles  out  and  back 
at  harvest  and  dung-cart  are  a serious  increase  of  horse-work, 
and  every  large  farm,  therefore,  should  have  a field-barn,  to 
