THE CULTIVATOR. 
87 
grind 800 or 1,000 pounds a day with one horse. Improved mills 
of this hind can be obtained by applying to me, at West-Wii field, 
Herkimer county, or Lester Curtis, Nelson, Madison county. Or¬ 
ders for mills will he promptly attended to: price $'20. 
The following bill exhibits nearly the cost of cultivating an acre 
of madder, including the expense of digging, drying and grinding. 
Reed per acre,. 
Interest of land 4 years, at $40,. 
Ploughing and harrowing twice, 
Planting,. 
Dressing first year. 
do second year,. 
do third year,. 
Digging,. 
Drying, 25c. per cwt. 
Grinding, 25c. per cwt. 
$32 00 
11 20 
2 50. 
2 00 
8 00 
7 00 
3 00 
21 00 
12 50 
12 50 
Total cost,.$ 111 70 
Product, if well cultivated, 5,000 
lbs. at 20c. per lb... $1,000 (ill 
Deduct cost,. Ill 70 
Nett profit,. $888 30 
A good crop of madder looks small the first season, but those in¬ 
terested need not be discouraged. I have now planted nine acres, 
and shall be ready at the season for digg ng to supply seed to a 
considerable amount. Those who wish for seed, had better obtain 
it in the fall. Quantity per acre, as I plant, 8 bushels. 
Price of seed: under 6 bushels, $t per bushel; over 6 and under 
12 bushels, $3-50; over 12 bushels. If3. 
Respectfully yours, HERBERT WOODBER11Y. 
West- Winfield, JY. Y. J"lu 2(Wt, 1835. 
Elements of Piaeticsil Agriculture, 
Ily David I.ow, Professor of Agriculture, &c. 
THE HARROW. 
This instrument succeeds to the plough in the order of descrip¬ 
tion, and the uses to which it is applicable. It consists of a frame 
of wood or iron, in which a certain number of teeth are fixed, 
which are pressed into the ground by their own weight and that 
of the frame. The instrument is intended to pulverize the ground! 
which has been acted upon by the plough, to disengage from it! 
th - roots and other substances which it may contain, and to cover! 
the seeds of corn and other cultivated plants. 
The harrow is greatly more simple in its form than the plough. 
It is even an imperfect machine in any form of which we can con-! 
struct ii; yet it is of great utility in till tge, and should receive all! 
those mechanical improvements of which”its nature will admit. 
The harrow performing its operation by means of a certain num¬ 
ber of teeth moved forward in the ground, and pressed downwards 
by their own weight and that of the frame in which they are fixed, 
the first questions that occur in investigating the principles of its 
construction are, the form that should be disposed in the surmount¬ 
ing frame. Were it the purpose, in harrowing, solely to drag up 
the roots of plants and other substances from tne ground, the best 
form, perhaps, that could be given to ihe teeth would be that of 
a rtnn wedge, tapering to the point, like the coulter of a plough, 
and, like ir, inclining forward. But although this construction 
mignt be the best calculated for tearing up roots and other sub¬ 
stances beneath the surface, it would not be so well fitted for co¬ 
vering the seeds and tor breaking and pulverizing the ground, as 
when a broader surface was presented to the earth, and a greater 
movement given to its particles. The ivedge for this purpose should 
be broad rather than thin. In order, therefore, to adapt the form 
of the teeth to this purpose—to the strength necessary to be given 
to them, and to the lateral or shaking motion to which they are 
subjected in passing over rough ground, as well as to their forward 
motion—it is conceived that the best form of them will be when 
their horizontal section is a square, whose diagonal is moved for¬ 
ward in the line of the harrow's motion; while they should gra¬ 
dually taper to a point, the forepart being kept straight, as in T, 
fig. 1. 
With regard to the distribution of the teeth in the frame of the 
harrow, they should not be placed too closely together, for then 
they would be too much impeded by the obstacles opposed to them: 
Further, they should he so disposed with relation to each other, as 
that one part of the instrument shall not be more interrupted than 
another: Again, their number should not be too great, because 
then their power to penetrate into the ground will be diminished, 
unless the weight of the whole instrument, shall be increased in a 
corresponding degree: And lastly their length should not be 
greater than is necessary, because they will not on that account 
penetrate more deeply into the ground, unless the whole weight is 
also increased, and because this increase of length will give a 
greater power to the teeth, when encountered by obstacles, to 
split the frame in which they are fixed. 
Fisr. 1. 
The harrows represented in Fig. 1,* of which the frame is of 
I wood and the teeth of iron, are formed with a regard to these ge¬ 
neral principles. They are connected together in pairs by hinges. 
They consist each of four bars of wood, AB, CD, &.c. whicUare 
joined together by an equal number of cross-bars of smaller di¬ 
mensions, mortised through them. The larger bars may be 2J 
inches in width or more, by 3 in depth, and the smaller inches 
in width by 1 in depth. The larger bars are placed oblique to the 
smaller bars, and to the line of the harrow’s motion, and the teeth 
are inserted into them them at equal distances from each other. 
This inclination is made to be such, that perpendiculars from eacli 
of the teeth falling upon a line LM, draw at right angles to the 
[harrow’s motion, shall divide the space between each bar into 
j equal parts, so that the various teeth, when the instrument is moved 
[forward, shall indent at equal distances the surface of.the ground 
over which they pass. 
The number of teeth in each harrow is 20, 5 being inserted in 
ieach of the larger bars. When two harrows, therefore, are em¬ 
ployed together, the surface of the ground from L to M is indent¬ 
ed by 40 teeth, impressing the ground at equal distances from each 
| other, and covering the space of about nine feet. The teeth may 
'project below the under surface of the frame seven or eight inches, 
their length somewhat increasing from tiie hindmost to the fore¬ 
most rows, where the oblique position of the line of draught tends 
most to elevate the harrow. The teeth are often inserted into the 
frame with a little inclination forward; but this deviation from the 
perpendicular, if made at all, should he very slight, because it ren¬ 
ders the harrow more apt to be impeded by the weeds or other sub¬ 
stances collected in the angle between them and the frame. The 
teeth are fixed in the bars by boring holes with an auger of about 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and then driving them firm¬ 
ly through. Tire teeth, when thus driven into the bars, will be 
retained with sufficient firmness. The best of the common kinds 
of wood for the larger bars, as being the least liable to split, is 
elm, birch or ash, and for the cross-bars ash. 
The iron rods which terminate in the hinges, O, O, may pass 
througli the farmework to give it greater strength. These rods 
keep the harrows at the distance required, and the hinges admit 
ot eithpr harrow rising or falling according to the inequalities of 
the surface. When thus joined, the harrows are drawn by two 
horses guided by reins, the driver walking behind, so as to be pre- 
* These barrows are constructed by Mr. Craig, of Galway, and sold at $15 
the pair. 
