72 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Feb, 
Starch, dextrine, sugar, gum and fibre, are each 
proximate organic bodies, and are severally compos¬ 
ed of the ultimate elements carbon, hydrogen and 
.oxjrgen, united in each case in nearly the same pro¬ 
portion. It is the office of the animal either to trans¬ 
fer the proximate bodies of plants to its own tissues, 
without materially altering them chemically, or to 
change them into others more simple, or into such, 
the ultimate elements of which have a less affinity 
for each other, than in the original compounds; or to 
decompose them entirely into their simple elements. 
The animal body seems to possess no power like 
the plant, by means of which it is able to organise 
or group together simple bodies into what are called 
proximate organic compounds. The final tendency 
of the animal, seems to be to disorganise or decom¬ 
pose organised matter which the plant has formed; 
the office of the plant to organise inorganic matter, 
or to group together the simple elements of the soil 
and air into proximate organic bodies. These prox¬ 
imate bodies, animals decompose and return to the 
soil, for the plant again to organise—to be in turn 
disorganised again by the animal. Thus, we see that 
the soil, the plant and the animal, are merely trans¬ 
forming agents for a portion of matter in its continual 
round of travel. For this reason we know why it is 
so useful for the agriculturist to clearly understand 
them. This will be more fully illustrated when we 
come to give the composition of rocks, soils, plants, 
substances used for manures, and the constituents 
of the several parts of the animal body. 
^tngrtss nf Sgrintlfro. 
Improvement in Agricultural Implements, No. 2. 
In our last, we noticed the improvements which 
have been made in several implements of agriculture, 
and now continue our observations by referring to 
other improvements in the same department. 
The Cultivator or Horse-Hoe, was introduced 
into England by Jethro Tull, more than a century 
ago. It has been of considerable importance in 
lessening the expense of cultivating many crops, as 
well as increasing the yield. By using this imple¬ 
ment instead of the plow in the cultivation of Indian 
corn, potatoes, turneps, and other root crops, much 
less labor is required with the hand-hoe; and the 
cultivator has, in fact, taken the place of the plow 
to a great extent. Besides the saving of labor in 
cultivation, which this change has effected, an ad¬ 
vantage is derived, on the drier class of soils, from 
■the better situation in which they are left by the cul¬ 
tivator—it leaves the surface comparatively level and 
less exposed to be dried by the sun and air than 
when thrown into ridges by the plow. 
The cultivator has been greatly improved in its con¬ 
struction within a few years. Steel has been substi¬ 
tuted for cast-iron for the teeth or feet, which, for 
stiff soil, is of much advantage—cast-iron teeth 
being only fitted to work in soils of the loosest de¬ 
scription. The increased length of the teeth, which 
some manufacturers have added, is of importance in 
enabling the implement to do thorough work among 
weeds and grass without clogging. 
A form of this implement called the “ field culti¬ 
vator, 5 ’ has been adapted to working fallows and 
preparing ground for the reception of seed. It is 
very useful for this purpose, executing the work 
with despatch, and leaving the soil loose and friable. 
A man and a pair of horses with one of these field 
cultivators can thoroughly work over four times as 
much ground in a day as could be plowed with the 
same team, destroying the weeds, (unless they are 
very large) quite as effectually as would be done by 
any implement. 
The Drill-Machine. —It cannot be claimed that 
this is a modern invention, as a rude article for de¬ 
positing seeds is known to have been used by the 
ancient Egyptians. A general use of the drill, how¬ 
ever, has not prevailed in Europe or America till a 
late day. The credit of its introduction into Eng¬ 
land belongs to Tull, who regarded it rather as an 
auxiliary to the system of “ Horse-hoeing Husband- 
dry/’ of which he was the originator. His first 
drill was constructed in 1701; but this appears to 
have been only designed for clover and lucerne, and 
it was not till thirty years afterwards that he ob¬ 
tained a patent for a machine for sowing wheat, 
turneps, &c. Little progress appears to have been 
been made in the use of the drill till 1782, when by 
the exertions of the Bath and West of England So¬ 
ciety, attention was generally called to the impor¬ 
tance of drill-husbandry, and various improvements 
were made in the implement. Its advantages have 
since been considered of such great importance, that 
it has been pronounced the “ sheet-anchor” of Eng¬ 
lish wheat-husbandry. In reference to the benefits 
which were attributable to Tull on account of the 
introduction of these implements, it has been re¬ 
marked 
“ His drill and his horse-hoe, have saved his country 
in seed alone, the food of millions; and when used as a 
distributor of manure it has done, and it will hereafter 
accomplish, still greater things. It has brought into 
cultivation thousands of acres of barren craig, the wolds 
of Lincolnshire, of the deep sands of Norfolk; and its 
powers are not yet nearly exhausted, for as fresh fertili¬ 
zers are discovered, the drill evenly and economically 
distributes them, and as improvements in its construc¬ 
tion are continually taking place, there is evidently much 
yet to be achieved by its use.”* 
The hand-drill has been used in this country for 
several years, but its use has been confined mostly 
to garden cultivation and root crops. The in¬ 
troduction of the field-drill in American husbandry 
is quite recent, it having been scarcely known ten 
years ago. Its advantages here appear to be fully 
equal to those which have been realised in Europe; 
they may be summed up as follows:— 
* Scottish Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 
