210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JuliT, 
plowed on account of roots. Remove the logs 
and burn over the entire ground if possible, 
between the 30th and 30th of the month. If 
there are any grass plots, sheep may be confined 
in the field, until they have gnawed every green 
thing close to the ground. The manure thus 
left operates as a good top-dressing. It is said 
also, that this preparation with sheep is a per- 
fect preventive of the turnip fly. Be this as it 
may, the turnip fly has never injured our tur- 
nips after sheep had been confined for several 
days on the ground. The seed is then sowed 
and the ground harrowed eight or ten times, if 
it had not been plowed. If mellow earth can 
be obtained without so much harrowing, the 
seed is bushed in. Plots of weeds, thistles and 
grass may be grubbed up with hoes. By these 
means pretty good turnips can always be raised 
on lieavy soils, and on stumpj' land. 
How Long to Make Plow Beams. 
While there are various ways among some man- 
ufacturers of plows, for determining the correct 
length of a beam, many plow makers have no 
regular rule for fi.xing its length, and so 
every beam is made " by guess." If a beam 
looks too long, it is cut off. There is a correct 
length for every plow beam, and if that length 
be increased, or diminished, the draft, or "bal- 
ance" of the plow will be incorrect. We have 
ever maintained, that if a plow ia constructed 
on correct pliilosophical and mathematical 
principles, with the beam of the right length, 
and the draught properly adjusted at the clevis, 
it will run without holding and plow well, 
unless some obstruction throws it out. AVehave 
made inquiry of manufacturers for more than 
twenty years, concerning the correct length f<jr 
plow beams, and found it all guess work in 
every instance but the following. Solomon 
Mead, New Haven, Ct., communicates to us a 
rule which he has adopted in determining the 
length of beams, for his conical-mold-board 
plows. In order to put this principle to a cor- 
rect test, we visited his farm and had his No. 6 
adjusted to run about 5 or 6 inches deep, and to 
cut 10 or 11 inches in width. The draught ring 
was fixed in the middle of the end of the beam. 
Having adjusted it as nearly right as practicable 
■we let it rim alone, and plowed around the 
land some si.x or eiglit times in succession, 
without touching either of the bandies, except 
at the ends of the land, in turning out and set- 
ting in. As the principle is not covered by a 
patent any one may adopt it. 
This is the rule: Hold one end of a ten-foot 
pole, with no sag in it, on the share or mold 
board, at the supposed centre of resistance, a 
point about 3 inches higher than the sole 
of the plow, and elevate the other end 4 feet 
and 2 inches — about the height of a horse's 
shoulders. If the beam is of correct length, 
a produced horizontal line (say the edge of a 
2-foot rule) crossing the end of the beam in the 
middle will tmich the edge of the pole. If 
the length of the beam be increased, the forward 
end must be elevated, in order to be in the cor- 
rect line of draught. When a plow is properly 
balanced, it will run as straight as the team 
travels, without holding. But when it turns 
quickly aside, either to the right or left, and 
the plowman is required to hold it constantly 
in position, it is a certain evidence that there is 
an imperfection in the mechanical construction 
of some part of the plow, or it is incorrectly 
adjusted as to the clevis, guage wheel, length 
of traces, or draught chain. 
Best Form for Rake Teeth. 
The illustrations of rake teeth hero presented 
show the manner of making both iron teeth 
and wooden ones. Iron ones, (A,) are made of 
wire about '|,„ of an inch in diameter, 6 or? 
inches long, with a thread cut on about 1 inch 
of the end that screws into the rake head. The 
ordinary round, wooden teeth in hand rakes are 
too short, both for raking hay and grain. When 
teeth are too short, it becomes necessary to 
press down very hard on the handle, or the 
rake will fill with a small quantity and slip 
over. This is particularly true when raking 
and binding grain. If the teeth are 7 or 8 
inclies long, a man can rake very much easier 
and faster than 
A 
when they are on- 
ly 3 or 4 inches 
long. For raking 
grain, the writer 
has been accustomed to cut off the wooden teeth 
of common hand rakes, and boreholes in the 
tenons of the wooden teeth just large enough to 
receive the iron teeth, when screwed in so firmly 
as not to split the head. The holes should be 
bored true, and the teeth put in with a pair of 
strong pliers. Such teeth in a good head make 
an excellent rake. A very desirable form is 
shown at B, for wooden teeth for a buck rake, 
as well as for horse rakes. The tenon is 
square half its length, and the other half at the 
end is made round. A thin piece is left paral- 
lel to the tenon to fit closely to the outside of 
the rake head, and a wood screw or nail fastens 
it securely to the head. This is a very strong 
way of securing rake teeth. The points should 
always be sharpened, like the figure, on the 
under side, so that they will run out of the 
ground instead of into it. 
» I ■■■ —m 
How to Cultivate Hoed Crops, 
The aim should always be to dig or tear up 
as much grass and weeds as possible, and pul- 
verize and stir all the soil between the rows at 
least two or three inches deep. In order to do 
this effectually, the teeth of the cultivator should 
be adjusted to run between the rows in the 
narrowest places, without disturbing the grow- 
ing plants. The handles of the cultivator should 
extend back of it sufliciently far to enable the 
man holding it to see distinctly whether the last 
tooth, as it passes the hills, does not cover or 
cut them up. Thus he may run the implement 
so closely to every hill along one row, that very 
little labor will be required with hand hoes. 
AVhen he returns between the same rows, the 
cultivator should be run as close as practicable 
to the next row. 
It is essential in using any kind of a cul- 
tivator, that the horse be well guided. If he 
go in the right place, it will be easy to hold 
the cultivator so as to perform the work well, 
but otherwise the work will be done in such 
a manner, as to require much hand hoeing. 
Where the ground is not strong or lump}', if a 
man be a good driver, he may run the rear 
teeth of a cultivator so closely to the rows of 
Indian corn, sorghum, broom corn, beans, etc., 
that mellow earth will be turned just up to 
the plants, completely covering all small weeds 
and grass. When cultivated in this manner, 
unless there are many large weeds to cut up, 
two hands will do the hoeing well, as fast as 
one can run the cultivator. When the imple- 
ment goes jumping and skipping along, while 
the horse is two or more feet from the urooer 
place, it will require four or five faithful labor- 
ers to hoe as fast as one man can cultivate. In 
order to do this work well, the teeth should 
always be kept sharp and bright, so that the earth 
will slip from them freely. When the surface of 
the teeth is covered with much rust, they should 
be polished on the grindstone, and oiled to 
prevent rusting, if to stand idle for a day or 
two. This will always save time and labor. 
»-. -.m-^^— — ►-« 
What is " One-Horse Power?" 
The use of the term "horse power" is very 
common, yet few, except good mechanics and 
engineers, attach a definite meaning to it, but 
regard it as indicating loosely, about the power 
which one horse would exert. It is, however, 
when used in the sense under consideration, as 
definite as possible, and means the power re- 
quired to lift 33,000 pounds avoirdupois one 
foot high in one minute. 
A horse hitched to the end of a rope over a 
pully one foot in diameter placed over a deep 
well, traveling at the rate of about 2} miles per 
hour, or 330 feet per minute, will draw up 150 
pounds the same distance he travels. The force 
thus exerted is called in mechanics, a " horse 
power," it being an approximation to the aver- 
age amount of continuous power it is fair to 
demand of a strong horse. If we multiply the 
weight raised (150 pounds) by the number of 
feet it was moved per minute (220), the product 
will be the number of pounds which the same 
power would raise only one foot high in the 
same length of time, (33,000 pounds.) 
The dynamometer is an instrument made for 
measuring power, particularly that exerted in 
drawing. Those used for testing the draft of 
agricultural implements are simply very strong 
spring balances, or spring steelj'ards, gradua- 
ted to indicate the power required to raise any 
weight, within reasonable limit, at the rate of 
2i miles per hour. When we apply the dy- 
namometer,in ascertaining the draftof machines, 
if the index indicates 150 pounds, it is shown 
that the horse is required to draw just as hard 
as he would do, if raising 150 pounds out of a 
well with a rope over a pulley one foot in 
diameter, at the rate of 2J miles per hour, and 
so for other weights. 
The velocity at which a team moves is to be 
considered, as well as the weight to be raised, or 
the load to be drawn. If a horse travels faster 
than 25 miles per hour, while raising 150 
pounds out of a well, he exerts more than one- 
horse power. If he walks slower than this, ho 
does not exert a force equal to one-horse power. 
In ascertaining th.e draught of a plow, or 
reaper and mower, by driving faster than 2i 
miles per hour, the dynamometer would indi- 
cate more than the correct draught; and by 
driving slower, the draught would appear to 
be less than it really is. In testing the draught 
of machines a team should always move at the 
rate of 3i miles per hour, or 220 feet per min- 
ute, which is the universally accepted rate with 
reference to which dynamometers ape gradua- 
ted, and an easy one to which to approximate 
in driving with almost any kind of team. 
Many people have supposed that 300 pounds 
two-horse power — represented the same force 
that a team would exert, when dragging 300 
pounds along on the ground. A horse can haul 
600 pounds on the hard ground, with case; but 
he could not drnw hard enough on the dynam- 
ometer to mark more than 250 to 300 pounds, 
except for a few minutes. The power of a 
man is estimated at one-fifth of a horse power. 
