I never saw neater Ridges rais’d by any Plough, than by the Hoe-Plough, nor finer Plowing; and I believe that were it made as heavy, and as strong, it would outdo the Swing-Plough, in plowing miry Clays, where Plough-wheels cannot go; but I, haveing no such Land, have never made any Hoe-Plough heavy enough for it. However, I am convinc’d, by the many Trials which I have seen, that no other Plough can be used for every Horse-hoeing Operation, so effectually as this I have now describ’d.
The making the Hoe-plough is not difficult for a good Workman; and a few of the Holes for setting the Beam are sufficient, provided they are made in their proper Places, which is impossible for me to describe exactly in a Number that is no more than necessary; because the Distance the Plough must go from the Horse-path on either Side, is uncertain, as the Largeness or the Depth of the Furrow is; and for that Reason, it is as impossible for me direct the Ploughman to the particular Angles, at which his Beam must be set with the Plank, to keep the Share parallel to the Horse-path, as it is to direct a Fidler, how far he must turn his Pegs to give his Strings their due Tension for bringing them all in Tune, which without a Peg to each String could never be done; but when he has his just Number of Pegs, his Ear will direct him in turning them, till his Fiddle is in Tune; so the Ploughman by his Eyes, his Feeling, and his Reason, must be directed in the setting his Plough; but without a competent Number of Holes, he can no more do it than a Musician can tune Four Strings upon one Peg. And I am told, that some Pretenders to making the Hoe-Plough have fix’d its Beam to the Plank immoveable, which makes it as useless for hoeing betwixt Rows, as a Violin with but one Peg to its Four Strings would be for playing a Sonata.
[Fig. 5.] shews the Sort of Yoke, that is us’d on every Ox that draws in a single File, as they always must when they work with the Hoe-plough; but after they have been accustom’d to draw double (i. e. Two abreast) they must be practis’d for about a Week to draw single, before they are set to Hoeing; for otherwise they will be apt to demolish the Rows, one running off to the right-hand, expecting his Fellow to come up with him on the Left, and another will run off on the Left to make room for his Companion to go abreast with him on the Right, endeavouring to go in the manner in which they us’d to be placed for drawing in Pairs.
I suppose I need not give any Caution about muzling the Oxen when they hoe; because they will eat the Plants as soon as they come an Inch above the Ground, and that will shew the Necessity of it; but there is no occasion to muzzle the Horses until the Plants are grown as high as their Noses, when rein’d up, as in [Fig. 4.]
[Fig. 6.] is an Instrument of Pulveration, which might have been sufficiently describ’d by its Matter, Weight and Dimensions, without any Portrait, were it not to shew the particular Manner of drawing it, being very different from that of a common Roller, whose Frame is difficult to make, and costly; but this, being only Three Feet long, is drawn by a simple Pair of Limbers, held together, by the Two Bars A and B, firmly pinn’d in at their Ends.
Its Gudgeons must not come out beyond the outer Surface of the Limbers, lest they should take hold of the Plants, when drawn in the Intervals; also the hinder Ends of the Limbers, behind the Gudgeon, should crook a little upwards, for the same Reason.
This Stone Cylinder is Two Feet and an half Diameter, and weighs Eleven hundred Weight besides the Limbers. It must never be us’d but in the driest Weather, when neither the Plough nor Harrow can break the Clods; and then being so very ponderous and short, it crushes them to Powder, or into such very small Pieces, that a very little Rain, or even the Dews (if plentiful), will dissolve them.
I have had great Benefit by this Roller in preparing my Ridges for Turneps. The Weather proving dry at Midsummer (which is the best Season for planting them), the Land was in Pieces like Horse-heads, so that there was no Hope of reducing them fit for planting with Turneps that Year; the Clods being so very large, that they would require so many Vicissitudes of wet and dry Weather to slack them; but this Instrument crush’d them small, and the Plough following it immediately, the Ridges were harrow’d and drill’d with very good Success.