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SNOW-HARROW. 
SNOW-HARROW ann SNOW-PLOUGH. Im- 
plements for making such tracts through snow 
on sheep pastures as will facilitate the melting 
of the snow, and enable sheep to move about 
with ease in search of their food. They are 
often of great use in upland districts, both dur- 
ing protracted snow-storms in winter, and after 
falls of snow subsequent to the commencement | 
of the lambing season. A snow-harrow and a 
mountain snow-plough which were constructed 
by J. Stewart Hepburn, Esq. of Colquhalzie, and 
which were honoured with the Highland Socie- 
ty’s silver medal, and are described in their 
Transactions, seem to be perfectly efficient, and 
at the same time possess the recommendation of 
comparative simplicity. 
“The snow - harrow,” says Mr. Hepburn, 
“consists of a bar or head A B, Fig. 1, 45 inches 
square, and 6 feet long, in the middle of which, 
on the under side, a piece of 14-inch plank c d, 
3 feet long, is sunk flush transversely, for the 
Fig. 1. 
A g Ze | 
may. 
attachment of the draught-hook, ¢, and the stilt, 
e, and to steady the motion of the implement. In 
this head are fixed, by screw-nuts, at intervals of 
10 inches, 7 cutters ff, &c., 9 inches long, and 
1 broad, sabre-shaped, with their points turned 
backwards, so as to be less readily arrested by 
obstacles on the surface of the ground. Be- 
tween these are fixed 6 short cutters g g, &c., 3 
inches long, having their points turned forwards. 
This implement dragged by one horse, rode by a 
boy, and the stilt held by a man behind, cuts 
the frozen snow into stripes 5 or 6 inches broad, 
which are easily pulverized by the feet of the 
sheep, or divided by the snow-plough.” 
“The severity of the winter of 1837-8 in 
- mountain sheep-pastures,”-continues Mr. Hep- 
burn, “led me to attempt to adapt the snow- 
plough, with or without the aid of the snow-har- 
row, for being applied in such situations. To 
enable the plough to clear tracks for the sheep 
along the steep hill-sides, it is necessary it should 
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Vee al, be made to throw the snow wholly to the lower 
| side. To effect this, I caused to be fitted to the 
plough, a a, Fig. 2—the body of which forms an 
isosceles triangle, whose sides are 7$ feet, and 
its base 6 feet in length, the depth of the sides 
being 15 inches—a shifting head, 6 ¢ d, with 
unequal sides; one, 6c, being 18 inches; the 
other, 6 d, 30 inches long, fixed by iron pins 
w 
passing through 2 pairs of eyes, as seen at ¢, | 
attached to the head and to the sides of the | 
plough respectively, so as to bring the point of | 
the attached head of the plough nearly into the 
line of its upper side, or that next the hill. The 
stilt, ¢, at the same time, was made moveable by 
a hinge-joint at its anterior extremity, fixed to 
the bottom of the head frame-post f, so as to be 
capable of being fixed to the cross-bar or stretch- 
er, g a, either in the line bisecting the angle, as | 
at A (which is the position for level ground), or || 
in the line, alternately, of either of the sides, ba | | 
or b g, when to be used on a declivity. The | 
f 
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draught-chain is fixed, not to the shifting head, | 
but to the upright frame-post f, in the nose of | 
the plough which rises 10 or 12 inches above | 
the mould-boards. When the plough, so con- | 
structed, is to be worked along a declivity, with | 
the left hand towards the hill, the shorter limb | 
of the shifting head is fixed on the left side of 
the plough, near the point; and the longer limb, | 
on the right side, towards the middle; and, the | 
stilt being fixed on the left extremity of the | 
cross-bar, nearly in a line with the temporary if 
point, the plough is necessarily drawn in the || 
direction of its left side, so as to throw the snow | 
wholly to the right down the hill. When the || 
plough is to return across the declivity with its | 
right side to the hill, the moveable head is de- 
tached by drawing out the linch pins, is turned 
upside down, and fixed in a reverse position ; the 
shorter limb being attached to the right side, || 
and the longer to the left side of the plough, | 
while the stilt is brought to the right extremity, | 
a, of the cross-bar. The plough is then drawn | | 
in the direction of the right side, and the snow | 
is thrown wholly to the left, now the lower side. || 
Should the lower side of the plough show a ten- 
dency to rise, it may either be held down by a 
second moveable stilt, fixed to the middle, h, of 
the cross-bar, or a block of wood, or other ballast 
weight, may be placed on that side of the plough.” 
SNOW-THISTLE. See AnDRYALA. 
SOAP. A compound resulting from the com- 
bination of an oil or a fat with an alkali or an 
alkaline earth. See the article Oru. It was in- || 
vented by the Gauls at a period prior to histori- || 
cal record; and has long been a common article of | | 
manufacture, in many ways, of many varieties, in 
many lands. It is usually made of the cheapest fats 
and crudest alkalies in rude countries,—of animal 
fats and coarse alkalies, with various eines 
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