kind, but a much better implement is Cartwright's chain

to a degree that could not be anticipated from a mere inspection of the implement. It is formed by attaching to a draught-bar pairs of square-linked chains, each 7 feet long, connecting them by cross links, and keeping the whole expanded by two movable stretchers. The old-fashioned ponderous break harrow is now entirely discarded, and the more efficient cultivator used in its stead. A form of the latter, from its close resemblance to harrows, is noticed now rather than before. It is a very strong iron harrow, with the tines made longer, and very considerably curved forwards. An iron rod with a loop handle is fixed to the hind bar, by means of which the driver can easily hitch it up and get rid of weeds, &c. Two such harrows are coupled together and drawn by four horses. Its pulverising power is very considerable. But when clods have been brought to the surface, they are most effectually reduced by various kinds of rollers.

Section 6.-Rollers.

Those formerly used were solid cylinders of timber or stone attached to a frame and shafts, for which hollow ones of cast-iron are now generally substituted. The simplest form of these has a smooth surface, and is cast in sections to admit of more easy turning. They are made of diverse weights, so as to be adapted for the draught of one or two horses as required. Those of the former description, weigh

Cambridge's Press-Wheel Roller.

In the

form in which it was first brought out it consisted of discs, fitting close to each other, with fluted instead of serrated edges. In its recently improved form the discs are not made of uniform diameter as formerly, but each alternate one in the set is raised about two inches, and has the centre hole, not circular and close fitting to the axle, but triangular and wide. The result is that while the discs press uniformly on the surface over which they are rolled, the larger ones rise above their fellows with a jerking motion, which gives a most efficient self-cleaning power to the implement, and thus admits of its being used when other rollers would be clogged. The eccentric discs are now made either with serrated or smooth edges as customers prefer. After careful trial we have come to the conclusion that it is the most useful roller for general purposes which we yet possess.

ing in all 6 cwt., and costing as many pounds sterling, are exceedingly useful for all purposes where expedition rather than heavy pressure is wanted. From their greater durability, smoother surface, and less liability to clog, the readiness with which they can be cast of any weight that is required, and their moderate price, it is probable that cast-iron cylinders will speedily supersede all others.

Several important variations on the common smooth roller have been introduced of late years. Of these the first notice is due to Crosskill's clod-crusher, on the ground both of its intrinsic merit and the date of its introduction. It consists of cast-iron discs 24 feet in diameter, with scrrated edge and a series of sideway-projecting teeth. Twenty-three of these discs are strung loosely upon a round axle, so as to revolve independently of each other. The free motion thus given to each disc, and which has latterly been increased by casting each alternate one of greater diameter in the eye, adds at once to the pulverising and self-cleaning power of the roller. Three horses yoked abreast are required to work it. The axle is prolonged at each end sufficiently to receive travelling wheels, on which it is transported from place to place. Although primarily designed and actually much used for breaking clods, it is even more in request for consolidating loose soils, checking the ravages of wire-worm, and covering in clover and grass seeds. For the latter purpose, its action is perfected by attaching a few bushes to it, which fill up the indentations, and leave a surface so beautifully even as to rival the accuracy and neatness of a well-raked border. It is now to be had on a smaller scale adapted to the draught of two horses.

of the axle on which they are fixed being supported by a plain carriage-wheel. It is drawn by one horse, and follows in the wake of two or three ploughs, according to the number of its cylinders. When wheat is sown after clover lea, this implement is found exceedingly useful in closing the seams And forming a uniform seed-bed.

The Norwegian, or, as it should rather be called, the Swedish harrow is strictly a clod-crushing implement. From its radiating spikes penetrating the surface over which it is drawn, it has been called a harrow; but its revolving motion entitles it rather to be classed with rollers. In its usual form it consists of three rows of cast-iron rowels arranged upon parallel axles fixed in an iron frame, which is supported on three wheels,-one in front and two behind. The outline and arrangements are in fact the same as in Finlayson's grubber, only substituting parallel rows of rowels for tines. There is also the same leverage for raising and depressing the frame. But this implement has recently been constructed on a much simpler and cheaper plan, in which the wheels and lever apparatus are discarded altogether. It thus consists of a simple wrought-iron frame with four rows of rowels. A few boards are laid across the frame, forming a platform over the rowels, on which the driver stands when it is wished to increase the weight and efficiency of the implement. On the upper side at either end is fixed a piece of wheel-tire, on which the implement, when turned on its back, can slide along, sledge-fashion, when it is wished to move it from place to place. As thus constructed it can be made for about £5. This is the best implement yet introduced for breaking moist clods.

Section 7.-Breast-Plough and Trenching-Fork. Before leaving the implements of tillage, it may be proper to notice two, which have been a good deal brought under notice of late years, viz., the breast-plough and trenchingfork. The former is extensively used in carrying out the process of paring and burning. It is the implement known in Scotland as the flaughter (or thin turf) spade. In using it the workman guards his thighs with a piece of board, fastened on apron-wise, and with this presses against the cross-head of the implement, and urges forward its cutting edge. When a thin turf has thus been severed from the surface, he turns it over by a jerk of his arms. The fork is used in giving a deep autumn digging to land in preparation for root crops. Both operations can ordinarily be more economically performed by using horse-power with suitable implements. But for clearing out corners of fields, hedge sides, and similar places, manual labour with these tools can frequently be made to supplement the plough to good purpose.

Section 8.-Implements for Sowing.

A large portion of the grain annually sown in Great Britain is still distributed by hand from the primitive sowing-sheet.

"The sower stalks

With measured step, and liberal throws the grain
Into the faithful bosom of the ground."

In Scotland a decided preference is still given to broadcast sowing, for which purpose a machine is used that covers from 15 to 18 feet, according to the width of ridge adopted. It consists of a long seed-box, carried on a frame mounted on two wheels. From these motion is communicated to a spindle which revolves in the seed-box, and expels the seed by means of cogs or brushes, through openings which can be graduated to suit the required rate of seeding. It is drawn by a single horse, is attended by one man, and can get over 30 acres a day. It is peculiarly adapted for the regular distribution of clover and grass sceds Now that reaping by machinery has become so

general, there is an obvious advantage in having the fields as level and with as few open forms as possible, and hence of having a marker attached to the sowing-machine. In one made by Sheriff at West Barns, by an ingenious apparatus on the principle of the odometer, the machine itself is made to register the space which it travels over, and thus to indicate the rate per acre at which it is distributing the seed. Excellent results have been, and still are, obtained from broadcast sowing. But as tillage becomes more perfect, there arises a demand for greater accuracy in the depth at which seeds are deposited in the soil, for greater precision in the rate and regularity of their distribution, and for greater facilities for removing weeds from amongst the growing crop. These considerations led, at a comparatively early period, to the system of sowing crops in rows or drills, and hence the demand for machines to do this expeditiously and accurately. We accordingly find, in our best cultivated districts, the sowing and after-culture of the crops now conducted with a precision which reminds the spectator of the processes of some well-arranged factory. This is accomplished by means of a variety of drillingmachines, the most prominent of which we shall now notice.

The Suffolk drill is the kind in most general use. It is a complicated and costly machine by which manure and seeds can be simultaneously deposited. That called the "general purpose drill" can sow ten rows of corn, with or without manure, at any width between the rows from 4 to 10 inches, and at any rate per acre between two pecks and six bushels. It can be arranged also to sow clover and grass seeds,-the heavier, seeds of clover being thrown out by minute cups, and the lighter grass seeds brushed out from a separate compartment. It is further fitted for sowing beans and turnips-the latter either two drills at a time on the ridge, or three on the flat. This drill, as most recently improved by Messrs Hornsby of Grantham and Garrett of Leiston, has an apparatus for preserving the machine in a level position when working on sloping ground. As a main object in drilling crops at all is to admit of the use of the hoe, it becomes an important point to accomplish the drilling with undeviating straightness, and exact parallelism in each successive course of the drill. This is now obtained by means of a fore-carriage, which an assistant walking alongside so controls by a lever as easily to keep the wheel in the same rut down which it had previously passed. Messrs Hornsby have also introduced India-rubber tubes for conducting the seed, in place of the tin funnels hitherto used. These drills cost about £42.

The Woburn drill of the Messrs Hensman is simpler in its construction than those already noticed. "In all other drills, the coulters, which distribute the manure or seed, hang from the carriage. In this drill the carriage resta upon the coulters, which are like the iron of skates; it may be said, indeed, to run on four pairs of skates. Hence this drill's power of penetrating hard ground, and of giving a firm bed to the wheat-seed in soft ground. Each drill coulter, however, preserves its .independence as when suspended. This self-adjustment is required by the inequality of tilled ground, and is thus obtained: each pair of coulters is fixed to the end of a balance beam, these again to others, and they to a central one. Thus each coulter, in well-poised rank, gives its independent share of support. It varies from the generality of drills, as it is drawn from the centre by whipple-trees instead of shafts; and the drill-man behind can steer or direct the drill with the greatest nicety. The corn-box of the drill is entirely self-acting, and delivers the seed equally well going either up or down hill. It is also capable of horse-hoeing, by attaching hoes to the levers instead of the coulter-shares.

Turnip drill.-In Scotland, and in the north and west of England, turnips are usually sown on the ridge by a machine which sows two rows at a time. In the southeastern parts of England, which are hotter and drier, it is found better to sow them on the flat, for which purpose machines are constructed which sow four rows together, depositing manure at the same time. Both kinds are adapted for sowing either turnips or mangold-wurzel seeds as required. With the view of economising seed and manure, what are called drop-drills have recently been introduced, which deposit both-not in continuous streams -but in jets, at such intervals apart in the rows as the farmer wishes the plants to stand. What promises to be a more useful machine is a water-drill invented by a Wiltshire farmer-Mr Chandler of Market Lavington. "His water-drill pours down each manure-coulter the requisite amount of fluid, mixed with powdered manure, and thus brings up the plant from a mere bed of dust. Having used it largely during three years, I may testify to its excellence. Only last July, when my bailiff had ceased turnip sowing on account of the drought, by directing the use of the water-drill, I obtained from this latter sowing an earlier and a better show of young plants than from the former one with the dust-drill. Nor is there any increase of expense if water be within a moderate distance, for we do not use powder-manures alone. They must be mixed with ashes, that they may be diffused in the soil Now, the expense and labour of supplying these ashes are equal to the cost of fetching mere water; and apart from any want of rain, it is found that this method of moist diffusion, dissolving, instead of mingling only, the superphosphate, quickens its action even upon damp ground, and makes a little of it go further."?

Section 9.-Manure-Distributors.

The practice of top-dressing wheat, vetches, clover, or meadows, with guano and various light manures, has now so much increased, and the inconvenience of scattering them over the surface by hand is so great, that various machines have recently been invented for distributing them, which can also be used for sowing such manures over turnip drills, covering three at once. Such machines will probably be used in future for distributing lime, which can thus be done much more regularly than by cart and shovel, especially when it is wished to apply small quantities for the destruction of slugs or for other purposes. It seems quite practicable to have this or a similar machine so constructed as that it could be readily hooked on to the tail of a cart containing the lime or other substance which it is desired to distribute by it. The top-dressing material could by such an arrangement be drawn into the hopper of the distributor as it and its tender move along, and the cart when emptied be replaced by a full one with little loss of time.

A cheap and effective machine, capable of being in similar manner attached to a dung-cart, which could tear asunder fold-yard manure, and distribute it evenly in the bottoms of turnip drills, would be a great boon to farmers, and seems a fitting object to be aimed at by those possessed of the inventive faculty.

Section 10.-Horse-Hoes.

It has already been remarked that the great inducement to sow grain and green crops in rows is that hoeing may be resorted to, for the double purpose of ridding them of

1 See Mr Pusey's Report on Implements, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. xii. p. 604. Ibid., p. 607.

of the soil. It is now upwards of a century since Jethro Tull demonstrated, in his books and on his fields, tho facility with which horse-power could be thus employed. His system was early adopted in regard to turnips, and led, as we have seen, to a complete revolution in the practico of agriculture. The peculiar manner in which he applied his system to grain crops, and the principles on which ho grounded his practice, have hitherto been for the most part repudiated by agriculturists, who have thought it indispensable to drill their grain at intervals so narrow as to admit, as was supposed, of the use of the hand-hoe only. But the accuracy with which corn-drills perform their work has been skilfully taken advantage of, and we now have horse-hoes, covering the same breadth as the drill, which can be worked with perfect safety in intervals of but seven inches' width. By such a machine, and the labour of a pair of horses, two men, and a boy, ten acres of corn can be hoed in as many hours. Not only is the work done at a fifth of the expense of hand-hoeing, and far more effectually, but it is practicable in localities and at seasons in which hand-labour cannot be obtained.

Garrett's horse-hoe is admitted to be the best implement of its kind. It can be used for hoeing either beans, turnips, or corn, as the hoes can be adapted to suit any width betwixt rows, and the axle-tree being movable at both ends, the wheels, too, can be shifted so as to be kept between the rows of plants. The shafts can be attached to any part of the frame to avoid injury to the crop by the treading of the horses. Each hoe works on a lever independent of the others, and can be loaded with different weights, on the same principle as the coulters of the corndrill, to accommodate it to uneven surfaces and varying degrees of hardness in the soil.

A great variety of implements, under the general names of horse-hoes, scufflers, scrapers, or drill-grubbers, fitted for the draught of one horse, and to operate on one drill at a time, is in use in those parts of the country where root crops are chiefly sown on ridgelets from 24 to 30 inches apart. With considerable diversity of form and efficiency, they in general have these features in common, viz., provision for being set so as to work at varying widths and depths, and for being armed either with hoes or tines, according as it is wished to pare the surface or stir the soil more deeply. A miniature Norwegian harrow is sometimes attached to drill-grubbers, by which weeds are detached from the soil, and the surface levelled and pulverised more thoroughly. Tennant's grubber, with its tines set close together, and two horses yoked to it abreast by a tree long enough to allow them to walk in the drills on either side of that operated upon, is the most effective implement for cultivating between the rows of beans, potatoes, turnips, or mangolds, that we have yet seen used for this purpose.

Section 11.-Turnip-Thinners.

It sometimes happens, as when drought prevails while the earlier sowings of turnips or mangold are made, and this is followed by copious rains and forcing weather, that the farmer finds it impracticable to get the thinning-out of the seedlings overtaken as fast as is needful To aid him in such emergencies, a class of machines has been brought out, of which Huckvale's turnip-thinner may be named as a type. They are very favourably reported of by those who have used them. Such machines, drawn by one horse, and made to operate upon either one or two rows of young turnip plants, have first a pating apparatus, which clears off weeds from the sides of the rows, and along with this a set of revolving hoes by which gaps are cut in the rows of turnip plants, and tufts of them are left standing at any I.

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