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Implements (Dition which takes place when)
dition which takes place when rollers are used, ❘ on which the horses walk, is from twelve to twencompared with the tedious and expensive process of breaking clods with malls, formerly the general custom, sufficiently proves the importance of these implements, though it deserves to be remarked, that, when rolling is bestowed upon a spring-sown field, harrowing it afterwards is of great advantage. By harrowing when the clods are reduced, the earth stands the effects of rain better afterwards, and does not consolidate so firmly as when that process is neglected.
Mowers and Reapers.* These machines are of great value, especially to those with large farms. One machine, the mower, can be made to perform duty both with grass and grain; but reapers are constructed especially for the latter. Weeders are also in use in some parts of the country, drawn by horse power.
The Thrashing Machine.
The thrashing machine is the most valuable implement in the farmer's possession, and one which adds more to the general produce of the country, than any invention hitherto devised.
The saving of manual labor thereby obtained is almost incalculable; while the work is performed in a much more perfect manner than was formerly practicable, even when the utmost care and exertion were bestowed. In fact, had not the thrashing machine been invented, it is hardly possible to conceive what would have been the rate of expense of thrashing, or even whether a sufficient number of hands could, at any rate of expense, have been obtained for thrashing the grain of the country.
Since the invention of this machine, Mr. Meikle and others have progressively introduced a variety of improvements, all tending to simplify the labor, and to augment the quantity of the work performed.
When first erected, though the grain was equally well separated from the straw, yet as the whole of the straw, chaff, and grain, was indiscriminately thrown into a confused heap, the work could only with propriety be considered as half executed. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, and two pairs of fanners, all driven by the same machinery, the different processes of thrashing, shaking, and winnowing are now all at once performed, and the grain immediately prepared for the public market. When it is added, that the quantity of grain gained from the superior powers of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense of thrashing and cleaning the grain is considerably less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it alone, the immense saving arising from the invention will at once be seen. The expense of horse labor, from the increased value of the animal and the charge of his keeping, being an object of great importance, it is recommended that, upon all sizable farms, that is to say, where two hundred acres, or upwards, of grain are sown, the machine should be worked by wind, unless where local circumstances afford the conveniency of water.
Where coals are plenty and cheap, steam may be advantageously used for working the machine.
Method of Treading Grain.
In some countries wheat is trodden out by horses, nearly in the same way as it was formerly done in Palestine by oxen.
The treading floors are generally from sixty to 100 feet in diameter; but the larger their diameter is, the easier is the work to the horses. The track, or path, on which the sheaves are laid, and ty-four feet wide, or more. The floors are commonly enclosed by fences; and the horses are generally driven between them promiscuously and loose, each pressing to be foremost, so that fresh air may be obtained, -biting, jostling, and kicking each other with the greatest fury. The labor in this way is extremely severe. Upon some small floors a centre-stick is placed, to which hangs a rope, or a pole and swivel, and four or five horses being fastened together, travel round upon the sheaves with the utmost regularity.
Previously to laying down the wheat sheaves, the state of the air, and the probability of its continuing dry through the day, is fully considered. If they resolve to tread, the morning is suffered to pass away till the dew is removed. A row of sheaves is first laid upon the floors with the heads and butts in a line across the track of it, as a bolster for receiving other sheaves; and these sheaves range with the path, or circle, the butts resting on the floor. Other sheaves are ranged in like manner, with the heads raised on the former, till the whole floor is filled, when it appears to be filled with nothing but ears of wheat, sloping a little upwards. Upon laying down each sheaf, the band thereof is cut with a knife. A west wind is always desirable while treading is going on, as when wind is from the eastward dampness generally prevails.
In some instances, twenty-four horses are formed at some distance from the floor into four ranks; and when the floor is ready laid, the word is given to advance. For the sake of order and regular work, a boy mounted on one of the foremost horses advances in a walk with the whole rank haltered or tied together, and enters upon the bed of wheat, walking the horses slowly over it; another rank is ordered to follow as soon as the first is supposed to have obtained a distance equal to a fourth part of the circumference of the bed, and in the same manner the other ranks proceed. They are forbidden to go past a walk, till they have proceeded five or six rounds, when the word is given to move at a sober trot, and to keep their ranks at a full distance from each other, regularity and deliberate movement being necessary for preventing confusion. The gentle trot is continued till it may be supposed the horses have travelled eight or nine miles, which is the extent of their first journey; they are then led off to be foddered and watered, when the trodden light straw is taken off as deep as the place where the sheaves lie close, and are but partially bruised.
As soon as this first straw is removed, one-third of the width of the bed is turned over on the other two-thirds from the inner side or circle of the bed, which narrows the neck of the next journey. The horses are again led on, and trot out their second journey, till the straw be clear of wheat. The outer part of the bed is then turned upon the middle part, when the horses take another journey. The loose straw being then taken off, the whole remaining bed is turned up from the floor, and shaken with forks, and handles of rakes, after which the horses give another tread, which finishes the work. The grain is then shoved up from the floor with the heads of rakes turned downwards, and put into heaps of a conical form, in which situation it often remains exposed to the weather for several days. The correct American agriculturists, however, have houses adjoining the treading floor, where the grain is deposited till it is cleared from the chaff and offal; though, as most of them continue treading, if the weather be favorable, till the whole crop is separated from * See page 470.. the straw, it is pretty obvious that the grain | better it is shaken asunder, the sooner will the ob. stands a considerable chance of being damaged | ject in view be accomplished. before the several processes are concluded.
Fanners.
If thrashing machines are of much advantage to the public, by separating grain completely from the straw, the introduction of fanners, or the machine by which grain is cleansed from chaff, and all sorts of offal, may, with justice, be considered as of equal benefit to the practical agriculturist.
Since thrashing machines were introduced, fanners almost in every case are annexed to them, and in some instances, where powerful machines are used, fitted internally with suitable riddles, it is perfectly practicable to measure and market the grain immediately as it comes from the machine.
Manures.
The term manure is applied indiscriminately to all substances, which are known from experience either to enrich the different soils, or contribute in any other way to render them more favorable to vegetation.
In an agricultural point of view, the subject of manures is of the first magnitude. To correct what is hurtful to vegetation in the different soils, and to restore what is lost by exhausting crops, are operations in agriculture which may be compared to the curing of diseases in the animal body, or supplying the waste occasioned by labor.
To manage Dung upon Light Lands.
For soils of this description, where turnips are taken as a first crop, dung can hardly be too well prepared; because the nature of the crop to which it is applied renders a complete incorporation with the ground absolutely necessary; without which the young plants might be starved at their very entrance into life. In the best farmed English counties, dung is often kept more than a year, in order that it may be perfectly rotted.
In general there is not much difficulty in preparing dung upon turnip farms; because, in the driest season, from the nature of the food used, such a quantity of liquid passes from the animals, as to prevent burning, provincially fire-fanging, the greatest obstacle to the rotting of dung that can be experienced. If turnip dung is regularly removed, if it is properly mixed with the horse litter and other excrementitious matter accumulated upon the farm, it will be found an easy task to prepare all that is made by the middle of April. at which time the fold-yard should be cleared.
What is produced after that time should be stored up separately, receive waterings if the weather is dry, and be reserved for clover-stubbles, or other fields that are to be dunged in autumn.
The middle of April is a good time for clearing the fold-yard; but this does not prevent the work from going partially forward through the winter, when suitable opportunities occur.
When driven out of the fold-yard, the dung should be laid up in a regular heap or pile, not exceeding six quarters, or four feet and a half in height; and care should be taken not to put either horse or cart upon it, which is easily avoided by backing the cart to the pile, and laying the dung compactly together with a grape or fork. It is also useful to face up the extremities with earth, which keeps in the moisture, and prevents the sun and wind from doing injury. Perhaps a small quantity of earth strewed upon the top might also prove useful. Dung, when managed in this manner, generally ferments very rapidly; but if it is discovered to be in a backward state, a complete turn over, about the 1st of May, when the weather becomes warm, will quicken the process; and the A secluded spot of ground, not much exposed to wind, and perfectly secure from being floated with water, ought always to be chosen for the site of such piles or heaps. If the field to which it is to be applied is at hand, a little after-trouble may be saved by depositing it there in the first instance.
But it is found most convenient to reserve a piece of ground adjacent to the homestead for this purpose. There it is always under the farmer's eye, and a greater quantity can be moved in a shorter time than when the situation is more distinct.
Besides, in wet weather (and this is generally the time chosen for such an operation), the roads are not only cut up by driving to a distance, but the field on which the heap is made, may be poached and injured considerably.
Upon Heavy Lands.
Upon clay soils, where wheat forms a principal part of the crop, where great quantities of beans are cultivated, and few turnips sown, unless for the use of milch cows, the rotting of dung is not only a troublesome but an expensive affair. Independent of what is consumed by the ordinary farm stock, the overplus of the straw must, somehow or other, be rotted, by lean cattle kept in the fold-yard, who either receive the straw in racks, or have it thrown across the yard, to be eaten and trodden down by them. According to this mode of consumption, it is evident that a still greater necessity arises for a frequent removal of this unmade dung; otherwise, from the trampling of beasts, and the usual want of moisture, it would compress so much as altogether to prevent putrefaction. To prepare dung sufficiently upon farms of this description is at all times an arduous task, but scarcely practicable in dry seasons; for if it once gets burnt (fire-fanged), it is almost physically impossible to bring it into a suitable state of preparation afterwards; and, at all events, its virtues are thereby considerably diminished.
Straw flung out in considerable portions to the fold-yard, after being compressed by the trampling of cattle, becomes rather like a well-packed stack, than a mass of dung in a preparatory state.
The small quantity of water and dung made by the animals is barely sufficient to cause a slight fermentation; and this slight fermentation, when the heap gets into a compressed state, is sure to bring on fire-fang, as already said, after which its original powers can rarely be restored. To prevent such an injury, no measure can be so successfully used as a frequent removal of this unmade dung, especially if the weather is wet at the time. If people can stand out to work, there cannot be too much wetness while executing this operation; for there is always such a quantity of the straw that has not passed through the entrails of the cattle, as renders it almost impossible to do injury, in the first instance, by an excess of moisture.
It is therefore recommended, upon every clayland farm, especially those of considerable size, that the fold-yard be frequently cleared; and that the greatest care be taken to mix the stable or horse-dung in a regular way with what is gathered in the fold-yard, or made by other animals, in order that a gradual heat or fermentation may be speedily produced. Where the materials are of the sorts now described (that is, a small quantity of dung, or excrementitious matter, and a large store of unrotten straw, only partially moistened), no damage can ensue from putting horses and carts upon the heap; nay, a positive benefit will be gained from this slight compression.
The heap or pile, in the case of turnip dung, | approved way of applying dung to turnips, is by should be formed in a secluded spot, if such can be got at hand; because the less it is exposed to the influence of the sun and wind, the faster laying it in the intervals of the drills or small ridges, which are previously made up by a bout, or two furrows of the plough. These drills or will fermentation proceed. It should be con-ridges are formed at a distance of from twentystructed on a broad basis, which lessens the bounds of the extremities, and separate heaps are necessary, so that too much may not be deposited at once. By shifting the scene frequently, and allowing each covering or coat to settle and ferment before laying on any more, the most happy effects will follow, and these heaps (at least all such as are completed before the first of May), may reasonably be expected to be in a fit condition for applying to the summer-fallow fields, in the end of July, or first of August. If the external parts get dry at any time during the process, it will be proper to water them thoroughly, and in many cases to turn over the heap completely. It may be added, that much benefit has been experienced from laying a thick coating of snow upon such heaps, as by the gradual melting thereof the whole moisture is absorbed, and a strong fermentation immediately follows.
Upon large farms, where the management of manure is sufficiently understood and practised, it is an important matter to have dunghills of all ages, and ready for use whenever the situation of a field calls for a restorative. No method of application to clay soils, however, is so beneficial as during the year of summer fallow, though in such a situation a greater stock of manure is often gathered than is required for the fields under this process.
As to the proper quantity of dung to be used, no greater quantity ought to be given at one time than is sufficient to fructify the grounds; in other words, to render it capable of producing good crops, before the time arrives when a fresh dose can be administered.
The Spreading of Dung.
The increased attention now bestowed, in all the cultivated districts, to the spreading of dung, originated from the measure of limiting the quantity applied. When forty, fifty, nay even sixty double loads were applied to an acre, it was not very difficult to cover its surface, even with an imperfect separation, though it certainly was imfour to thirty inches from the centre of each; and by driving the horses and cart along the middle one of the space intended to be manured, the dung is drawn out either by the carter, or by another man specially appointed for that purpose, in such proportions as the poverty of the soil, or the disposition of the occupier, may reckon necessary. If the breadth of three drills is only taken at a time, the dung stands a better chance of being regularly administered; for it often happens, that when a greater number are included in one space, the two outside drills receive a less quantity than the intervening ones. Those, therefore, who limit themselves to three drills, generally divide the spreaders; as it requires six hands, women or boys, to follow up what is usually called a head of carts, the number of carts to a head being regulated by the distance of the dunghill, or the kind of road over which it is to be carried.
In The quantity of dung usually given for turnips is from twelve to fifteen double cart loads, of one and a half cubic yards each, to a Scots acre. some cases only ten loads are given; but the land ought to be in high condition where such a small quantity is bestowed. In fact, no soil can be made too rich for turnips or other green crops, peas excepted; but the object to be attended to in this, and every other case, is an allotment of the manure collected on the premises, in such a way as that the greatest possible return over the whole farm, not from a particular field, may be gained by the occupier.
Application of Dung to Potatoes.
The culture is in several respects similar to that of turnips, but in others it differs materially. Potatoes are planted earlier in the season than turnips: the ground rarely receives so much work; the soils upon which they are cultivated are more variable; and the dung considered to be most suitable for promoting their growth, does not require such high preparation. Many farpracticable to bury the big lumps with a furrow mers, notwithstanding these circumstances, follow of ordinary size; but when the quantity was brought down to eighteen and twenty loads, and, still more, when twelve or fourteen loads were thought sufficient, a different conduct became absolutely necessary. Another improvement also followed, viz., spreading dung when raw or green, that is, immediately after the carts; in which way, at least during summer, it will be separated at one-half the expense, and to much better purpose, than when it is suffered to lie in the heap for a day or two. In short, it is a sure mark of a slovenly farmer to see dung remain unspread in a field, unless it be in the winter months, when it may happen that hands cannot be got for carrying on such operations with the usual regularity. At that time the injury sustained by losing a few days is not great, though as a general rule it will be found that the expense is always smallest when the carts are regularly followed up.
Application of Dung to Turnips.
When turnip husbandry forms the chief branch of fallow process, dung is naturally of a superior quality, and requires little artificial management for bringing it to a proper state of preparation.
In the greater part of Scotland, and even in England, where the drill and horse-hoeing system is practised, the common, and undoubtedly the most out the same process as described under the head of turnips. After the ground receives three, or at most four ploughings, the drills are made up, dung deposited in the intervals, the seed planted above the dung, and the drills reversed; after which, say at the distance of two or three weeks, a slight harrowing is given. They avoid making up drills, but dung the ground in what may be called the broadcast way; and, entering the plough, plant the seed in every third furrow, into which only the dung is raked; and so on till the whole is finished. Before the young plants appear, or even after they are above the surface, a complete harrowing is given, which is considered as equal to a hand-hoeing; and from the dung being completely covered, scarce any of it is dragged up, while the seed, being undermost, none of it is disturbed by the operation. Some farmers do not dung their potato fields; but, reserving the manure till the crop is removed, find the remainder of the rotation greatly benefited.
Potatoes scourge severely, and, in general cases, require a larger quantity of dung than turnips; but, as the extent of land under this culture is not great in common farming, few people grudge this extra quantity, because, except in a few favored situations, a good crop cannot otherwise be rea sonably expected.
To Manure Clayey Soils.